HITS GET INTENSE
Pastner says charter flights key to success away from home
The Tigers’ first spring training day in pads reinforced coach Justin Fuente’s call for open position competition.
By the time the University of Memphis returns home from El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday morning, it will have traveled nearly 4,700 miles in 10 days during a three-game road swing that is the Tigers’ longest stretch of true road games in four seasons under coach Josh Pastner.
So after returning from Orlando, Fla., on Saturday night, where Memphis beat UCF 76- 67 to earn its record sixth outright Conference USA regular- season title, one might think the Tigers could be a tad road-weary with the team headed out of town again Monday night for a Tuesday night contest at UTEP.
But if there was one thing Pastner learned from former Memphis coach John Calipari, it was the value of flying charter.
“Coach Cal deserves credit for that because he got it going a few years back,” Pastner said. “When I got the job, he said, ‘Josh, the first thing is do not lose chartering.’ And he was right, because when I was at Arizona we traveled commercial.
“Again, there’s nothing wrong with (traveling commercial), but it makes a big difference for the kids’ legs and everything else. The other thing that’s so important about chartering is it allows our guys to get back for classes, and the proof’s in the pudding — we’ve got a (perfect) 1,000 APR (academic progress rate) and we have the possibility of eight to nine guys graduat- ing this year.
“If you’re an elite program, you’ve gotta charter. We’re very thankful and grateful and we don’t take it for granted that we get to charter because not every program gets to.”
Owner of the nation’s second-best road record at 8-1, Memphis (25- 4, 14-0 in C-USA) wraps up its three-game trip and its regular-season road schedule Tuesday against a UTEP squad (16-12, 9-5) that’s 13-2 at home this season and trying to secure one of five first-round byes in next week’s C-USA tournament in Tulsa, Okla.
Memphis and Southern Miss have secured the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, as well as first-
round byes in the tournament, which begins next Wednesday.
This season, five teams get first-round byes instead of four with UCF ineligible for the tournament due to a one-year postseason ban handed down by the NCAA last August for recruiting violations.
While Memphis has already accomplished one of its goals this season in earning its second consecutive regular-season title under Pastner, it can join a short list of only four other C-USA teams that have gone undefeated in league play with wins Tuesday and at home Saturday in its regular-season finale against UAB (15-14, 7-7).
The Tigers’ win at UCF on Saturday not only helped put their 64-62 loss at Xavier last Tuesday in the rearview mirror, it also earned Memphis its eighth overall C-USA regularseason title, tying Cincinnati for the most in C-USA history.
“It was real tough on us the couple days after that loss,” said junior guard Chris Crawford, who has thrived of late in his role as the team’s sixth man, averaging 12 points off bench over the Tigers’ last 13 games. “But we had a great two practices and we were really focused on getting a win (Saturday).”