After tumultuous offseason, Pastner has Memphis on right path

ST. LOUIS -- Against all odds and logic, Memphis had a chance.

It made no sense.

It wasn't part of the script.

But there they were, these out-manned and underdog Tigers, in a one-possession game, the ball in their hands, the clock winding down. A 2 would tie and force overtime, a 3 would give the school its first victory ever against a top-ranked team. And if there's any doubt about what Josh Pastner was thinking late Tuesday in this crucial moment of only his second game as a head coach, allow the following quote to clarify.

"What was I thinking?" Pastner said. "I was thinking 'Let's go for the win.' "

Of course that's what he was thinking.

That's the way Pastner thinks.

And if it didn't go as well as planned -- Elliot Williams' 3-pointer at the buzzer missed long, allowing Kansas to escape with a 57-55 win -- that's OK, because the night as a whole went better than any reasonable human could anticipate.

Who would've thought the final margin of this game (two points) would be tighter than the final margin of the 2008 national title game (seven) between these same two schools? Who would've thought Memphis, with only eight scholarship players, would have a shot at the buzzer to beat the consensus No. 1 team in the country?

In Josh Pastner's second game as a head coach, he coaxes an encouraging performance out of Will Coleman and Memphis. (US Presswire)

Answer: Nobody.

But the Tigers hung around for 40 minutes, refusing to fold when it was time to fold, refusing to go away when it was time to go away. They had no good approach to guarding Cole Aldrich, and they went long stretches without making a shot. But they still figured out a way to push a Kansas team loaded with future NBA players, and that alone led to a neat scene right after the final buzzer sounded.

Again, KU won.

Memphis lost.

And the Kansas fans exited the Scottrade Center pretty quickly when the game was over, frustrated with how their team failed to put away a double-digit underdog that isn't even picked to win Conference USA.

Meantime, the Memphis fans didn't move. They stayed and stood and clapped and cheered, applauding not a moral victory as much as a statement that though this program might well endure a tough season, it's a program that will be rallied around and cherished by a fan base proud of its present and more excited about its future than its past.

It's crazy but true.

Unless you're a recruiting junkie, you might not know, but Pastner and his staff (Glynn Cyprien, Jack Murphy and Willis Wilson) have pieced together what is widely viewed as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. It features four players ranked in the top 35 of MaxPreps.com's Class of 2010 rankings, specifically No. 3 Will Barton, No. 11 Joe Jackson, No. 16 Jelan Kendrick and No. 35 Tarik Black.

"If I was a Memphis fan, I would be really pleased," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "They've got a really good team coming."

And perhaps a better-than-most-believed team right now. Sure, there are still incredible hurdles -- like how the roster features only two post players (Will Coleman and Pierre Henderson-Niles) and how Wesley Witherspoon doesn't seem capable -- mentally or physically -- of guarding anybody on the block. And the Tigers don't shoot it very well. And they have only one guy (Williams) who can create for himself.

And at some point, somebody is going to pull something or twist something or break something or tear something, and then they'll go from eight scholarship players to seven scholarship players, and so on and so forth.

Pastner will deal with that as it happens.

It could be difficult.

But what Pastner has in place -- or at least what it looked like he had in place here late Tuesday -- is a team of players with something to prove, a scrappy bunch of guys trying to show the nation that though they aren't as talented as the past four Memphis teams or as talented as the next four Memphis teams project, they are still good enough to compete and push and, just maybe, make the NCAA tournament again.

"Everybody played their absolute hearts out, left it all on the floor," Coleman said. "Kansas is the preseason No. 1, but Memphis gave them a run for their money, had them shaking in their boots. So I think the old Memphis is still here. We can keep our heads up."