Josh Pastner doesn't want to play Tennessee

Josh Pastner made some waves on Monday during an interview he gave with Josh Ward and Will West on WNML-AM 990.

"I have no desire to play Tennessee," Pastner said. "I don't think it does us any good. I'm just being honest with you. For us, it’s a game that, I don't know why we play it, but we play it because the athletic director wants me to play it and he’s my boss and what he says goes."

After taking a three-year hiatus, the Vols and the Tigers have played every season since 2005-2006. They are currently scheduled to play this season and in 2012-2013, but beyond that the series is in doubt.


For Pastner, the issue comes down to recruiting. He wants to own Memphis, which is a hotbed of high school hoops. Proof? The YOMCA AAU program just won the 16U Peach Jam while the 17U team made it to the finals, where they lost to BABC and their seven high-major prospects. The current Tiger team has seven Memphis natives on the roster -- including star point guard Joe Jackson and starters Chris Crawford and Tarik Black -- while the jewel of their 2011 recruiting class, Adonis Thomas, is another hometown star.

Simply put, Pastner doesn't want to give Tennessee any kind of advantage recruiting the city.

And while that is understandable, in practice the Vols haven't had much success recruiting in the city. Only two players have signed with Tennessee from Memphis. One was Dane Bradshaw, a career-role player. The other was Chris Jones, who backed out of his LOI when Bruce Pearl was fired and is now headed to Florida to play at a JuCo.

Its silly to be arguing about this.

One game played every other year between Memphis and Tennessee in Memphis is going to have zero effect on recruiting. None. If a kid from Memphis -- which may be the tightest basketball community in the country -- really wants to play in front of Memphis fans, he will sign with Memphis. That's a fact.

But its also true that Tennessee and Memphis wasn't exactly a huge rivalry until Bruce Pearl and John Calipari came to town. Prior to that, the big game every season was against Louisville, when the two programs were bitter Conference USA rivals. That game has been renewed, which makes one wonder whether, with the loaded non-conference schedule that the Tigers always seem to play, the Tennessee game has become expendable.

It would be a shame to see a game as entertaining for the fans as Tennessee-Memphis is to be lost over recruiting issues.

But as long as the Memphis-Louisville rivalry continues, I'm sure that Tiger fans will be fine.