'09-'10 Memphis Tigers Thread

Discussion in 'Men's College Basketball' started by La Bomba, Apr 12, 2009.

  1. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

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    The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    By Adrian Vivar

    Let us face it Tiger fans. We are not a top ten coaching job in the country, plain and simple. We do not play in a powerhouse conference and we do not have a bunch of National Championship banners hanging on the rafters. Top coaches want that when they go to a new job and Memphis does not have that tradition or competition right now.

    This may not be a completely fair assumption, but this program’s fame and rise as a national power in the last five or so years is because of the ex-head coach, John Calipari. His ability to bring in top recruits from across the country is simply unmatched by most Division 1 coaches.

    Do not get me wrong, I bashed Calipari as much as any other Memphis fan out there, but I will be the first to admit that our rise to a championship contender in the past five years was due mostly to him.

    The days prior to Josh Pastner being hired as the new Tigers’ head coach was a huge head ache for most fans. Athletic Director R.C. Johnson went after a number of head coaches including Bruce Pearl from Tennessee, Scott Drew from Baylor, Mike Anderson from Missouri, and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton. Other than Scott Drew, Memphis was not very close to contracting any of them, in fact, people joked that R.C. Johnson should be awarded the Athletic Director of the Year for getting all those coaches an extension in their respective teams.

    Memphis had almost given up all hope in hiring the “wow” coach that R.C. Johnson promised. Thirty-one year old Memphis assistant, Josh Pastner, was packing his bags into his Toyota Corolla to join Calipari and the rest of the ex-Memphis staff in Lexington. While he was packing, he received a phone call from R.C. Johnson asking him if he was interested in becoming the new University of Memphis basketball coach. Pastner immediately said yes without any hesitation.

    Collage basketball fans around the country were already starting to criticize the University of Memphis Athletic Department for hiring a thirty-one year old assistant coach. At the time, Josh Pastner was the highest paid assistant coach in the country at a little over 200,000 dollars a year. To many, Pastner was considered the best assistant coach in the market.

    This certainly was not the “wow” hire that Tiger fans were promised, but it was a better hire than the other coaches on the Memphis agenda.

    Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton was heavily gone after when Memphis failed to reach an agreement with Baylor’s Scott Drew. When I saw the news that Memphis was going after Hamilton I was stunned. I asked myself why would Memphis try to hire a sixty-one year old coach who has only made the NCAA Tournament four times in his twenty-year head-coaching career. Bringing in Hamilton would just be a glorified retirement for him.

    Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl was also offered a contract to be the new head coach. Pearl has only made it to the Sweet 16 once and has only brought in one McDonald’s All-American to Tennessee. Like Hamilton, Pearl was not a great coach when the tournament came and he does not land the top name recruits.

    After reading this, you are probably asking yourself how is it better to hire a young assistant coach who has never coached in the collage level as the head of a team and two proven collage coaches that just do not get it done in the NCAA Tournament. Simple answer, Pastner has been with winners.

    He was the primary assistant coach and recruiter behind Arizona's run to a National Championship and Memphis loss to Kansas just two years ago in the National Championship.

    Pastner is said to be one of the hardest working recruiters out there. In fact, the number one overall point guard, John Wall, still has Memphis in his top list of schools even after Calipari’s departure. This might not mean much right now, but it could be a small sign of things to come for the Memphis basketball program in terms of recruiting.

    To many, the key to Calipari’s success at Memphis was his ability to bring in top players, including All-Americans. Now a days, if you are a great recruiter, but only a sub-par bench coach, you will probably win games. Calipari himself is a primary example of that concept.

    Pastner brings energy and excitement to a down Memphis fan base. Memphis fans saw all the work of the past nine years gone in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, many see Pastner as that little ray of hope that will bring Memphis back on top of the collage basketball world. The first thing a coach new to a team, especially new to the head coach position, is fan support and Tiger fans have been more than supportive of Pastner already.

