Josh has good bloodlines and connections

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Kingwood Classic brings everyone to Houston
By Josh Gershon, GOAZCATS.com Senior Editor
Apr 17, 3:00 am EDT

When the Houston Kingwood Classic started back in 1995, there were 12 teams playing on one court at Kingwood High School, located in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

Now, the premier AAU basketball event in the country, the Houston Kingwood Classic will feature 681 teams playing in 1,333 games on 66 courts over a 48-hour period starting Friday, April 18 at 6:30pm CT.

At the first Kingwood Classic, there probably wasn’t a college coach in the gym.

Now, every single college in any division of basketball that takes itself the least bit seriously will be represented at the event in some capacity, and in many cases all three coaches who are allowed on the road will be in Houston.

When the Kingwood Classic started, Microsoft Windows 95 hadn’t even been released yet and most people using the Internet were stuck on America Online, Prodigy or Compuserve using a dialup connection.


Now, fans can sit at home and watch the tournament live on their computers.

The first Kingwood Classic featured 12 teams, all of which were local.

Now, teams fly to Houston from Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas and all around the world to participate in the Kingwood Classic.

When Hal Pastner, father of UA assistant Josh (who was a senior at Kingwood High School at the time), started the event, he was working for a manufacturing company in Houston.

Hal grew up in Philadelphia, where he was the ball boy for the 76ers. He missed three games in eight years and thankfully one of the few he missed wasn’t the game when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.

Hal’s father, who worked in the music recording industry, drove him to every game. When Hal, 56, moved to Houston with his wife 26 years ago, his parents stayed in Philadelphia. 10 years ago, his father died of a heart attack in his seat at a Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys game that Hal was watching on television.

You’ll have a tough time finding a family as sports obsessed and hard-working as the Pastner’s.

Josh is known as having one of the best work ethics amongst D-I assistants and won a national championship as a freshman at Arizona.

His sister, Courtney, was the 1999 Gatorade Player of the Year in Texas. She played at Texas Tech and was in the Elite Eight of the women’s basketball NCAA tournament the same year Josh was in the Elite Eight of the men’s tourney.

Their younger brother, Austin, is a junior at the University of Texas and will serve as the Kingwood Classic’s tournament director.

Austin is the most likely of the Pastner kids to follow in the steps of his father; he recently started a company named University Destination that helps college kids travel to spring break destinations, amongst other services.

Today, Hal Pastner runs Vision Sports, the premier company when it comes to putting on AAU tournaments. How significant has Vision Sports been to youth basketball? Pastner estimates that over 85% of the American-born players in the NBA have participated in at least one of his events.

Over the next 11 days, Vision Sports will put on the Houston Kingwood Classic, Las Vegas Spring Showcase and Texas Spring Showcase.

In that period, Pastner is responsible for at least 1,131 teams and over 13,000 players. He’s spent the past weeks placing every single team in pools and brackets, by hand, to make sure that every single coach’s request is taken care.

“I hand do every single game in the brackets,” Pastner said. “I started weeks ago and I hand do every game because I meet every team’s requests for scheduling. Whatever they request, we give them good customer satisfaction. That’s how we built this up, with good organization and good customer satisfaction.”

The Houston Kingwood Classic, specifically, will have all 1,333 games played in less than a 48-hour period. The tournament has grown to the point where there are games are seemingly in almost every suburb of Houston except Kingwood.

NCAA rules don’t allow college coaches to watch Friday’s games, but they’ll pack the gyms on Saturday and Sunday, which are by far the two most hectic days of the spring and summer for a D-I coach.

If you don’t know who you’re going to recruit heading into the event, you’ll know afterwards.

The Kingwood Classic has so many players every year that there are more storylines than one could ever remember, from the rich getting richer to the diamond in the rough being discovered.

Many of the best players in the NBA have made it to the last game in Kingwood, years before the rest of the world knew who they were.

“Greg Oden and Mike Conley played in the championship game,” Pastner recalls. “Kevin Love won the championship, Kyle Singler won the championship, Rashard Lewis won the championship, T.J. Ford lost the championship. Tyson Chandler won the championship here.”

“It’s funny, my younger son, who knows all the players, will sometimes watch an NBA game and say, ‘dad, just about every player on the court has played in the Kingwood Classic.’”

The list of players who couldn’t survive the field at Kingwood is obviously much bigger and more impressive than those who have. Kevin Durant is just one of hundreds players who have been in the NBA who didn’t make the title game.

Most have gone on with their lives without a Kingwood title, while others haven’t handled it so well.

