Is this the biggest game in ASU basketball history?

Photo: Aaron J. Latham/AP

When you ask people around the country about their first impressions of Arizona State University, you’ll get the following responses:

“Total party school.”

“There’s amazing chicks there.”

“Isn’t that where the “Show me the money” guy from Jerry Maguire went?”

“That’s the Harvard of the Southwest.”

Ok, so maybe you wouldn’t get all of those responses. Maybe the first two. You might actually get some responses about the Sun Devils’ football history, or the fact that they’ve been a college baseball powerhouse for the better part of 4 decades. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone to mention the Sun Devils’ rich hoops history. Mostly because they don’t have one.

Sure, under head coach Ned Wulk, the Sun Devils won at least a share of their conference title 7 times. But ASU hasn’t had a conference title since joining the Pac-10 in 1978. U of A basketball fans are quick to ask the question, “who is the only team never to win a Pac-10 basketball championship, or go to the Final Four?” Sun Devil faithful, unfortunately, are well aware of the answer.

Which brings us to Thursday. The 11th-ranked Devils travel to Seattle to battle first place Washington. A win would allow ASU to leapfrog UW into first place in the Pac-10, with just three conference games remaining.

So, is this the biggest game in ASU basketball history? Judging from the demeanor of head coach Herb Sendek during a Tuesday press conference, this is just another game. It would be unwise to think that a veteran coach like Sendek doesn’t know the importance of this game. The players know too. They’re just choosing not to make it the focus for an inexperienced squad like the Devils.

Sendek talks about the ascendency of ASU’s basketball program

Sendek did acknowledge his program’s quick ascent to this position, but downplayed it as well. “If you would have said to me that we would have made this kind of rapid progress when I first arrived, I would have signed up,” Sendek said. “We started at the very beginning, in every conceivable way. Having said that, it’s not like we’ve arrived at some destination, because things change. You’ve still got to move forward to the next day.”

That next day for the Sun Devils brings them a chance at redemption against Washington. In late January, with ASU riding the momentum of having defeated UCLA and Arizona back-to-back on the road, the Sun Devils were shocked in Tempe by Washington State, and two days later by the Huskies. UW’s backcourt of Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas combined for 55 points in their 84-71 win. It was only the third time all season that ASU had allowed an opponent to score more than 80 points in a game.

The revenge factor, coupled with the prospect of an Arizona State win thrusting the Devils into the driver’s seat in the conference standings with only three games to play, makes this the biggest game in ASU history, at least since 1978.

A win in Seattle on Thursday could be a big step in transforming the Arizona State program from one that competes every five to seven years to a legitimate perennial contender.

Subscribe to your favorite Phoenix team or sport or Follow us on Twitter.

Tags: Arizona State Basketball, ASU Basketball, Herb Sendek