Abbott, Lockett Pace Devils in NIT Opener

One thing is certain after two games: this is not your father’s Arizona State Sun Devils.

In fact, these aren’t your 1-year-old baby brother’s Devils.

If we learned anything from Arizona State’s 84-62 NIT regional semifinal victory over Texas State last night, it’s that the 4th version of the Herb Sendek Devils will win games in much different fashion than previous teams.

The tenets of winning basketball under good ol’ Unkie Herb are still the same: a slow, methodical offense and a stingy matchup zone on defense continue to rule the day.

Aggressiveness, though, has been kicked up a notch.

Not in my seven years of covering ASU basketball have I ever seen a Sun Devil team hit the floor and hustle for loose balls like they have in the first two games of this season.

And I like it.

The plain truth of 2009-10 is that the Sun Devils don’t have anybody that will immediately replace James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph. However, if there’s any coach that can make things happen after the loss of two cornerstones, it’s Sendek.

On that token, I’d like to go out on a limb and say that freshman Trent Lockett is legit.

Lockett wasn’t the most heralded or celebrated player in this recruiting class; that honor still goes to Demetrius Walker; but after watching him carve up TSU for 17 points and 7 rebounds with a spate of highly athletic plays on both ends of the floor, I’m convinced that Minnesota Trent is ready to make an instant impact.

Lockett has a little Bryson Krueger in him. Krueger, a JuCo transfer who helped take the 2005 Sun Devils to an NIT appearance, seemed to have no limits to his energy. The difference between the two is that while Krueger was more of a one-dimensional long-range shooter, Lockett has the tools as a freshman to be an asset on offense and defense.

Don’t let Lockett’s performance in the win overshadow the contributions of Ty Abbott last night, though. Abbott made an early return from arthroscopic knee surgery to put in 14 solid minutes and dump in 11.

More importantly, eight of those came during the Sun Devils’ 16-0 run late in the 1st half to bust ASU out of some early doldrums and rocket into the locker room at halftime with a comfortable lead.

It must be acknowledged that there are still some clear growing pains to be dealt with by this year’s squad. There’s no need to harp this early, especially in the wake of a 22-point victory that propelled them into tonight’s NIT regional final with TCU, but if the Sun Devils want to compete in what is going to shape up to be a wide-open Pac-10 from 3-to-10 this season, turnovers are going to have to be cut down.

The first 10 minutes of the game were dictated by sloppy turnovers, bad passing and, frankly, an inconsistent effort from the five guys on the floor.

The latter I’m not as concerned about; Sendek always has his team on the same page by, at most, the mid-point of ASU’s non-conference schedule.

The turnovers are a nagging problem though; one that goes back to last season. The Sun Devils lost the majority of their games last season when they were sloppy with the rock, but last year’s team also had the pure talent to overcome that on some occasions. This year’s squad doesn’t quite have that yet and another 20-turnover effort will lead to sheer disaster against higher quality opponents.

Regardless, there’s promise here. Tonight’s game is another insanely late night start: 9:30 for those of you in Arizona and 11:30 for those of us on the East Coast. The stakes are high though: a sweet little trip to MSG is on the table for the winner.

A win tonight and a trip to New York City would be a huge confidence booster for this young team early in the year and a wonderful opportunity to play against some of the best of the best in college hoops.

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