Georgia Tech Men’s Head Basketball Coach Josh Pastner joined Dukes and Bell Tuesday to talk about the latest with the Yellow Jackets, Zion Williamson and the one-and-done rule.
Pastner on why the team has struggled since his first season at Georgia Tech...
“First off losing stinks," said Pastner. "When we took over ,obviously, it was a rebuild. We had a tremendous first year and we overachieved. Last year we were very young. The thing that hurt us this year was not preparing for the loss of Josh Okogie and that’s on me. To lose a guy after his sophomore year who was a three-star recruit, you didn’t prepare for that. So when he told me he was leaving ,I knew we were in trouble. In order for us to improve and stay good we need to get old and stay old.”
Coach told the guys what it will take to build a perennial contender on the flats.
“Everyone wants instant success,” Pastner said “I think success for us in this league is getting old and staying old. That’s not to say we can’t have success in recruiting, you have to recruit well.”
When asked about Duke's Zion Williamson...
“Zion is an incredible talent; the speed and power that he has is incredible,” said Pastner. “He would not have been the No. 1 pick in the draft if it wasn’t for college basketball. I recruited him in high school. He wasn’t in shape and he’s gotten significantly better. Think about the marketing that college basketball has done for him. I agree that if you don’t want to go to college, you don’t have to. But that’s not a college basketball rule, that’s an NBA rule. But Zion has benefitted from college basketball. Has college basketball benefitted from him? Yes.”
Pastner talked about the type of player the Jackets need to recruit.
“We play great defense, we are one of the top teams defensively since I’ve got here,” Pastner said. “But we have to go get some guys who are bucket-makers. No one wants to see us score 40 points a game. You have to have that stud and we did in Josh Okogie and now he’s playing for the Timberwolves in the NBA.”
Coach Pastner added that the ACC has four potential NCAA championship teams and that outside of the NBA, the ACC is the best league in the world.