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Pastner says Memphis scheduling ASU for home-and-home series

by on Apr. 17, 2010, under Sports
Memphis coach Josh Pastner believes the NCAA tournament should expand to 128 teams (Photo by US Presswire/Nelson Chenault)

Memphis coach Josh Pastner believes the NCAA tournament should expand to 128 teams (Photo by US Presswire/Nelson Chenault)

Memphis coach Josh Pastner was a recent guest on the “Ryan and Brad Whenever” podcast, and among the topics discussed was Pastner’s non-conference scheduling.

Pastner, a former UA player and assistant coach, told hosts Brad Malone and Ryan Mayes that Memphis is currently scheduling a home-and-home series with ASU. When asked if a schedule with Arizona is possible, Pastner said, “You know, I haven’t even thought about that to be honest with you.”

Pastner indicated to me upon his hiring at Memphis last year that he welcomed the idea of coaching against his alma mater.

“I think that would be an intriguing match-up,” Pastner told me last June. “There would be a lot of fan interest from both directions. Memphis will look at its scheduling and decide what’s best for its schedule, and Arizona will do the same, I’m sure.”

Among other things discussed in the podcast, Malone asks Pastner about the proposed NCAA tournament expansion to 96 teams. Pastner said the tournament should actually expand to 128 teams so a team is not put in a disadvantage with a bye. Under the 96-team setup, some of the higher seeds will be given byes, which is not always a good thing, according to Pastner.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at 10:51 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • vegasallen

    When asked if a schedule with Arizona is possible, Pastner said, “You know, I haven’t even thought about that to be honest with you.”

    Honest??? Haven’t even thought about it?? Sure Josh and I’m selling ocean front property in Oro Valley…

    Sorry but if Pastner was Pinocchio, his nose would grow as long as his starting center is tall.

    Javier, why would he blurt out such a preposterous statement? What do you think is the real story?

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    vegasallen: I was a little surprised Josh said that, but it’s most likely a reaction that coaching against Arizona would be awkward at this point for him. He does have the utmost respect for Miller. Perhaps scheduling a series so soon with Arizona is not a good idea. Maybe after Miller establishes himself in Tucson, Pastner would be more open to scheduling Arizona.

  • camebd

    Or it could be he hasn’t thought about.  It could be that his priorities have been holding on by the seat of his pants as he gets thrown into a head coaching job at a top national program that was decimated both in staff and recruits.  Maybe he was too busy hiring a staff, keeping players he had and trying to recruit the #1 recruiting class in the country and winning 26 games.  Maybe since he didnt even deal with scheduling last year (the AD did it), and he is just now dealing with scheduling for next year now… maybe just maybe he hasn’t given Arizona much thought.  It could be the simple truth and not some great conspiracy to hide something else. 

    I’m just saying…  :-)

    Having said that, I think I can speak for most Memphis fans when I say we would love to play Arizona.  Every team plays cream puff teams each year, but we would actually love to play top tiered teams every game.  Hopefully both sides can come together and get it done.

    • moosety2008

      I’m still bitter than UA never extended the kingdom keys to Josh.  But I know think I know why.  I believe the fact that Josh, Miles, and Coach Olson were associated with that Cactus classic fiasco which may cost UA a scholorship for next season had something to do with it.
      That said, I think Memphis got an excellent coach with Pastner.  I hope that Coach Miller can bring similar success to Tucson.

  • vegasallen

    camebd-You honestly believe that Pastner never thought about it? Hmmm…

    Javier- Your explanation does make sense.

    moostey2008-If Miller wasn’t available, possibly Pastner would have gotten the job.

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