    Pastner brings a familiar face to players on the current roster. Although Memphis has lost two starters to graduation, possibly a third if Evans decides to go to the NBA Draft, there are still plenty of players returning next season. A very talented bench from last season lead by Robert Sallie and Wesley Witherspoon along with the returning starters, Memphis still could be the favorite to win its fifth consecutive Conference USA title.

    If Memphis would have hired a head coach from another program that would mean the current players would have to adjust to a new system and a new set of team rules. Pastner has even said he plans to continue to use the Dribble-Drive system.

    Pastner has the pressure of the entire city, but he certainly has their support. Only time will tell if Memphis ever comes back to be the National powerhouse it once was built by John Calipari. There is no doubt he has some huge shoes to fill.

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ing-of-josh-pastner-and-why-hes-the-right-guy

    If you're a Bleacher Report member, press the link above. Comments are appreciated. ;)
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2009
  2. TucsonClip

    TucsonClip Thursday Night in Tucson = Upset

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    Interesting read, but Pastner was a player on the '97 team and his days as lead recruitier didnt occur until the 2003 season or so.

    Also for what its worth Mike Dunlap got 350k last year from Arizona as their assistant ;)

    Either way im a Memphis fan now and I have no doubt in my mind that Pastner is going to bring in some good players as long as they buy into him as the head coach. There arent many people in the country who can outwork or outrecruit Pastner.
     
  3. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    Thanks for reading man. I appreciate it.

    I didn't check the facts I stated in this article as much as I should so I had a feeling something was going to be wrong. Thanks for pointing it out.

    I don't expect Pastner to have instant success at Memphis. Much of the nucleus is gone and we basically lost our whole recruiting class other than the Miami-Dade players possibly. I'm definably excited for the years to come though.
     
  4. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    I must of mis interpreted it or something. I was almost sure he was the highest paid assistant. Here is the list.

    Name School Experience 2008-09 salary
    1. Joe Holladay UNC 6th year at UNC $265,000
    2. Steve Robinson UNC 6th year at UNC $242,000
    T-3. Joe Dooley Kansas 6th year at Kansas $234,000
    T-3. Danny Manning Kansas 6th year at Kansas $234,000
    T-3. Kurtis Townsend Kansas 5th year at Kansas $234,000
    T-6. Donny Daniels UCLA 6th year at UCLA $200,000
    T-6. Josh Pastner Memphis 1st year at Memphis $200,000
    8. John Robic Memphis 4th year at Memphis $185,000
    9. Scott Duncan UCLA 2nd year at UCLA $166,000
    10. Orlando Antigua Memphis 1st year at Memphis $145,000
    11. Scott Garson UCLA 5th year at UCLA $127,400
    12. Jerod Haase UNC 6th year at UNC $125,500
     
  5. BasX

    BasX I Win

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    Dooley and Manning better be highly paid, they are great for Kansas.
     
  6. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    Manning is a great assistant for Kansas. Relentless recruiter.
     
  7. BasX

    BasX I Win

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    Re: La Bomba: The Long Road To The Hiring Of Josh Pastner and Why He's The Right Guy

    Manning made Sasha Kaun a decent player and an NBA draft pick. Dooley is Selfs right hand man on the bench. Awesome stuff.
     
  8. BasX

    BasX I Win

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    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/kevin_armstrong/04/16/jordan.roundtable/

    Regular people call this, stalking.
     
  9. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: Josh Pastner, He scares Me.

    Xavier Henry said he had a great relationship with Josh Pastner. At this point, I don't care, I just want some recruits to come in.
     
  10. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: Josh Pastner, He scares Me.

    I don't think this needs a new thread but I'll post it here. Seriously, this is getting annoying.

    “It depends on if my brother can get out of his thing and go transfer and play his first year,” Xavier said. “If he can’t then I might still play with him at Memphis. I don’t know yet.”
     
  11. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    2009-2010 Memphis Tigers Thread

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    By Adrian Vivar

    After everything seemed all but good for the Memphis Tigers this season with the players decomitting and the rumors of current players possibly transferring, a big ray of late shone in.

    It started when Miami-Dade big man, Will Coleman, decided to honor his original promise and play for the Tigers next season.

