Remember all the talk about how hard it is to beat a team three times in one season?
Turns out it’s true.
Arizona State’s stay at this year’s Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles was a brief one. The Sun Devils slogged their way to a 70-61 loss to 7th-seeded Stanford on Thursday night, eliminating them from the tournament, and possibly (probably) costing them an NCAA Tournament bid.
Honestly, this didn’t look like the same Sun Devils’ team we’ve seen for most of the 2009-10 season. They were listless and sloppy, committing 17 turnovers in the game. Their defense was pedestrian, as they allowed Stanford to shoot 54.8% for the game, and a blistering 61% in the second half.
Their top shooters, Ty Abbott, Rihards Kuksiks and Derek Glasser combined to go 14 for 40 (35%) from the floor. They talked about working the ball into senior post Eric Boateng, but he only got 4 shot attempts on the evening, even with Stanford’s bigs, Jack Trotter and Andrew Zimmermann, in foul trouble.
Their bench, outside of Jerren Shipp, did nothing. Freshman Trent Lockett had 5 fouls and 3 turnovers in 8 minutes.
In short, ASU played their worst game of the season on it’s most important night. Many, including some ASU players, thought the Sun Devils needed just one win over Stanford to push them into the field of 64 (65). Glasser was one of them. “I know if we lose on Thursday, we’re not in,” Glasser said on Tuesday.
Now, the Sun Devils are reduced to gathering around their television sets and crossing their fingers that some strange things happen this weekend that afford them an opportunity at the “Big Dance”. It’s more likely they’ll be headed to the red-headed stepchild of college basketball’s postseason, the NIT, for the 2nd time in three seasons.
This morning’s edition of ESPN’s Bubble Watch has Arizona State on the outside looking in after Thursday’s loss, but does point out that the Sun Devils still have a chance because they weren’t the only “bubble team” to lose on Thursday. Memphis, Cincinnati and UAB all suffered losses in their respective conference tourneys, keeping ASU’s door opened just a crack.
Joe Lunardi, Bristol’s top bracketologist now has the Sun Devils listed as the first team out, after being one of the few prognosticators to include the Sun Devils in his bracket for much of the week.
The ASU men’s basketball team were ‘those kids’ tonight. You the ones I mean. The ones whose parents have guests over for dinner, but don’t tell the little ones to stay out of the way. Those kids are throwing a ball around, albeit innocently, and all they need to do is to stay out of trouble while Mom and Dad get things ready. They are told to go upstairs and get their work done. Guests are arriving, and a toy or a ball comes flying down the stairs, almost knocking something over, but the parents don’t want to make a scene, so they just calmly remind them that they just need to stay out of the way for a little while longer, and then they would get to stay up late like the big kids and play longer. Dinner is going well, and those kids seemingly have done all they needed to do, but then something happens. A shout of “MOM!”, two boys come running down the stairs, one trying to tell what the other did while the accused tries to explain, and then, as they both get to the table…a bump, a spill, and then…a mess on one of the guests. They were so close…
The Sun Devils were that close. They rattled off 22 wins in a season that was predicted to be bad. No really bad losses (although one ugly one against USC), a winning road record in the conference, and second place overall. On the other hand, there were no signature wins, their non-conference schedule was weak, and the PAC-10 has been viewed as a joke. Even so, ASU was in a position to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament (I mean, the selection committee wouldn’t only take one team from the conference, would it? After all, it is the PAC-10, not some conference of mid-major schools). The Devils, in the conference tournament, had a chance to send a message to the committee and state definitively that they belong. They controlled their own destiny. So what did they go and do against a Stanford team they had already beaten twice? *Bump*, *spill*, and “Oh, @%#^&!”
The Devils came out flat to start the game and fell behind. They uncharacteristically turned the ball over 17 times (entering the game, they were the best in the conference at not turning the ball over). They struggled to find an offensive rhythm. They were not sharp defensively and had to play catch-up from early on in the game. Ty Abbott only shot 4 of 16. Rihards Kuksiks didn’t score in the second half. It was hugely disappointing.
