Final Four, Not Josh Pastner's Optimism, Vacated in Memphis

New Memphis basketball coach Josh Pastner was bracing for anything, but hoping for the worst as he, along with all the Tigers faithful, awaited Thursday's NCAA ruling on a two major infractions.

Pastner was able to let loose a sigh of relief Thursday afternoon once the NCAA Committee on Infractions ruling was official. The Memphis Tigers program was ordered to vacate its 38-win Final Four season under John Calipari and the team is on three years probation, but the silver-lining in it all for Pastner was there are no sanctions for the current or future teams, meaning there is no postseason ban or reduction in scholarships.

"You hate to see anything like this happen in the sport you love to student-athletes, coaches, university officials, that's no fun for anybody," Pastner told FanHouse Thursday. "But for us, the current and future of the program, there are so many positives to look forward to. Nothing inhibits us from competing at the highest level and having an opportunity to win at the highest level and compete for the best student-athletes in the country."


The extent of the penalties was uncertain before Thursday. But the primary culprit, one-and-done point guard Derrick Rose, who the NCAA found had a substitute take his SAT exam, and whose brother, Reggie, was illegally allowed to travel on the team plane, is gone. Rose became an NBA lottery pick after leading the Tigers to the championship game of the Final Four in 2008 in what was a magical season for the Tigers.

Calipari, meanwhile, left this offseason to take over at Kentucky. Pastner, who spent only last season as Calipari's assistant, became Memphis 17th head coach this past spring. It wasn't long after his promotion news of an NCAA investigation into Rose began to come out.

Pastner, who did has not lost any results as a result of the investigation, said the NCAA ruling lifted a cloud from over the program and its current players.

"Anytime you put a final ending to it, now everyone can move on and move forward," said Pastner, a former player and long-time assistant under Lute Olson at the University of Arizona. "I think that just helps give a relief anytime we are talking to any future prospects. It won't affect the current or future of the program.

"I think everyone was ready for it to have a final decision so everyone could move on and move forward."

But a real final decision could still be months away. Conference USA assistant commissioner for public affairs Courtney Archer confirmed to FanHouse Thursday evening that Memphis is filing an appeal on the NCAA's decision to vacate the Final Four season. Because of that, C-USA is withholding comment, and a decision on the Tigers 58-game winning streak in conference and the three straight league titles.

"We are continuing to monitor the situation, but we won't have comment until the issue is fully resolved," Archer said.

But as far as Pastner is concerned, he is more than ready to move on. A naturally upbeat guy, Pastner is focused on the positives, instead of dwelling on the mess Calipari left behind and the second Final Four Memphis has been forced to vacate.

"Anytime you are taking some wins away or vacating a Final Four, that's not fun for anybody," Pastner said. "But I don't think there is any black-eye. It's looking to the present and the future and keeping very positives , looking at the glass as overflowing. That's what we are focusing on."

Some believe Calipari should face sanctions at Kentucky for what went wrong at Memphis. But it's unlikely he will since he wasn't named in the NCAA report.

This is the second time, however, that a program has had a Final Four season wiped out under Calipari's watch. UMass lost its 1996 Final Four after the NCAA found improper contact between Marcus Camby and two sports agents.

But none of those issues changes the mind of Pastner on Calipari, who gave him an opportunity last offseason.

"All I can speak on is my feelings on Coach Calipari," Pastner said. "I think the guy is one of the best coaches in the game today of any level. I think he is a future Hall of Famer.

"He's a guy who has been very good to me. I learned a tremendous amount from Coach Calipari from a year under him. I think he is one of the very very best coaches at any level. And in my opinion, without question he's going into the Hall of Fame."

All the same, Pastner seems anxious to move forward with his program.

"We've kept a real positive attitude and the only thing we focused on is the current and future of the program, highlighting what we have in front of us, the vision we have," he said. "You can sit there and dwell on the negativity, I call it living in fear, then you start stressing about `What if? What if?' We took the nature of being faith based and focused on the present and the future and went from there."

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this article.