    Coleman does not have the name of the other players Memphis lost like Xavier Henry or Demarcus Cousins, but Coleman is currently the No. 2 rated JUCO player in the country and could really add some much needed depth for the Tigers' front court and could possibly even start.

    Will Coleman is a 6-9, 265 pound athletic freak with an ability to jump through the roof and make a big impact with his shot blocking on the defensive end. He has already started to get compared to ex-Tiger great, Joey Dorsey.

    Many, including myself, thought this was it for the Tigers' recruiting class. Five-star high school players are simply not going to want to play for a first ever head coach right now.

    After Memphis signee, Xavier Henry, decided to go to Kansas along with his brother, a Memphis walk-on, C.J. Henry, the race for Coney Island star, Lance Stephenson, was wide open.

    It looked like Stephenson was set to ether stay at home and play with Saint John's or go to Collage Park and play for Gary Williams and the Maryland Terps.

    It now looks like Stephenson did not even want to go to St. John's in the first place and Gary Williams system is too "structured" for his tastes.

    The rumor right now is that Stephenson recently visited Arizona, is going to visit Memphis and is set to decided between those two.

    Stephenson is not the perfect player we could get for my tastes.

    He is said to be a head case and a guy that wants all the attention, but there is no doubting his talent and Pastner bringing in a player of his caliber already as a first year coach would be huge for the program.

    The player that looks like the number one target right now for Memphis is Alabama point guard, Eric Bledsoe.

    Bledsoe has really been a player on the rise the last few months and fits the Pastner system well, along with the team's urgent need at point guard.

    Willie Kemp has really been a disappointment since his freshman year when he started.

    Since his freshman year, Kemp rarely gets much playing time and has not really shown he is the answer for the Tigers at starting point guard next season.

    Bledsoe has been sought after by just about every major program needing a point guard including who else, Kentucky.

    Bledsoe visited Memphis last Friday and it looks like he will decided between Memphis and Kentucky.

    “I’m just looking for the opportunity to play ball and make it to the next level,” Bledsoe told a crowd of reporters in an interview broadcast on MyFoxMemphis.

    He later said that he will try to make his decision next week.

    The player that could play the biggest role in Bledsoe's signing with Memphis is a player that is not really looking at Memphis anymore, John Wall.

    If No. 1 player, John Wall decides to go to Kentucky, that would make Memphis the clear favorite to land Bledsoe since Bledsoe would obviously not want to be Wall's backup for at least a season.

    Unless a player in the Memphis roster has a big improvement, Bledsoe would probably be the starting point guard from day one for the Tigers.

    The last highly touted player considering Memphis is Starkvile, Mississippi native, Latavious Williams.

    Williams is probably the player that Memphis has the best chance of signing.

    The No. 16 overall player according to Rivals.com is considering both Memphis and Georgetown.

    It still is not certain that Williams will be academically eligible next season, but Williams' academic struggles and his wanting to play in a "free" system is probably what gives Memphis a better chance of signing Williams than Georgetown.

    Georgetown's high academic standards and half-court system is something that would be looked at concerning his decision.

    His announcement is said to come Monday May, 4.

    If Memphis is able to sign at least one of the players mentioned, it would put the program back on the map in terms of recruiting.

    John Calipari made Memphis what it is now with his stellar recruiting.

    Let's see if Josh Pastner can do the same.

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/166796-the-importance-of-these-next-two-weeks-for-the-tigers

    Clicks to the link and reads are appreciated.
     
  12. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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  13. BasX

    BasX I Win

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    I think Memphis has the most to gain in the next few weeks. They can make a big impact, proving how good of a recruiter Pastner is. If Memphis can grab any of those players, it could also take a hit to Calipari because if John is known as a great recruiter yet top recruits are still heading to Memphis, then recruits will start to wonder. I have a feeling Latavious and Bledsoe are Memphis bound, Wall heads to Kentucky and Lance heads to Arizona. Also I'll add Kevin Parrom, an original Xavier recruit, should also join Lance in Arizona.