Where does that leave the overachieving (but not tonight) ASU basketball team? Some may say that it didn’t matter what the Devils did in the conference tournament, but I don’t know. During the Cal/Oregon broadcast, the announcers were optimistic that if all went well (if Cal, Washington, and ASU all won) that the conference could possibly see three teams in the Big Dance. Now I wonder if there will even be two. California is clearly a cut above the rest of the teams in the PAC-10 and will likely win the conference tourney. I just don’t trust the committee. No one there is going to do ASU any favors. The team is not prestigious and has no history of tournament play, is not entertaining to watch, and its best player is Ty Abbott, who just a year ago shot under 30% from the field for the season.
I really hope that ASU gets to stay up and play with the big kids, and I personally believe that they deserve an at-large bid. I’m like that parent who knows the mess was a mistake and can see the kids for who they really are. But the selection committee is that guest that got spilled on, who is not terribly happy for the mess on his clothes. It will surprise me if Abbott and company will be playing on. We shall soon find out.
The Arizona State Sun Devils enter the 13th annual Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles knowing they need at least one win to bolster their resume in an attempt to catch the eye of committee members who will announce the NCAA Tournament field on Sunday.
But the Sun Devils haven’t had the best track record at the Pac-10 Tournament, which started in 1987 and took place for the next four years, before going on hiatus until 2002.
In fact, before last year’s run to the championship game, ASU was just 3-10 all-time in the Pac-10 Tournament, and two of those wins came in 1990, when the tourney was held on their home floor in Tempe. In the second incarnation of the tournament, the Sun Devils were 0-6 before last season.
This year, the Devils are the #2 seed, their highest ever in the Pac-10 Tournament. Their prior high seed was a #4, which happened twice–in 2003 when ASU was knocked off in their first game by Oregon, who went on to win the crown, and last year, when the Devils squandered a 15-point halftime lead in the championship game in a loss to USC.
The number two seed has done very well historically in the tournament, notching a 19-9 record overall, and three times has won the championship (Arizona in 1990 and 2002, and Washington in 2005).
My Pro Day is about three weeks from now and I feel that I am more than ready to showcase my talents.
I have been training like the pros, and with a few pros, over at “Make Plays” in Phoenix. My focus here as of late has been speed drills, enhancing my ball skills, getting stronger, and more importantly honing my technique and trying to perfect my craft.
I am more than confident about my opportunity to get to an NFL camp; however my ultimate goal is to be on the final 53 Man roster. I will achieve my goals by staying hungry, healthy, and humble.
My hope for this blog is to give fans an inside look at what it’s like trying to make it in the NFL. I plan to blog at least once a week and plan to post pictures and videos of my experience. I hope that you join me on this journey and I look forward to interacting with all those interested. Here’s to reaching goals and staying determined even in the face of doubters.
Two years ago, Herb Sendek’s Arizona State Sun Devils gathered as a team to watch the NCAA Tournament field be announced.
The Sun Devils, despite losing their first round Pac-10 Tournament game to USC a few days earlier, were hopeful they’d get in to the field. They were 19-12, 9-9 in the Pac-10, and had improved their win total from the previous season by 11.
They’re name was never called. Instead, their arch-rival, the Arizona Wildcats, a team the Sun Devils had beaten twice during the regular season, and a team that had less regular season wins and a worse conference finish did get in to extend their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to 24 in a row. ASU was left to play in the NIT, where they advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Florida.
Many members of that 2008-08 Sun Devils’ squad pointed the finger at that first round loss to USC in the Pac-10 Tournament that kept Arizona State from dancing that year. “If we would have beat them, I think we would have been in”, then-junior Jeff Pendergraph said at the time.
When asked if a win over USC would have punched the Devils’ ticket, Coach Sendek said “Yes. I absolutely do. I think if we would have won one more game anywhere along the trail, it would have been very difficult to keep us out. I think we were one game away in a lot of different directions, winning one more game, having the cards fall another direction in a conference here or there. I think you can reasonably say we were one game away, here, there or somewhere else.”
Fast forward two seasons. The Sun Devils are 22-9, good enough for a 2nd place finish in what everyone around the country is calling a “down year” for the Pac-10. Yet, there’s a strangely familiar feeling for the team as they prepare for their first round Pac-10 Tournament game tonight against the Stanford Cardinal (13-17, 7-11) at Staples Center in Los Angeles. It’s the feeling that ASU needs to win this game against Stanford to get into “The Big Dance”.
