Pervis Pasco

4/5: "Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College center Pervis Pasco has made his decision. "He has committed to K-State," Pensacola head coach Paul Swanson said. Pasco really enjoyed his visit to Manhattan on February 28 and that was a key factor in the decision according to Swanson. "He got a chance to relax and get to know the people on the visit. He got to see what it was like and he felt really comfortable." "Pervis has the ability to be a great player for K-State. He can come in and help them make it to the next level as a program." Pasco averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds per game this past season. Pasco is on course to graduate this summer. "He has his course work all laid out for him to get it done this summer," Swanson said. "Unless something unknown pops up he should be fine. He'll continue to work and graduate late this summer." - Kansas State.rivals.com

3/24: "On the recruiting trail, the staff is looking for a big man who can score and has honed in on 7-foot sophomore Moustapha Diagne of Trinity Valley Junior College in Athens, Texas, and 6-9 power forward Pervis Pasco of Pensacola Junior College of Pensacola, Fla. "We have to get some inside guys who are going to rebound every once," Huggins said." - CincyPost.com

2/28: selected to the All-Panhandle Conference Team.

2/25: Pasco had 21pts in an easy win. This was the last game of their regular season.

2/17: Pasco scored 10 in the first half, but 14 for the game in a loss to Marcus Hatten and Tallahassee CC. - Pensacola News Journal

2/15: Pasco scored just 11 in a loss to Okaloosa Walton JC. - Pensacola News Journal

2/8: "Pervis Pasco scored 23 points to lead six Pensacola Junior College players in double figures as the Pirates whipped Gulf Coast 99-85 on Wednesday at Panama City. He added 9 reb's." - Pensacola News Journal

1/26: 1/26: listed as a "Tier Two" juco (the 2nd highest rating). This puts him in the top 20 Juco's in the country. - PrepStars

1/23/01: An excellent article and photo essay on Pervis Pasco.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/012301/Sports/ST001.shtml

Pasco trying for major-college effort
Doug Haller, @PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Paul Swanson knocks on the dorm-room door just before 8 a.m. and listens to the silence. Nothing suggests life exists on the other side. "Pervis?'' he yells. The morning brings a new semester to Pensacola Junior College, but no one seems eager to embrace it. Outside, Ninth Avenue traffic makes the only noise. A few people wearing jackets hustle to class. A few more search for parking spots.

The basketball coach sighs heavily and knocks again, three times, quickly, obnoxiously. He knows Pervis Pasco has been awake. Thirty minutes earlier, his star sophomore selected the word of the day during breakfast. Swanson will quiz the team on the definition of "coalition'' later. For now, he wants to make sure Pasco is in class.

Pasco already has wasted one opportunity. Like many junior- college athletes, he ignored his grades during high school, costing him a Division I scholarship. Swanson specializes in exorcising such demons. When the Division I recruiters backed off Pasco two years ago, he was quick with his sales pitch. He told him that PJC emphasized academics and discipline. In his program, the team studies together, eats together, wins together.

He hears movement inside the apartment and the door finally opens. Pasco squints as his eyes adjust to the light. He explains he had rushed home after breakfast to take a quick nap. "Thought you had an 8 o'clock?'' Swanson says.

"Nah, my first class isn't until 9:30,'' Pasco answers in a voice just above a whisper.

"Well, I want you to be on time.''

"I know. I'll be there.''
***
Pervis Pasco is 6-foot-9 and can run with the quickness and precision of a sports car weaving through traffic.

When PJC's opposition scores, he often reverses and sprints the length of the floor, turning to catch a full-court pass like a football receiver racing for a touchdown.

To see him move so swiftly is surprising considering off the court Pasco never seems to be in much of a hurry. He walks in a deliberate motion, his hands often tucked into pockets, his long legs seldom reaching full stride.

He's the last to arrive to a pregame shoot-around on a recent day at PJC's Lou Ross Center. His shoes are untied and his practice shorts hang halfway down his rear. A long T-shirt goes untucked and hides a tattoo on his right shoulder that reads ``Never Nervous.''

He yells at a teammate and laughs, a soft chuckle that erupts into a high-pitched cackle.

"C'mon, Perv. Get in there,'' Swanson says. ``We don't have much time.''

In two hours, the Pirates will load three vans and ride 55 miles to play Okaloosa-Walton, the country's top-rated junior college team. Pasco likely will play a key role. He averages 20.6 points and 9.5 rebounds and has the ability to dominate both ends of the floor.

The good news is that his production has attracted the attention of several Division I schools, including CINCINNATI, Xavier, Utah and Kansas State.

The bad is that it could've happened two years ago.

In that sense, Pasco's no different from the rest of his teammates. Swanson can look across the court and identify at least five Division I talents with little hesitation. Problem is, they couldn't cut it academically. "Just about all the kids we have are here for one of two reasons,'' he said earlier from his office. "They either have to work on their grades, or they have to improve their game.''

Pasco always had the game. When he was 13, his father would come home in the middle of the night, his mind racing from a truck-driving job. He'd wake his son and together they'd walk a quarter mile to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center. There, they'd play until 2 a.m., father against son, no blood, no foul. "It got rough sometimes, but I wanted to train him,'' Pervis Pasco Sr., said from Jacksonville. "If he had a weakness, that's what he worked on.''

