The recruiter’s dilemma: Ex-Cat Pastner adapts to new world of college basketball

Ever since he was an Arizona walk-on guard three decades ago, the UNLV coach has had a gift for relationships, memorization and persuasiveness. A born recruiter, a hype man, whatever you want to call him.

But these days, it’s different. All the right words, all the right connections, sometimes still aren’t enough if the compensation package doesn’t work.

“Relationships are important,” Pastner said. “Now, it's financial. It's just a financial deal now. That's why you’ve got to be really good at evaluating to to try to find under-radar guys, undervalued guys, and then you've got to stay healthy. You're really trying to thread the needle.”

One of those under-the-radar guys last season was center Emmanuel Stephen, a little-used center at Arizona in 2024-25 who transferred to UNLV as a sophomore last season — then averaged 3.5 points and 4.2 rebounds for the Rebels before entering the transfer portal again.

“I love Emmanuel. He's a fine young man,” Pastner said. “He did some good things with us. He got better in some areas, and he just wanted to go to another school.

“He’s a good talent and he’ll get better as each year goes on.”

In all, UNLV retained only two players from 2025-26, while Pastner went out and signed eight newcomers. Formerly the head coach at Memphis and Georgia Tech, Pastner was hired at UNLV last spring and led the Rebels to an 18-17 record that included a 1-1 mark in the NIT.

"It was a probably a bigger rebuild than I initially thought, but there's a lot of good things that we did," Pastner said. "We've got to continue to get better, but overall I thought we had to establish culture, establish style of play, and establish our identity, and I think we accomplished that.

"Hopefully we'll make a jump in Year 2. I had a brand new team last year, and I've pretty much got a brand new team this year. That's just part of the deal in the new world of athletics."

Die-hard(headed)

While all 16 Section 7 courts were often packed over the weekend, the crowds were overwhelmingly made up of college coaches, media and players’ families.

Except for Joseph “Viking Angel” Lagunas.

He’s the guy who sat center court at Phoenix Sunnyslope’s games, wearing a horned Viking hat and angel wings on his back, gear he stores in his car and also pulls out when needed to root for his favorite team during the high school season.

“You get the same quality as a professional or college game, but for less,” he said. “Plus (at Sunnyslope) you have more of that small-town feel.”

Sunnyslope star center Darius Wabbington, a UA recruiting target in the class of 2027, said he sees Lagunas at all of his team’s home games and gave him a fist bump when passing by following the Vikings’ first game Saturday.

“He’s our guy,” Wabbington said.

This despite the fact that Lagunas actually has no formal ties to Sunnyslope, except for the fact that he lives nearby. Lagunas said he isn’t related to any of the players and actually attended Shadow Mountain, the high school where former UA guard Mike Bibby rose to fame and later coached.

“I don’t recognize my own school,” he said. “The school was different back then.”

Davis effect

You didn’t need to see Jalen Davis wearing an Adidas 3SSB T-shirt and sitting on the Bremerton (Wash.) High School team's bench to know he wasn’t playing against California’s Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. Nor did you need to look at the scoreboard, which showed Bremerton losing by 24 points.

All you needed to see was the stands around Court 1. They were nearly empty, unlike when Davis and Bremerton faced fellow UA target Adan Diggs and Goodyear Millennium on Friday.

In that game, Davis went off for 39 points despite suffering an injury near his thigh in the second half, leading Bremerton to a 70-68 win.

“I collided with somebody’s knee to my thigh,” Davis said Saturday. “It’s getting a lot better though.”

UA coach Tommy Lloyd — and likely many other high-major coaches — was expected to watch Davis if he had played Saturday. But the five-star guard in the class of 2027 said he’s still in contact with the UA staff, possibly to take a recruiting visit in the future.

“I have a relationship with Arizona and I have interest in them,” Davis said. “We keep each other connected.”

Wake-up call

Maybe there is something about how changing circadian rhythms can prompt teenagers to sleep in later, but that simply isn’t allowed for the ones who play elite-level basketball.

Waddington, for one, awoke at 6:20 a.m. Saturday, made his way over to the Arizona Athletic Grounds in time for an 8 a.m. tipoff and then poured in 21 points to lead Sunnyslope to a 71-67 win over Corner Canyon.

Afterward, he shrugged.

“I’m usually up early anyway, during school and working out in the mornings,” Wabbington said. “So I’m used to it.”

In what is a fairly normal pattern for summer club and high school events, Wabbington and the Vikings were forced to return for a second game Saturday five hours after their first game ended. They lost that one, 61-58 to Basha.

Alternative refreshers

While most of the concession business went to those selling the usual hot dogs, chicken tenders and pizza, two local vendors set up shop in the back of the Arizona Athletic Grounds food court.

One sold acai bowls and berry kabobs — strawberries and bananas bunched around chocolate — while an “Island Boba” stand fused boba teas and tropical flavors together.

Both stands were notably quiet, however.

The big number

1: Million dollars lost per month by the 320-acre complex known as Bell Bank Park and Legacy Park before it declared bankruptcy, was sold and rebranded as the Arizona Athletic Grounds, which now hosts the Section 7 event.