“We’re not dumb,” senior point guard Derek Glasser said on Tuesday. “We hear things, we watch ESPN, we read newspapers, so we know what’s going on. I think guys are as focused as they’ve been all year and we’re really preparing as well as we have all year for this week coming up.”
More to the point, Glasser was asked how many wins the Sun Devils need this weekend to feel confident about earning a berth. “I think if we get to the championship, I think we’re for sure in,” he said. “With one win, I think we’re gonna be sitting there Sunday like we were sophomore year (2008) and hoping and praying. I know if we lose on Thursday, we’re not in.”
Junior guard Ty Abbott was very much aligned with Glasser’s thoughts. “We know we have to go to the Pac-10 Tournament and get wins,” he said earlier this week.
So, the journey starts tonight for the 2nd-seeded Sun Devils, playing a Stanford team that they swept during the regular season. In the teams’ first meeting in Tempe, Abbott caught fire for 29 points as ASU breezed to an 88-70 win, leading by as many as 37 points in the process. The 88 points by ASU were their highest offensive output of the Pac-10 season, and 2nd-most overall this season. The Devils scored 104 in a 39-point win against San Francisco in November.
Two weeks ago in Palo Alto, it was ASU senior big man Eric Boateng who inflicted the damage on the Cardinal, hitting all 11 of his field goal attempts and scoring a career-high 24 points in the Sun Devils’ 68-60 win.
Defensively, the Devils have to concern themselves once again with Landry Fields. The senior, who earlier this week was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team, has averaged 20.5 points per game vs. ASU this season. Fields led the conference in scoring at 22.2 points per game. But ASU can’t sleep on Jeremy Green, the sophomore guard who averaged 16.9 points per game to rank 6th in the conference. Green has not shot well against ASU this season, hitting just 25.7% (9 of 35) from the field.
Key for ASU will be getting Boateng involved early. His performance in Palo Alto was no accident. Once he established position inside, he was successful because of his strength advantage against Stanford bigs Jack Trotter and Andrew Zimmerman. In 6 career games against Stanford, Boateng is shooting 95% (19 of 20) from the floor.
If you don’t remember Isaiah Mustafa for catching passes from Jake Plummer, you’ll most certainly remember him from his Old Spice commercials.
Just a week after the sporting world realized that the shirtless actor riding a horse backwards was a former Arizona State University football player (oh and he played in the NFL too), his media whirlwind continued on Wednesday as he was a guest on the Ellen Degeneres show, seen locally on Channel 12.
Isaiah was quite funny and natural talking with Ellen. Especially while admitting that it took him 83 takes and 4 days to complete the filming. Watch the segment below for a good laugh.
Funny, entertaining and quickly becoming famous. It sounds like he has everything (Except a 1996 Rose Bowl and NCAA Football Championship. Damn Ohio State). Too bad most people don’t know his name and just call him that “Old Spice Guy”.
A day after being named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Arizona State’s Herb Sendek held his weekly chat with local media in Tempe.
There’s a lot of questions up in the air as the 2nd-seeded Sun Devils prepare for their first round game Thursday night against 7th-seeded Stanford, a team they’ve already beaten twice this season.
Among those questions:
How difficult is it to beat a team three times in one season?
Does he expect the Cardinal to key on Eric Boateng, who burned Stanford for a career high 24 points just two weeks ago?
Will beating Stanford and getting a 23rd win ensure the Sun Devils will make the NCAA Tournament?
Has he ever coached in a conference tournament as wide open as this year’s Pac-10 affair?
Back on January 30, ASU led from start to finish against Stanford in their first meeting in Tempe, and built a 37-point margin at one point of the first half. The Cardinal fought back and got the lead down to 12 points with under four minutes to play, but ASU held on for an 88-70 win. Ty Abbott scored a season-high 29 points (22 in the first half) and made his first six three-point attempts–all in the first 10 minutes of the ball game.
Two weeks ago in Palo Alto, it Stanford’s Drew Shiller was the hot shooter early in the game. Shiller canned three treys and a layup as the Cardinal built an early 9-point bulge. But ASU fought back this time behind senior center Eric Boateng, who made all 11 of his field goal attempts, and finished with 24 points and 6 rebounds in ASU’s 68-60 win.
The Sun Devils and Cardinal take the court at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Thursday night at 7:10 p.m. Arizona time. The winner will take on the winner of the Washington-Oregon State game that follows on Thursday night.