    EDIT: Also, very well written, awesome job. Wish I had time to do some articles, oh well lol.
     
  14. BasX

    BasX I Win

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    I really should have read zagsblog this morning lol. Parrom is going to Arizona.
     
  15. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    Yeah I saw, let's see how the dominoes fall.

    Thanks for the feedback.
     
  16. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    Can't believe this already has over 1,300 views. This is definably the most successful article I have written.
     
  17. Legacy

    Legacy Beast

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    Wait for yours to hit FoxSports. 15,000 views, 40 comments, front page, and most popular. I was hella happy when it happened to me.
     
  18. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    Re: La Bomba: The Importance Of These Next Two Weeks For The Tigers

    I have over 3,000 views now. Link me to the article that made fox sports.
     
  19. Legacy

    Legacy Beast

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  20. La Bomba

    La Bomba The Future

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    La Bomba: Josh Pastner Lands His First Recruit for the Memphis Tigers

    New Memphis Coach, Josh Pastner, has started his coaching career off with a bang. After seeing what many called “the best recruiting class since Michigan’s Fab Five” leave Memphis to follow Calipari in Lexington or attend another school, Pastner had to land some players quickly.

    Pastner has had minimal time to even get enough players to play next season, but he landed his first ever recruit as a head coach Tuesday afternoon.

    Latavious Williams, the No. 17 overall high school player and No. 6 power forward according to Rivals.com, made his commitment to play at the University of Memphis after weeks of speculation that he would go elsewhere.

    Williams was expected to announce his decision to go to Memphis a few weeks ago, but instead he expanded his time to make a decision so he could visit Florida International, Georgetown, and Oklahoma.

    Williams had told Zagsblog writer, Adam Zagoria, that Memphis was his top school a few weeks ago. Williams said his decision came down to location and he really wanted to have his family come to games. Williams is a Starksvile, MS native, which is only about two hours away from Memphis.

    Williams is a 6'7" forward who can play both the three position and the four. He plays with a high motor and has shown the ability to knock down a 10 to 15-foot shot. Williams has also shown great athletic ability throwing down some spectacular dunks in his high school years.

    Williams’s high school coach, Carlos Wilson, had some high praise for Williams.

    “I see Latavious right now as the Shawn Marion type of guy, the Stacey Augmon type,” Wilson said. “He can put up big man’s rebounding numbers but he’s an ultra-athletic slasher from the wing spots. And he can also shoot it. He’s a very versatile basketball player. The thing that makes him special in my eyes is that it doesn’t matter to him.

    There are still some questions of whether of not Williams will be able to play next season. His grades still need some work in order to qualify for NCAA Basketball. According to on-line sources, it seems like his standardized testing is fine, he just needs to work on his GPA.

    He will be attending summer school to try to fix his grades. Right now, he says he is 75 percent sure he will qualify.

    The Tigers currently have eight scholarship players, not counting Shawn Taggart, who is still in the draft as of now. Memphis is still in the running for a number of highly touted high-school players who are still unsigned.

    The Tigers are not out of the Lance Stephenson race. Latavious Williams even said he would try to convince Lance to join him in Conference USA. Stephenson is said to bring a lot of “baggage” but there is no doubt that Stephenson is one of the best players in the country.

    Noel Johnson, who recently got out of his Letter of Intent to play for USC after the OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush allegations have aroused, is said to have Memphis as a candidate along with Georgia Tech and LSU.

    Johnson is a top-60 player and the No. 11 small forward. The Tigers still need a lot of help on the wings. Landing Johnson would help the Tigers depth enormously.

    Josh Pastner still has a long way to go before Memphis is a Final Four team again, but no one can deny that he is not on a good start. Getting five-star, highly touted recruits is nothing easy for a first ever head coach.

    I have said this before and I will say this again, Josh Pastner was a home run hire and he is showing it within the first few months of taking the job. The Memphis faithful should not expect a 30-win season in his first year, but I would not be surprised to see a few in the years to come.

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...cruit-for-the-memphis-tigers?just_published=1
    Enjoy. Comments and views are appreciated.
     

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