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Pastner hopes to avoid 'crunch time'

If he could do this much for the UA basketball team while taking more than a full load of classes, imagine what Josh Pastner can do with some extra time on his hands.

Fresh off completing his master's degree, Arizona senior guard Josh Pastner sits down and talks to the Daily Wildcat basketball reporters to kick off another semester of Pastner's Notebook.

How did you graduate in two and a half years and get your master's in a year?

The funny thing is that when I first came into this school, I had no classes coming in and no summer school. So freshman year, I completed 45 hours, sophomore year, I completed 42. That gave me 87, which means I was 33 hours from the 120 units I needed to complete my degree. So my first semester of my junior year I took 11 classes, went to class from eight to one everyday. I took 18 units in the spring of '99 and 15 units last fall, giving me the 33 I needed for my master's. That's how I got my bachelor's and master's in three and a half years.

How? That's insane! What makes Josh Pastner tick?

No sleep, a lot of stress. I was very focused and I wanted to do it, I was very goal-orientated and it was worth it.

Why was that your goal? That is not normal.

I do not recommend it, I repeat, I do not recommend it. Take the normal route, graduate in four or five. No, for me, I want to be a head coach at a university, and I thought going to the president of the school with my resume saying what I've done, I thought that would look impressive. The academic people would say, hey, he's serious about academics, and I would stress to my kids that I was coaching. It would give me credibility. I was looking towards the future.

What are your thoughts on the sweep over Stanford and California?

A very good start. Anytime you win two games on the road in the Pac-10, especially the Bay Area, you're in a great position. Those are two of the toughest road games there are.

How do you see the shortage of players and the lack of depth affecting the team?

I look at it, instead of a negative, as a positive. It gives guys like Luke Walton, Rick Anderson and Justin Wessel a chance to step up so when Richard Jefferson does come back, when we do enter the NCAA Tournament, they're going to be ready and they're going to be confident. And hey, that's the hand we've been dealt with and we've just got to suck it up and play. We're not going to be able to replace Richard, but it reminds me of five or six years ago when the Houston Rockets lost Hakeem Olajuwon, they actually won 25 of their next 32 games, and it lifted everybody up. That's what we've got to do.

Coach Olson stretches that you can't get in foul trouble. If that happens, will we see you playing more?

His big thing is that you have to protect your first foul, and this is now more than ever. We don't want to see me going into the game in a crunch-time situation. That's not going to be good, so let's hope the guys stay out of foul trouble and the refs are good to us. My job as captain is to talk to the refs and try to schmooze them.

Are you scouting for practice players?

Coach O has sent me out to Randolph, Udall and the Rec Center looking for guys who are capable of helping us in practice. We found a couple, but we have not found a Richard Jefferson replacement, and we're not going to.

What are your thoughts on Washington State, a team that is 0-2 in the Pac-10?

Washington State is going to be a very good team. They've got a new coach and a great program, and (Forward Chris) Crosby's a good player and all five guys on the court can shoot the ball. We're going to have to defend all guys, and it will be tough because they'll be dragging guys like Michael Wright and Loren Woods out to the perimeter with them.