ASU Head Coach Herb Sendek previews the Pac-10 Tournament
Follow Justin on Twitter, be his friend on Facebook and check out his weekly musings on Arizona State Sun Devil sports every Tuesday here on Pitchfork Nation. You can check out his other work at his personal website, www.justinkarp.net.
An Honor Most Deserved - Sendek is the Coach of the Year
I can tell you exactly where I was on April1, 2006.
It was, as usual, a bright, sunny day in Tempe. I was at my old rental house on Balboa Drive with two of my roommates enjoying a lazy Saturday. It was halftime between the Florida Gators and George Mason Patriots at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, where the eventual national champions led the spunky 11-seed from Virginia 31-26.
In the larger picture, the Arizona State Sun Devils were about three weeks removed from the firing of head coach Rob Evans after yet another unremarkable season. Lisa Love was just under a year into her tenure at ASU and had yet to make a move such as this, so we were all a little curious as to what direction she’d take in the hiring of the new bench boss at Wells Fargo Arena.
The rumors during those 20 days got a little bit out of control. At one point, Jamie Dixon was supposedly on a plane from Pittsburgh to Phoenix to accept the job. Then there was the outrageously overhyped non-interest the Sun Devils had with Bobby Knight. Some of the stuff being tossed about was unbelievable, if not downright ridiculous.
Back to that April Fool’s Day. I had just walked into my kitchen to make lunch when the studio crew mentioned that Seth Davis had breaking news to share. My ears perked up, like any good student journalist’s or those of any college basketball fan should at the time. I reached up into the cabinet to grab a plate to put my food on, which I assume at the time, considering my eating habits as a college junior, was a Hot Pocket.
“Sources are now confirming to me right now that N.C. State head coach Herb Sendek will be leaving Raleigh to take the vacant position at Arizona State,” Davis said.
R.I.P., Plate, 2004-2006. We hardly got to know each other before the thing shattered on the tile floor.
The floodgates were open. Arizona State, if the Davis report was true, had just scored one of the biggest coups in college basketball, stealing a coach from the ACC who had worn out his welcome in North Carolina, fairly or unfairly as it had been.
Oh, how little we knew about what Sendek would do to this program in four short years, which culminated (again) yesterday when Unkie Herb was named the 2010 Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
There are two moments that stick in my craw as the one where I knew Sendek, despite the cries from critics at N.C. State that he’d never lead us to anything significant, would be the guy to take the program from stagnation to prominence.
The first happened seven months after the plate-shattering incident in the media room underneath WFA. That week represented the end and the beginning of two ASU coaching careers - at the time, my longtime friend and colleague Sam Eshelman and I were hosting the Sun Devil Power Hour on The Fan AM 1060. That week, we had one-on-one interviews established with both Sendek and Dirk Koetter.
Koetter’s interview came first. It came just after that horrid 24-12 home loss to UCLA. We were talking to who we all assumed was a defeated man who wouldn’t be back for 2007. Koetter was combative yet sullen throughout the entire interview.
The next day, we sat down with Sendek after one of his last practices before the Sun Devils’ season opener with Northern Arizona. What we didn’t get from Dirk was exactly what we got from Herb - optimism, enthusiasm and drive.
Within two minutes of talking to him, I got the feeling that even if 2006-07 was a down year for ASU (and, at 8-22, it certainly was), Herb already had the mindset to put this team on the map. He frequently talked about doing things the right way: building through recruiting, coaching up the players who were still in the system and, most importantly, turning Wells Fargo Arena into a real home court advantage.
I fell in man love immediately. I won’t even lie. I walked away from that interview and told Sam, “This is the guy. People are going to LOVE Herb Sendek.”
I like when I’m right.
The other moment that I knew Herb Sendek was taking this program in the right direction was with 13:16 left in what ended up being a 66-61 loss to Washington on February 1, 2007, dropping the Devils to 0-10 in conference play. At that point in the game, Antwi Atuahene took a loose ball foul, a horrid call on all accounts. It was a hustle play that led to incidental contact.
Sendek flipped out. Referee Michael Reed gave Sendek a technical foul. The crowd, 7,164 strong, went absolutely wild. Instead of retreating to the sideline, Herb incited them. He waved his arms around wildly, getting an already incensed crowd whipped into an all-out frenzy.