“O.J. Mayo always said that his dream in high school was to win the Houston Kingwood Classic,” Pastner said. “Every year he would come here, he would say ‘this is my favorite event because only the strong survive.’ He loved it. He came year after year after year but would always lose in like the final four; he couldn’t win it.

“Once he committed to USC he couldn’t play again, but when he committed, he actually made a statement that he almost didn’t commit because he wanted to play in one more Houston Kingwood Classic because he wanted to win the championship.

“He was going to commit after the tournament. It was that important to him.”

To Pastner, the event isn’t just important for the players that are all over college coaches’ list of targets. He takes just as much pride in providing a tournament that helps kids get discovered who otherwise might not have been.

No one had heard of the Smyrna Stars’ Korvotney Barber when he showed up to the Houston Kingwood Classic in 2004. In the days after the tournament, he picked up offers from schools such as Georgia Tech, Alabama, Florida and Kentucky. Barber later signed with Auburn and made the McDonald’s All-American team.

Barber just completed his junior season at Auburn, where the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 13.8 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. If he didn’t show up to Kingwood, there’s no telling where his career would have taken him.

Lightning struck twice. In 2005, the Smyrna Stars, led by UA sophomore forward Jordan Hill, were in the Kingwood Classic, but no one was watching.

“No one had ever heard of the name Jordan Hill. He wasn’t even top 300,” Pastner said. “Jordan Hill came to this event and his team was buried in some obscure gym because there were 66 courts.

“His team kept winning and winning over the weekend and got to the main court. He had a monster game for the Smyrna Stars and everybody was going ‘who is this kid?’”

Josh Pastner had been given a tip to check out Hill and watched the Smyrna Stars play in their last game of the Kingwood Classic. Hill’s 12 points and 15 rebounds in a semifinal loss to the Houston Swoosh Blue was enough to earn a scholarship offer from the UA.

Three weeks later, he was committed to Arizona. Three years later, Hill is expected to be one of the top big men in the Pac-10 in his junior season after averaging 13.2 points and 7.9 rebounds a game as a sophomore.

If he didn’t show up to the Houston Kingwood Classic, there’s no telling if Hill would have even played college basketball.

The list of players that have been discovered at the event go on. Texas A&M freshman center DeAndre Jordan seems destined for the NBA lottery but before he was a well known commodity, he showed up to the Kingwood Classic as a player with something to prove.

“No one had ever heard of DeAndre Jordan,” Pastner said. “He came to Kingwood, worked his way through the gyms and blew up.”

“People know who he is now,” wrote Rivals.com’s Justin Young following the 2005 Kingwood Classic. “More importantly, college coaches know who he is now. Jordan said he’s received scholarship offers from Arizona, Texas, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech since the Kingwood.”

Pastner says that one of the most exciting aspects of the tournament is the fact that so many players will make a name for themselves this weekend.

“I can’t even remember the names of all these players in the pros that no one had ever heard of until they came to this event,” Pastner said.

“Coming into the event, who is going to step up and make themselves known? I love the kids who are known, but I love the kids who have to step up to make themselves known and explode onto the national scene.”

With over 8,000 players participating this weekend, it goes without saying that the vast majority of kids in the Houston Kingwood Classic will never play college basketball.

That’s why it’s important to Pastner to provide a memorable experience for not only those who the event will feature, but also for the thousands whose basketball careers will never go anywhere.

“To me, just as important is the worst player in the tournament who is just happy to participate,” Pastner said. “He’s as important to me as everybody else. I want to be a good role model for every kid in this event and make sure they have a great experience.

“I understand that not everybody is there to get a scholarship or be the #1 rated player. There are people who feel it’s a thrill to participate in this event or play alongside some of these (highly touted) players.”

Even if you’re a kid who will never go on to play college basketball, the Kingwood Classic can still provide you with an experience you’ll never forget.

“I remember about four years ago Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook, all three of them were in a game in pool play and a local team without any players that wasn’t known literally had them beat,” Pastner recalled.

“They were up by five and lost the game in the last 30 seconds to minute of the game. What a thrill to even play him and they almost beat Greg Oden’s team. Then Oden’s team made the championship and lost to Louis Williams’ team, the Georgia Stars, in the championship.

“What a thrill for those kids to even play against him at that point. Of course they didn’t know where history would take him, that he’d eventually be the #1 pick.”

In the Houston Kingwood Classic’s 13-year existence, Pastner’s Houston Hoops AAU program has won two championships. The first came in 1999 and was coached by Josh Pastner, who at the time was also a player at Arizona.

