Cal State Bakersfield vs. Arizona

Arizona head coach Sean Miller, left, and associate head coach Joe Pasternack try to get the Wildcats offense set in the second half against Cal State Bakersfield at McKale Center, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, Tucson, Ariz. Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

 Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

While OSU Wayne Tinkle wore a net around his neck to his postgame news conference on Saturday, two former UA assistant coaches celebrated having clinched spots in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday: Georgia Tech'sΒ  Josh Pastner and UCSB's Joe Pasternack.

The Beavers took full advantage of the gift Arizona gave them by choosing to not play in the postseason: OSU took Arizona's No. 5 seed and, because there were only 11 teams in the tournament, that meant five teams instead of four received byes.

OSU then went out and beat UCLA, Oregon and Colorado to win the title, a surprise -- but not a huge surprise, considering OSU had beaten the league's top two finishers, Oregon and USC, during the regular season.

β€œI think everybody that we hugged we talked about this is why you came to Oregon State,” Tinkle said, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. β€œEven the young fellas, the Cali boys (Julien Franklin, Gianni Hunt and Jarod Lucas), because we knew if we got everybody on the same page and bought in that we could do tremendous things because of the way we do our deal.”

Meanwhile, Pasternack will be making his first NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach after leading the Gauchos to the Big West regular-season and tournament titles.Β 

Ironically, Big West Tournament MVP JaQuori McLaughlin was both an Oregon State transfer and once an Arizona recruiting target.Β  He had 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, while teammate Amadou Sow, had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

β€œFor us to beat Irvine, (Sow) was going to have to get double-figure rebounding, and he did that,” coach Joe Pasternack said, according to the Santa Barbara News Press. β€œJaQuori was the Player of the Year in this league, and it was like he had ice in his veins.

β€œEvery shot he took, I felt like it was going in. I think he did, as well. And he’s been our leader this entire year. I’m just so happy for both these guys.”

Then there was Pastner, rocking his face mask while ESPN covered the Yellow Jackets' win over Miami in the ACC title game, soaking up ESPN's postgame interview and a long list of Zoom media questions.

β€œIt was humongous for Georgia Tech – the exposure, the publicity, the recognition,” he said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. β€œIt was obviously the largest audience we’ve played in (front of) since, what, since Georgia Tech was last in the Final Four.”

Pastner also said he will hold his promise of allowing his players to style his hair as they want. Maybe even with braids.

"If that’s what they want to do, that’s what I’ll do,” Pastner said, according to the Journal-Constitution. β€œI’m going to try to convince them and say, β€˜Hey, guys, let’s get through the tournament.’ I’d rather keep my hair as it is. Maybe I’ll say it’s a good-luck charm. We’ve won eight in a row, I haven’t got a haircut.”

Meanwhile, UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who worked under Pastner at Memphis, passed along congratulations.

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