You have to feel for Josh Pastner. The guy just gets the Memphis job and within the span of a few weeks he loses one signed player (Darnell Dodson) and two Memphis leans (DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall) to Kentucky coach John Calipari. Then NCAA allegations surface that while Calipari was head coach at Memphis, major NCAA violations occurred. Derrick Rose is alleged to have had someone else take his SAT and Rose’s brother, Reggie, allegedly rode the team charter without paying. Yet through it all, Pastner is keeping a stiff upper lip and spreading the word that the penalties likely won’t impact the current team or the future of the program. It seems, though, that the Tigers’ 38-win season and Final Four appearance in 2008 could be vacated. Pastner says in this interview with MyFoxMemphis that he was informed of the allegations right before they became public. Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial Appeal informed Pastner of the allegations while he was reporting the initial story. Pastner also says Memphis still needs to land “a few more” players for next season, and also focus on landing recruits in the Classes of 2010, 11 and 12.
