Twenty-seven years after the University of Arizona surprised the men’s college basketball world by taking home the 1997 title. The Wildcats fought through their relative inexperience to win the 1997 championship.
Though Arizona is called the Wildcats, they were certainly underdogs in the tournament. While they came into the tournament seeded fourth, national doubt surrounded whether the Wildcats could make the Final Four after being ranked just 15th in the country and losing their last two games of the season.
They trailed by double digits late before eking out a victory over South Alabama, then endured another scare against College of Charleston in the second round before freshman guard Mike Bibby saved the day. Next up was a bout against a No. 1-seeded Kansas.
“We had (South Alabama), then we had College of Charleston, which were very low-ranked teams,” former Wildcats forward Bennett Davison said.
Kansas, a top seed in the tournament, featured four players who had at least 10-year NBA careers: eventual Hall of Fame small forward Paul Pierce, power forward Raef LaFrentz, center Scot Pollard and point guard Jacque Vaughn.
While Arizona featured plenty of future professional talent of its own, they were undersized against Kansas’ frontcourt.
Pastner wouldn’t play a single second against Kansas, but the walk-on freshman’s presence proved to be pivotal in their 85-82 win and Arizona’s entire championship run.
Pastner both played for and coached his Houston Hoops AAU team in high school. Not receiving any scholarships to play basketball, he wrote to over 1,000 college basketball programs.
One of the only programs to write Pastner back was Lute Olson’s Wildcats, and Pastner made the team as a walk-on. Despite seldom receiving playing time, he quickly became a favorite amongst teammates for his infectious personality.