Reed gave him a second technical foul and ejected Herb from the game. The partisan Sun Devil crowd was now at full throat. The referee said after the game that he had kicked Sendek out for “violating rule 1096: inciting an undesirable response from the crowd after he had been asked not to do that.”
Too bad Sendek didn’t stop. Herb slowly made his way down the short walk from the Sun Devil bench to the tunnel, spinning around in his wing tips, slinging his arms in the air, like the kids say, as if he just didn’t care.
The clip became a YouTube phenomenon and was even played on the Jumbotron at WFA to pump the crowd up through the rest of the year. That was game, set and match. Sendek was here to stay and things in Tempe weren’t going to be the same.
Flash forward through the next three seasons of multiple wins against Arizona in Tempe AND Tucson, a run to the NIT Quarterfinals in just his second year, the program’s first appearance in the Pac-10 championship and a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
This year, though, the expectations were down. The Sporting News even ranked the Sun Devils 9th in their preseason magazine. And who could blame them? All ASU did was lose James Harden, their superstar, and Jeff Pendergraph, their vocal and emotional leader for four years, to the NBA Draft.
Too bad for the rest of the Pacific-10 Conference that it’s not Sendek’s M.O. to roll over when the odds are against him. If that were the case, he would have never taken the job at Arizona State in the first place.
Instead, Sendek seized a down year in the conference to coach up players like Ty Abbott, Eric Boateng, Rihards Kuksiks, integrate freshmen like Trent Lockett and lean on the guy who has been with him since the start, Derek Glasser, to 22 wins and the highest finish for ASU in the Pac-10 since 1981.
Think about that for a second. The year after the best season for Arizona State in decades, Sendek one-upped himself.
I’m not thinking about this honor as just a coach of the year recognition. For those of us in Tempe, Herb Sendek taking home this award in 2010 is more of a career achievement award than anything else.
The best part is that it’s nowhere close to over.
Five Things to Stew About
1 - Amidst the excitement of Herb Sendek being named Coach of the Year is the fact that Ty Abbott was selected to the Pac-10’s 1st team and Trent Lockett is a member of the conference All-Freshman team. For Abbott the honor is a culmination of a season which saw Ty transition from one of the most maddeningly inconsistent players in years at Arizona State into one of the most dynamic and indispensible players in this rotation. As for Lockett, he had to come into Tempe for his freshman season in the shadow of the potential star of local standout Demetrius Walker and did so with flying colors. His play early in the non-conference season helped ASU keep their heads above water against stiff competition and earned his way into the starting lineup once conference play rolled around.
2 - If you aren’t already, you should be glued to the remaining mid-major conference tournaments going on throughout college basketball this week. As you all know, the Sun Devils sit squarely on the bubble and precariously on the edge of most analyst’s “Last Four In/First Four Out” lists. Luckily for ASU and other bubble teams, though, most of those conference tourneys have gone the way of the favorites and keeping at-large berths open for power conference teams who are trying to sneak in. Just over the weekend, teams like Wichita State, Virginia Commonwealth, Fairfield and William & Mary all did their due and lost conference title games to mid-major teams that would most likely garner an at-large bid to the Big Dance even if they lost their conference title game. Now, as most of you know, I’m as big an advocate for small-conference basketball as anyone, but with a potential at-large berth for the Devils on the line with each of those games, I say GO FAVORITES! Some of you might be worried that Saint Mary’s win over Gonzaga last night in the WCC final might affect the bubble. It won’t; both teams were in regardless of the outcome last night. Another one is taking place tonight as Butler takes on Wright State the Horizon League final. Butler is in with or without a win tonight, but Wright State isn’t. We’ll be also interested to keep a keen eye on the Atlantic 10 tournament as well. I’ll be Tweeting pertinent information about games across the nation with impact on Arizona State and other bubble teams throughout the week. Look for the #bubblewatch hashtag.
3 - If former Florida Gators superstar quarterback Tim Tebow finds any success in the NFL as a signal caller, he might have Arizona State to thank in part. As the two-time national champion gets ready for his Pro Day and the NFL Draft in April, Tebow has been working with several coaches on his mechanics and skill set to try and transform himself into a more prototypical NFL-style quarterback. One of the coaches he has been working with, according to ESPN, is Sun Devils offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. Mazzone’s pedigree for coaching up college talent to succeed at the next level includes former NC State Wolfpack star and current San Diego Chargers starter Philip Rivers. Rivers, if you remember, also had to go through some minor mechanical changes to his game before entering the 2004 draft. So, if Tebow defies the odds and becomes a solid NFL passer, would it be so much to ask to mix a little pitchfork in with his gator chomps?
