USA TODAY International Edition
Pastner makes surprise splash with Ga. Tech
In public, ATLANTA the nicest guy in college men’s basketball was putting up a good front. Josh Pastner was returning every phone call, graciously responding to every email, going about his under- the- radar charitable deeds as if he were still the most popular man in Memphis.
But beneath a veneer of relentless positivity, Pastner was making himself sick. The stress of a program showing signs of decline, the burden of a contract fans didn’t think he was living up to and the 24- 7 scrutiny of a basketball- obsessed city had made Pastner wary of even leaving his house to go anywhere besides his office or the gym.
“You won a game, and it was only relief,” Pastner, 39, told USA TODAY Sports. “I was depressed. It ate at me like you wouldn’t believe. I wouldn’t leave the house because I felt I let the entire city down. I would literally just sit on a chair in my house. I’d go to work when I had to go to work. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I was unhealthy.”
That was 10 months ago, when it seemed like the wunderkind recruiting machine who came up under Lute Olson and John Calipari was stuck in a bad marriage with Memphis that neither party could get out of.
Somehow, from the brink of personal breakdown and professional disaster, Pastner suddenly has emerged as one of the most surprising stories in college basketball. Restarting his career at Georgia Tech, which fired Brian Gregory after five mediocre seasons, Pastner has taken a team picked to finish 14th out of 15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and improbably reeled off several impressive wins, positioning the Yellow Jackets ( 13- 8, 5- 4 ACC) to make their first NCAA tournament since 2010.
What seemed like a fluke Dec. 31 when Georgia Tech upset North Carolina 75- 63 has a very different feeling after the last week in which the Yellow Jackets pummeled No. 8 Florida State 7856, then backed it up Saturday with a 62- 60 win against No. 12 Notre Dame on freshman Josh Okogie’s buzzer- beating layup.
“It goes to show we can compete with anybody,” said Okogie, whose emergence as a 15.2points- per- game scorer is one reason the preseason evaluation of Georgia Tech’s roster was laughably off the mark. “We’ve been battle- tested. The ACC is crazy. We’ve played against the best teams in the country and beaten some of them, so why can’t we be one of those teams?” CHANGING STYLE WORKS Even in the euphoria of Saturday’s victory, which concluded with Pastner raising his arms and urging longtime coach Bobby Cremins to join the celebration on a court that bears his name, he does not deviate from the notion that Georgia Tech is in the midst of a massive rebuilding job.
Though Pastner acknowledges they have become a good team, the Yellow Jackets are not gifted offensively nor are particularly deep, relying on a rotation that rarely goes beyond six or seven players.
At every available opportunity, Pastner likes to remind people the same team that has built a strong NCAA tournament résumé also needed overtime to beat a Division II team, Shorter College, in a preseason exhibition.
“I have a sign in our locker room, it says EPIP: Every possession is precious,” Pastner said. “That’s who we are. We’re a possession- by- possession team. If we don’t play with the same energy and effort, we don’t have a shot.”
For those who have followed Pastner’s career since the begin- ning, the level of execution and discipline Georgia Tech has displayed on a nightly basis is perhaps the biggest surprise.
While always athletic and deep, Pastner’s Memphis teams too often relied on a helter- skelter — sometimes disorganized — style of basketball that was routinely exposed against high- level opponents and experienced NCAA tournament coaches.
Despite significant recruiting success early on, particularly with homegrown Memphis high school stars, Pastner didn’t break through for a tournament win until his fourth season and didn’t beat a Top 25 team until his fifth.
By contrast, Pastner has Georgia Tech playing at a slower pace, relying on a defense that ranks among the nation’s most efficient and getting the most out of a well- coached offense that fea- tures relentless movement, some Princeton- style sets ( assistant Tavares Hardy comes from the Bill Carmody/ John Thompson III coaching tree) and hard cuts to create misdirection. PLAYERS LEAP ABOARD That style has suited this roster, which had hidden talent in the likes of Okogie and 6- 10 junior Ben Lammers, who averaged 15 minutes per game last season but has broken out as an NBA prospect ( 14.7 points, 9.7 rebounds per game) who protects the rim, facilitates offense out of the high post and shoots effectively from midrange.
“I feel like we have talent,” said guard Tadric Jackson, who scored 25 off the bench against Notre Dame. “We’re a bad matchup ( for other teams). The way we cut, the way we move the ball, our offense is hard to guard.”
To Pastner’s credit, Georgia Tech’s players have bought in, which is perhaps the best evidence yet that a fresh start can cure many perceived problems.
Pastner has gotten Atlanta’s attention and the nation’s, too, as Georgia Tech pushed past the toughest part of its schedule and moves into a stretch in which it can solidify a highly improbable NCAA tournament bid.
“I’m more clear on my vision and plan of how I want to get to where I want to get to than I’ve ever been,” he said. “When we got the job, Georgia Tech wasn’t cool. These wins have given us a vision to sell to recruits. People can feel it and see it and touch it, so that will help us. I don’t know what it will do for us late in 2017, but it’ll do wonders for us down the road.”