But Pasco's parents separated in 1994. Pervis was 14 at the time, torn between his mother and father. He moved four times the next four years, attended four different schools. He rarely studied, and if he did, it was only to maintain basketball eligibility. By the time he was a Clearwater High School senior, junior college was the only option. And that's when Swanson stopped by.
+++
Paul Swanson enters the visitors' locker room and storms to a chalk board wedged between a row of lockers and a bathroom stall. "There's no excuse for King to have that many open shots,'' he says harshly. ``So from now, if he does anything, he's dribbling to his left. He's not going to his right and he's not shooting an open shot. Is that understood?''

PJC had led by seven two minutes into the contest, but then Okaloosa-Walton's shooting touch surfaced. Demetrius King buried four 3-pointers. His teammates contributed four. At halftime, PJC trailed 44-33 and Pasco was frustrated. Because his long dashes down court were slowed, he had five points and six rebounds. "Perv, as you get tired, don't shoot the turn-around jump shot,'' Swanson says. "Take (your defender) to the basket. Make something happen.''

Pasco nods and puts on his warmups. He's not trying to fool anybody. Though he keeps his grade-point average above 2.0 for eligibility purposes, basketball remains the reason he's in school. Remove that and he says he'd probably be somewhere working construction. Maybe in electronics.

An English teacher recently assigned him an essay. The topic was "Who you'd most like to be for a day.'' Pasco chose NBA All-Star Vince Carter. The plan is to one day join him. "I'll play in the CBA, overseas. Whatever it takes to get there,'' he said.

As the Pirates prepare to leave the locker room, Swanson offers a timetable for regaining the lead. With five minutes left in the game, he wants a 10-point advantage. "We can beat this team,'' he says.

But not on this night. Though the Pirates cut the deficit to four, they can't stop Okaloosa-Walton defensively. With five minutes remaining, they trail 69-54. The final is 78-66. After the game, Pasco dresses quickly and heads for the parking lot. He finished with 14 points, but missed 12-of-17 shots, which he finds perplexing. "I don't know what was wrong,'' he says. "I wasn't tired. It wasn't that physical. I just missed shots, and most of them were layups. That's what makes me mad.''

On the way home, he asks assistant coach Dwayne Kelley about a lob play PJC used to run. He thinks it'd work again. "We'll work on it,'' Kelley says. The three vans arrive at PJC at 10:45 p.m., and once again, the campus is empty. Pasco exits with his pillow in hand, a duffel bag over his shoulder.

Swanson gathers his players and reminds them of the next day's routine. He wants everyone in the players' lounge eating breakfast at 7:30. He wants them in class, at study table. No excuses. He looks at Pasco and the tired sophomore nods.

Is the message getting across? For the most part, Pasco has responded well to Swanson's demands. He understands the importance of his grades and realizes that without them, basketball is meaningless. For him, a Division I scholarship can't be accepted without a junior-college degree. But it's still a process. In eight days Pasco will get caught with his girlfriend in his apartment past curfew. Swanson will suspend him for a game. The Pirates will lose their third in a row. Discipline seldom comes easily. - Pensacola News

= = =
1/18: "According to PJC Head Coach Paul Swanson, the most serious suitors for Pasco's services are CINCINNATI, Kansas State, Alabama, South Florida, Georgia and Xavier. Most of those programs have been into evaluate Pasco this winter or fall. The question surrounding Pasco attending one of the above programs next fall have nothing to do with his basketball ability. Swanson said the graduation issue will dictate which of the above programs decide to stay in the process with Pasco this spring. Right now, Pasco will need some summer courses in order to graduate. If he slips in the classroom this winter, that of course could bump down his graduation timetable to next December. As a result, Swanson said all of the programs involved are taking a wait and see approach with Pasco. Pasco had a terrific weekend at the Panhandle Shootout in November, leading the Pirates to a victory over Palm Beach C.C. that weekend." - Juco Junction

1/18: listed as one of the five best Juco centers in the country, along with M Diagne. - Brick O.

1/12/01: "The word was Bobby Huggins from CINCINNATI was courting Pervis and it must be true because Coach Huggins was at the Three Rivers/Pensacola game New Years Eve." - Juco Junction mssg board
. . . Upon research I discovered Pervis Pasco led PJC with 23 points that night and was named MVP of the two day tournament. - Mike Ryan

1/11: Pasco scored 14 pts in a loss to highly ranked Okaloosa-Walton

12/15: Listed as the 45th best Juco player in the country, regardless of position. - NBADraft Report

9/29/00: Pervis Pasco, a mobile and skilled 6-9, 220 pound power forward/center from Pensacola J.C. in Pensacola, Fla., has a quartet of high Division I programs who have expressed interest in him this fall. According to PJC Asst. Coach Pat Eckler, Alabama, Florida State, Kansas State and CINCINNATI have shown early interest in Pasco. Coach Eclker said that each of those programs has phoned the Pensacola basketball office this fall to get its foot in the door with Pasco. Pasco was ineligible during the first part of last season while attempting to complete his GED requirements. As a result, JUCO Junction did not see him in action last November. That said, Pasco got eligible last December and paid immediate dividends inside for Paul Swanson's Pirate program. JUCO Junction expects to see Pasco in action in November, and will give you a more detailed report on his game at that time. Eckler said that Pasco will have a chance to graduate in the spring or summer so long as he stays on top of his studies this year." - Juco Junction

11/4/99: Pervis Pasco, 6-9 freshman center, Clearwater - Coach's comment: "Does thing that can't be taught, extremely competitive. Ineligible until test scores return." - Pensacola News Journal

4/14/99: signed with Pensacola JC