The first title team featured Rashard Lewis and Marcus Spears, who would go on to play in the NFL. The second championship was in 2002 and featured Daniel Gibson, Ndudi Ebi and Tack Minor.

It could be argued that since the Houston Hoops were created around 20 years ago, it’s been the premier AAU program in the country. The Hoops have produced over 20 players in the NBA, NFL or WNBA, have sent hundreds of players to the D-I level and dozens of Houston Hoops alumni are playing overseas.

Beyond Lewis, Spears, Gibson, Ebi and Minor, the Hoops have featured players such as T.J. Ford, Stephen Jackson, David Boston (NFL), Emeka Okafor, Lawrence Roberts, Robert Ferguson (NFL), Desmond Mason and Kendrick Perkins.

As an example of how difficult it is to win the Houston Kingwood Classic, the Hoops alumni have combined to make well over $100,000,000 in NBA salary, and yet the program has only won the tournament twice.

Each year, the Houston Kingwood Classic becomes a much bigger deal and it’s a sign of how basketball has changed in this country since Pastner first started the tournament.

While these words would never come from his mouth, Pastner’s events have been a big part of that change, as he’s provided an avenue for kids in all walks of life to focus on basketball instead of, in some cases, drugs and gangs.

“I think basketball has replaced baseball, like what the little leagues were growing up,” he said. “Now people want to play basketball. There’s not really an organized system and that’s why my events have become so big. That’s why I feel so obligated to make them good.”

However, the current system is under fire and those most responsible for organized basketball in the United States are threatening to make a change.

Recently, NBA commissioner David Stern and NCAA president Myles Brand have condemned the youth basketball system and are trying to steer kids away from AAU and towards a joint venture put on by the NBA and NCAA.

“You’re 14 or 15 years old and you’re potentially an elite basketball player,” Brand told USA Today. “Here you have the NBA and the NCAA working jointly with the shoe companies and USA Basketball, and they’re sanctioning a certain type of event and certain coaches. Why would you not listen to them if you wanted a future in basketball?

“That’s the way we’re going to deal with it and not try to regulate competitors out of business.”

Pastner feels that Stern and Brand don’t have a good pulse for youth basketball and that changing the system would be a bad move for the kids.

“David Stern and Myles Brand want to create all these things because they’re concerned about the state of the union with the players,” Pastner said. “All they’re concerned about are the 14 players on the Olympic team.

“They talk about the summer coaches aren’t good guys and aren’t doing it right. Well I disagree. I think that there are hundreds and maybe thousands of coaches who might not be the most polished, but let me tell you, they have good hearts.

“Most of them are taking time from work to be with the kids. They’re spending out of their own pocket to keep these kids off the streets.

“They might not always be the best coaches and they might be the best dressed and they don’t always know how to handle themselves, but they’re good people with good hearts that are doing their best.

“They get a thrill out of being involved and it’s a chance for them to be with their own sons. It’s a lot better than the alternative.

“Then you have guys like David Stern, sitting in his ivory tower, and Miles Brand, saying ‘we have to change this.’ All they care about are the 14 players who are going to make the Olympic team. They’re disregarding the tens and thousands of kids who are playing and the thousands of coaches who are giving their heart and souls.

“They’re really missing the boat and have lost touch with the reality of what’s really happening in the grassroots today.”

While the NCAA and NBA are attempting to fix something that most involved with AAU basketball feel isn’t broken, Pastner will continue to work hard for all the kids, from those who have a chance to play in the NBA to those who will never play a second of college basketball.

Pastner realizes the influence that his events can have on kids and he says that when he’s finished working in youth basketball, he hopes he’s remembered for his work ethic and everything he’s tried to do for teenagers over the past 15 years.

“I’ve been a good role model for the kids and that I’ve given 100% of my effort,” Pastner said when asked what he hopes for people to remember him by.

“This is the same thing I teach my kids. When you’re between the lines, you do not cheat yourself. You have to be honest to yourself and give it 110%. I talk about defense and that it’s about heart, it’s about soul.

“I tell the kids, when you’re playing someone, when that young man goes to sleep at night, he should be seeing your face in his pillows because you shut him down. I talk about defense, I talk about rebounding, I talk about every play wire to wire, giving 100%.

“You will succeed in life through hard work. That’s what I try to do and when I’m done, I can say that I’ve worked hard to be a good role model for all 8,000 kids who will play in Kingwood this weekend.

“The buck stops with me; the responsibility that I will be a good role model for all 8,000 kids and work hard and do my best to make sure it’s been a great experience for all of them.”

