Important Season for Paster

There's no doubt this season is huge for Josh Pastner and the Memphis Tigers. Paster has done a lot in his first three seasons to keep Memphis relevant in the post-Calipari era. He's won the C-USA Championship and taken Memphis to the NCAA tournament in both of the last two years. 

Unfortunately, Memphis fans don't settle for championships in a conference they feel like they should dominate, and they certainly don't settle for NCAA tournament appearances. They want tournament runs, deep runs. Most, but certainly not all, have been willing to give Josh some patience. He is, after all, a rookie coach. His first year he had a squad full of leftovers and a season-saving transfer in Elliot Williams. His next two years he had the talent, but his teams severely lacked experience.

 This year, no excuses will suffice. He has a talented, veteran squad with a full two seasons under their belt to learn his system. They've seen the court enough to know that you have to play hard no matter who the opponent is. If the questionable losses they took their first two years didn't teach them that, then Pastner has to find a way to make them understand.

 He also has a pair of talented newcomers, who should benefit from having a veteran squad. They should do much better than the heralded 2010 class, simply due to the fact that they will have guidance and won't be so heavily relied on from the start. Shaq Goodwin is an incredibly post player with speed, strength, and a jump shot. What the Tigers really need from him, however, is defense and rebounding. Geron Johnson has NBA talent, but will have to learn to make opposing offenses struggle. If he can't do that, Chris Crawford will make sure he sees plenty of time on the bench.

 In any case, this team is as deeper, more talented, and more experienced than any team Pastner has coached. The post isn't as woefully thin as it has been, either. For these reasons, Pastner needs to get past the criticism that I'm sure rings in his ears every night. No top-25 wins, no tournament wins. That must change, or his job will feel much less secure, and when you're preparing to enter one of the top two basketball conferences in the nation, you've got enough pressure to worry about.