TULSA, Okla. - They told Josh Pastner his podium interview session was winding down, so he looked toward a media member in the back.
"Brian Jeffries, I'm disappointed you didn't get a question in," Pastner said.
The UA's radio broadcaster did actually have a question, he just hadn't had the microphone passed to him yet. When he did get the mic, Jeffries asked the question that may have been the best of the day.
"I was just checking the 1996 Arizona media guide and I noticed your favorite TV show was "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,' " Jeffries said with a smile. "I wondered if you wanted to update that at all?"
Pastner loved it. He went into a long talk about his new TV faves.
"That's definitely been updated," Pastner said. "I've moved now into the Discovery Channel.... As you know I'm a big law enforcement fan and military fan. I watch the Military Channel. But one of the things I don't know if anyone's seen is I Survived. Have you ever seen those things? It's fascinating. The will to want to live in dire needs and dire situations. Again, one of the things we talk about with our team is the preciousness and the gift of life.
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But that's one of my favorite shows, and I will watch that late at night. "I Survive" believe it or not. But I watch the Military Channel, I watched Cops. I've moved from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." I've grown out of that though. I have longer hair too now from that picture and that time."
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Pastner went out of his way to say hello to virtually every Arizona media member, and he was asked if it felt surreal to walk down memory lane.
"I had great times at Arizona," Pastner said. "I loved every second of it and I wa there for 12 years. I loved the U of A. I love Tucson. ... But right now I bleed blue and gray. I'm with Memphis. And that's my focus, making sure that we're ready to go on Friday."
"It might be a little more awkward if coach Olson was coaching, you know what I mean? But other than that....I stay up late at night and watch the Arizona games. I'm rooting for them all the time when I'm watching them during the season. This will be the one time I'm not rooting for them."
Pastner said he has traded voice mails with Olson and expected his mentor would be rooting for the Wildcats.
"He spent his career there," Pastner said. "I've had a lot of people say `Hey, we love you coach but we gotta root for Arizona on this one,' which I understand and respect."
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Somebody asked Memphis' Will Barton how it felt to be the underdog.
"Uh," Barton said, looking seriously at the questioner. "Who said we were the underdog?"
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Line of the day so far - Arizona has yet to do interviews - may have come from Oakland coach Greg Kampe, when he was informed that President Obama picked Texas to beat the Grizzlies.
"I didn't vote for him, either, so I guess we're even now," Kampe said.
Kampe also said he figures he might get local fans to root for his Grizzlies.
"I think that from what I've been told people in Oklahoma don't like Texas," he said, "and I've been told if we can get going, they're going to be cheering for us."
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I asked Kampe how Laval Lucas-Perry did in practice this year (he's a redshirt transfer now, having come from Arizona via Michigan).
"We tried to get him eligible this year, we did appeal," Kampe said. "Man, would he -- he's a good player. He's a big, strong kid. In our offense, I think he'll really thrive in the fast pace up and down, dribble-drive stuff that we do. We expect great things out of him next year."
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Here's the transcripts of the podium interviews of Memphis.
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I'll have more in the afternoon after Arizona conducts its interviews and public shootaround. The Wildcats already held a private practice at the University of Tulsa.
