jeffry scott / arizona daily star

Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

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Halfway through this weekend's Arizona Cactus Classic, there were nearly as many players sprawled across McKale Center's few padded blue seats than there were running the floor.

The snoozers were the lucky ones.

The three-day elite basketball event at McKale required eight games for the champion Houston Hoops, who beat the Compton Magic 70-67 in Sunday's final, while everyone else played at least four games.

Few players had it worse than 2009 UA recruit Abdul Gaddy and his Northwest Panthers teammates, who crammed seven games into 40 hours before they were finally eliminated by the Magic 86-78 in Sunday's semifinals.

"Our legs are tired right now. Feet and everything," Gaddy said. "But overall I think we had a pretty good tournament."

Panthers coach Gary Ward tried his best, saying he kept his players off their feet and had them drinking more water than Gatorade to avoid excess sugar. But despite playing the games within steps of their rooms at the Four Points Sheraton, the Panthers could hardly take a break there while playing three games Saturday.

"We had about 40 minutes at the hotel, and that was about it," Ward said of Saturday. "But that's the way the AAU circuit is. I'd be nice to coach a tournament where there was only one game a day."

For Houston Hoops coach Marland Lowe, it's more about mental than physical even though one physical thing does help.

"We change our socks a lot," he said.

Hoops guard Tommy Mason-Griffin, who earned the Cactus Classic MVP after scoring 14 points with six assists and six rebounds in the final Sunday, said he battles the grind by conditioning well and eating the right food.

Still, it's hard. Mason-Griffin said he fought cramps all weekend.

"You gotta drink a lot of water," he said. "But it's hard to breathe here (in Tucson's heat). It's a lot different from Houston."

That wasn't the Hoops' only handicap Sunday: They were also without Keith "Tiny" Gallon, one of the nation's top big men.

"They've got a good young team, and they always play hard," said UA guard Nic Wise, a Hoops alumnus who sat behind their bench.

Ironically, the Hoops won the McKale Center event at the same time that UA assistant coach Josh Pastner is en route to Memphis. Pastner, who once coached the Hoops team, is the son of the Hoops' director, Hal Pastner.

But since he was still technically employed by the UA, Josh Pastner could not watch his old team. Instead, incoming associate head coach Mike Dunlap, who has not yet been hired, and Wyking Jones, a candidate for Pastner's position, were on hand.

Pastner mostly just hung around his now-empty office and outside McKale Center, receiving a flood of best wishes from coaches and other attendees. Gaddy said he had time to speak with Pastner briefly, too.

When asked if it was ironic that the Hoops won on a weekend when his son was about to leave town, Hal Pastner laughed. Hoops was the runner-up in 2006 and reached the quarterfinals last season.

"Well, no matter what happens, we'll come back here," Hal Pastner said. "It's a great tournament for our kids."

● Wise said he still didn't know if he would transfer from Arizona.

● The mother of incoming UA guard Brandon Jennings, Alice Knox, said she was confident her son will meet NCAA eligibility requirements in time to play for the Wildcats next fall. Players are not cleared until August. Knox was on hand to watch the Cactus Classic as a spectator.

● Gaddy finished as the sixth-highest scorer in the tournament, with an average of 18.6 points. Compton's Roberto Nelson was the top scorer, at 25.1, while UA target Avery Bradley of the Panthers was second at 24.7.