A true pioneer when it comes to youth basketball in the United States, you can be sure that Hal Pastner will continue to find ways to help kids in the form of basketball, regardless of what rules are made above him.

“Every young man, every single person is important to me,” Pastner says. “That’s why I work so hard to give them 100%.”

If Pastner comes, our already stellar recruiting will take one more step up.

I can definitely see Pastner becoming a Cal protege. Both are recruiting prodigies and managed to have success at a very young age. We're gonna have some rare talent on our bench if we land this guy (not that we haven't already).

Don't get me wrong. Olson is a legend but he has visibly slowed down the last few years. If you add Pastner to the nucleus that is lead by Cal with and up and comer like Strickland and Robic; recruiting is going to blow up even more even if that seems impossible.

D20 Wrote:I can definitely see Pastner becoming a Cal protege. Both are recruiting prodigies and managed to have success at a very young age. We're gonna have some rare talent on our bench if we land this guy (not that we haven't already).

I would say that because he is an incredible recruiter; that Pastner would have an equal to better shot over Barbee and Kellogg if he stays here for 3 or 4 years. He will be on campus, and it won't be easy for Barbee or Kellogg to get the results that they need to make the jump.

Stammers Wrote:Don't get me wrong. Olson is a legend but he has visibly slowed down the last few years. If you add Pastner to the nucleus that is lead by Cal with and up and comer like Strickland and Robic; recruiting is going to blow up even more even if that seems impossible.

I almost don't care if we sign Ebanks; I'd much prefer an athletic big aka the mystery recruit (I'd prefer Harris personally) as our last signee. As I said a month ago, Witherspoon to me was a more important signee than Ebanks because we know WW will more likely than not be here for three or four years.

This summer and fall is what I'm excited about. Pastner can help us seal the deal on some of the five star guys we're after. If we lock up two of Henry, Stephenson and Wall or (God help us) all three, 2010 squad will be the most talented squad we've ever had particularly if Evans returns for his sophomore year.

dexterreed Wrote:

Stammers Wrote:Don't get me wrong. Olson is a legend but he has visibly slowed down the last few years. If you add Pastner to the nucleus that is lead by Cal with and up and comer like Strickland and Robic; recruiting is going to blow up even more even if that seems impossible.

I almost don't care if we sign Ebanks; I'd much prefer an athletic big aka the mystery recruit (I'd prefer Harris personally) as our last signee. As I said a month ago, Witherspoon to me was a more important signee than Ebanks because we know WW will more likely than not be here for three or four years.

This summer and fall is what I'm excited about. Pastner can help us seal the deal on some of the five star guys we're after. If we lock up two of Henry, Stephenson and Wall or (God help us) all three, 2010 squad will be the most talented squad we've ever had particularly if Evans returns for his sophomore year.

I definitely still care if we sign Ebanks. He should be a two-year stud ... unless I'm deluding myself by thinking any top-15 recruit hasn't already decided he'll be in the NBA in a year.

Cal will make the right decision. If Ebanks is who we need (regardless of how many years he stays), then we'll sign him. If not, we won't. It all looks to me like we might be going soft on Ebanks, not the other way around. If pieces are still falling into place for our mystery big, I'd expect Ebanks to choose another school...doesn't mean that WE weren't the reason he chose another school.

We really need Ebanks if the mystery recruit doesn't come. We are going to need the fouls from the committee of Taggart, Dozier, Simpkins, Ebanks and Niles at the 4/5.

mystery recruit seems to have passed...

HoopDreams Wrote:mystery recruit seems to have passed...

Some people are gonna be seriously disappointed. People flipped out about the mystery recruit like it was the golden calf of this recruiting class. I'll trust that Cal's prediction of signing one more player and leave it at that.

I will be disappointed if they don't sign another big...even if it is some 6-7, 220 JUCO who is only known for hustling...I just think they need another rotation body for next season - the problem is that signing a mid-level big cuts into 09 scholarships and beyond...but maybe I am wrong - maybe the five post guys on the roster heading into next season are enough...like I always say, in CUSA play and against probably more than half our OOC schedule, guys like Robinson and Ebanks (if he comes) can play the four position for stretches...

We really need Ebanks if the mystery recruit doesn't come. We are going to need the fouls from the committee of Taggart, Dozier, Simpkins, Ebanks and Niles at the 4/5.
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I agree that it will be 4/5 by committee next year and I hope Ebanks is a member of the committee. I don't expect Niles to play any more minutes next year than this year. Hope I'm wrong, but I think he suits up at 300+ again in November. He is who he is.