Pagett Learning to Savor Moment

Some players carry their teams to victory at least once a week. A game-winning shot is just another drop in the basket.

For others, the highlights don’t come as often and that makes those moments especially sweet.

Feb. 4, 1989: In the final second of the first half against Nevada Las Vegas, freshman point guard Brett Pagett sinks a three-pointer--he was well beyond the stripe--but officials rule it a two-point shot. It turns out to be just enough for UC Irvine. The Anteaters upset the Rebels, 99-98.

March 9, 1991: Pagett hits four of five three-pointers and scores 16 points as Rancho Santiago wins its second consecutive State community college title with a 73-70 victory over Long Beach. It’s career victory No. 200 for Coach Dana Pagett, Brett’s father.

Jan. 11, 1992: Making his first start since early in the season, junior transfer Pagett makes three of four shots, including both his three-point attempts, scores 10 points with four assists, four steals and three rebounds as Washington upsets Washington State, 78-73, in overtime.

Pagett set a school assist record as a senior at Los Alamitos High. He did a lot of watching as a freshman at Irvine. He transferred to Rancho Santiago and was an all-conference pick, but two of his teammates were co-players of the year.

He’s not used to opening the morning paper to headlines such as: “Pagett Catches Cougs Off Guard” and “Transfer Guard Spurs UW Upset.”

That was the case Sunday, however.

“It’s been going real good up here,” he said from Seattle, “and it’s starting to get better.”

You could almost hear him smiling over the phone.

Sure, Pagett’s dad is a former USC standout and longtime coach. Sure, he was dribbling before he stopped dribbling. But like a lot of guys who are listed at 6-0 in the media guide and can’t jump out of the gym, Pagett finds himself overmatched at times.

“There are some great athletes on this level. Awesome athletes,” he said. “I’ve got decent quickness, but I just go as hard as I can and hope hustle can make up for size and athletics.”

Former Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan summed it up: “Brett plays as hard as is humanly possible.”

Saturday against Washington State, however, it paid off.

Pagett had started the first three games of the season for the Huskies before Coach Lynn Nance reduced his status to reserve. Pagett, who shot 43% from three-point range at Rancho Santiago, had made only five of 25 three-pointers before Saturday.

But players who never dog it in practice usually don’t stay in the doghouse for long. After all, Pagett was only guilty of trying too hard.

“I went a while when I wasn’t hitting my three-pointer and I was kind of letting that bother me,” Pagett said. “It kind of affected the rest of my game.

“The most important thing is to just not worry about it. I have to concentrate on the fact that I’m not here just to shoot the three-pointer. Coach Nance wants me to get the ball to the right people at the right time, play good defense and handle the ball under pressure.”

Nance, who says one of the reasons he recruited Pagett was his “fire,” figured he knew the cure for Pagett’s poor aim.

“Brett really came through (Saturday),” Nance said. “I’ve kind of theorized, along with my staff, that he would make some shots when it counted, that he would start hitting threes once he got in a game that was really tough. I’ve seen it before in competitive players.”

For the moment, Pagett has dodged this fall from grace. He’s back in the coach’s good graces and his shots are starting to fall.

So far, it’s all going according to plan.

Pagett chose Washington over Idaho, Indiana State and UC Santa Barbara. He canceled trips to Indiana State and Santa Barbara after his visit to Seattle.

He liked the clean air. He thought Seattle was a great city. He was impressed with the coaching staff. And there was another little thing: The Huskies had only one other point guard in the program.

“The fact that I thought I had a really good chance to play was a major factor,” he said.

Tonight, the Huskies play host to seventh-ranked Arizona in front of another 7,000-plus crowd. If Pagett performs well again, they will cheer again.

And his boyhood fantasies will be reality again.

Most youngsters dream about performing in front of a huge audience, but Pagett’s visions were unusually clear. When he was 7 years old, his father became an assistant coach at Utah State and the family moved to Logan, which is tucked in the mountains 85 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Pagett was a ballboy for the Aggies.

“The players were my idols,” he said. “I mean I was in third grade and there were 10,000 people in that place going crazy when these guys made baskets.

“I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ”

He always took a few shots during halftime and made enough to draw the attention of a television station that put together a short segment about him. “He was shooting those long set shots even back then,” Dana says, laughing.

Pagett has always had a pretty good tutor close at hand, but says his father never forced him to practice, or for that matter, even to play basketball.

“He always been there to help, but he’s always let me go my own way,” Pagett said. “He’ll push me if I want him to, but he’s never forced me.

“He’s been a great bonus for me. We’d watch games together and he’d show me things to look for, things to think about. He’s helped me use my head.”

Mulligan signed Pagett during the early signing period in 1988--despite the fact many questioned Pagett’s ability to compete on the Division I level--but, given the expectations, his freshman season with the Anteaters was a mild success. He averaged less than a point a game, but played in 15 games and had 14 assists, seven rebounds and five steals.

“I really enjoyed my freshman year,” he said. “Considering (guards) Rod Palmer and Kevin Floyd were there, I ended up playing a lot more than I thought I would.”

Determined to arrive for his sophomore season in the best shape of his life, Pagett hit the outdoor courts with a vengeance in the summer of 1989. For his feet, it turned out to be a season of discomfort. By the time practice began, his arches were so sore he could barely walk onto the court.

As it turned out, that buzzer shot at halftime against UNLV was Pagett’s self-proclaimed “career highlight at UC Irvine.”

“I guess the pounding on my feet from playing outdoors all summer just destroyed my arches,” Pagett said. “Both feet kept gradually getting worse and worse. Then, when I sat back and looked at it, I just didn’t think I was in UCI’s future plans.

“I think Bill Mulligan is a great, great guy, but I just didn’t see a lot of playing time ahead. I thought I needed to play a lot and a (community college) was perfect for that.”

When Pagett told his father he wanted to come play for him, the elder Pagett’s immediate reaction was not unlike any father who had just been informed that his son was dropping out of a UC school to attend community college.

“I said, ‘If you’re sure that’s what you want to do, but, you know, coming out of here, you may not get a scholarship and if things don’t work out right, you’ll be living at home and going to Long Beach State.’

“I had never really thought much about Brett playing for me. UC Irvine wanted to sign him during the early signing period and we thought that would be a good situation for him.

“He had a good freshman year, I think, but when he hurt his feet and then saw that he probably wasn’t going to play as much as he wanted, he came to me and said, ‘Dad, I’d like to come play for you. This will be my only chance.’ ”

Pagetts and Co. responded with a 35-2 season.

“That was the greatest season of my life,” Brett Pagett said. “The team was really good. The guys were the greatest, and we won it all. What more could you ask?”

If he had three wishes, Dana Pagett might ask for the chance to do it over again. This time, he would step back, soak in the feeling, revel in the father-son moment.

“I don’t know that we really enjoyed it while we were doing it,” he said. “You’re so intense in wanting to succeed.

“In fact, Brett had a bad game in the quarterfinals against King’s River. We had a team meeting and I told Brett to stay after. I said, ‘You’ve got to lighten up a little. Go out there and play and stop worrying.’

“He said, ‘Dad, I want to win the championship so bad for you.’

That’s when Dana Pagett realized that winning really isn’t everything.

“I said, ‘Geez, don’t worry about me. You go out there, play hard and have fun.’ ”

He played hard, of course, and somehow managed to “loosen up and find my rhythm.” The Dons hit their stride, won two more games and another State title “for dad.”

Whatever happens next for Brett Pagett, that’s a career highlight worth more than a million game-winning shots.