Time To Get Back On The Horse

It’s safe to say that coming off a stirring opening few weeks to the season, including a trip to New York and a hyper-competitive game with the Duke Blue Devils and a 3rd place finish at the Preseason NIT, there was a lot to like about this year’s version of ASU basketball.

Back to back losses against Baylor and BYU, a game in which Arizona State only pulled down two offensive rebounds and couldn’t match the Cougars in pretty much every facet of the game, cracks in the facade have been exposed.

However, something like this shouldn’t be unexpected for a team like this. Realistically, the Sun Devils this season have done what we wished they would for so many years since Bill Frieder left - beat up on the teams they’re supposed to beat up on, play the best of the best at home and on the road and, more importantly, compete with them.

I think that now that we’re heading into the 10th game of the season today with the Delaware State Hornets of the MEAC (don’t call them the Blue Hens, they will get ANGRY), there’s no more need to try and lay specific woes this team has faced in their past two on the absence of two guys named James and Jeff.

2009-10 is now in full swing and the issues ASU has faced in the giant blown lead to Baylor and the being sheerly outplayed in Provo falls directly where it should: on these players; not ones that are long gone.

Getting back on track heading into Pac-10 play (which starts in just 3 weeks, remarkably and already) starts and ends with improved post play.

After his gangbusters start, Eric Boateng has cooled considerably and, against BYU, had us grumbling something resembling “same old Boateng.”

Since then, The Brit has only seven rebounds in his past two games. His inability to snag boards on both ends of the floor devastated this team against Brigham Young. With Taylor Rohde nipping at his heels and surprisingly skirting double-digit minutes per game right now, the young-uns size and tenacity might be just what ASU needs to regain some strength under the basket.

I’d go in-depth about the shooting woes the Devils experienced in the 2nd half against the Bears and throughout the BYU game, but we all saw it and read the stat lines. It goes without saying that if Rihards Kuksiks and the rest of the shooters on this team don’t fix their issues, and soon, wins are going to be hard to come by against anyone they play.

One other thing to watch today per Doug Haller - Derek Glasser, who is averaging over five assists per game in what is quickly becoming a benchmark season for him becoming a tremendous floor leader, is 15 helpers away from moving into the penthouse of the program’s assist leaders list.

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