4 - It’s a little bit of an odd feeling, going into the start of this week’s Pac-10 Women’s Tournament, knowing that Arizona State probably will need to win the entire thing to ensure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. But, when the Devils tip off with California in the 4/5 game at noon on Friday at the Galen Center, that will be the case. Regardless, we should be paying special attention to this team for one reason other than winning and losing - the careers of Danielle Orsillo, Dymond Simon, Gabby Fage and Kayli Murphy will be coming to an end soon enough. It wasn’t the most overwhelming of recruiting classes over the course of Charli Turner-Thorne’s career, but I don’t think there’s been a class of better people or hungrier athletes than this one. In this case, focusing specifically on Orsillo, she’ll be a player that will be irreplaceable. Between her being tough as nails attitude and overwhelming enthusiasm on and off the court, Orsillo will be someone who’s truly missed around these parts. To continue this column’s trail of reminiscing, the night Arizona State got bounced from the 2007 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight, the team flew home and arrived in Tempe around 2:00 AM. A gang of about five of us rabid Sun Devil fans descended on a remote corner of Sky Harbor International Airport to give the ladies a rousing welcome home. The day after, both Orsillo and Reagan Pariseau passed along notes about how much they appreciated being welcomed home like that. Neither had to go out of their way to say thank you, but I think it speaks volumes about their characters to do so.
5 - Don’t look now, but ASU women’s water polo is making a move. The Devils won their sixth straight game on Sunday in a 17-6 drubbing of top-ranked Pomona-Pitzer in a game in which eleven different players on the team notched a tally. Arizona State sits at #6 in the nation heading into their conference opener with UCLA on March 13.
Sun Devil of the Week
Paging Eric Boateng to the floor. I want to know if Boat has been holding out on us for his entire career, because his epic 16 point/14 rebound/4 block Senior Day performance against UCLA was one of the finest days of basketball I’ve ever seen.
I constantly had to make sure I wasn’t watching old tape of Ike Diogu or Jeff Pendergraph. Once I finally accepted that it was Eric, I couldn’t get my jaw off the ground. I implore Boateng not to stop - we need that kind of intensity come Thursday in Los Angeles.
That’s certainly the case when it comes to Arizona State Baseball. Tim Esmay’s Sun Devils are 11 games into the 2010 season and they’ve yet to taste defeat. Even after a weekend of playing top notch competition in the 8th Annual Coca-Cola College Baseball Classic in Surprise.
Over the weekend, the Sun Devils outslugged a game Cal Poly squad 12-9, rallied to beat national powerhouse Oregon State 6-4, obliterated UC Riverside 16-2 and fought off the rain and Florida International 4-1 in 7 innings.
Of the five major Top 25 polls for college baseball, four of them are pretty much in line with ASU’s talent level, their results and the level of their competition so far this season.
Rivals.com has the Sun Devils ranked #6 in their latest poll released earlier on Monday. The Sun Devils are ranked 3rd in the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and the National College Baseball Writers of America Poll, while coming in at #2 in Collegiate Baseball’s Top 25.
And then there’s Baseball America. That fine publication has the Sun Devils ranked 11th in the nation. Huh?
I know, I know. It’s early in the season, and there’s a lot of baseball to be played before the College World Series in Omaha, but you have to wonder what is going through their heads?
College Baseball Top 25 Polls (as of March 8, 2010)
The Arizona State Sun Devils closed out the 2009-2010 regular season in style on Saturday, jumping out to a 13-0 lead and never trailing in a 56-46 win over the UCLA Bruins on Senior Day at Wells Fargo Arena.
The win was the 22nd of the season for Herb Sendek’s Sun Devils, and their 12th conference win, giving them sole possession of 2nd place in the Pac-10. Normally speaking 22 wins would get any Pac-10 team in the field of 65 of the NCAA Tournament. Not this year.
People all over Pitchfork Nation are asking the question, “have the Sun Devils done enough to earn their 2nd straight tournament bid?”
History says yes. Bracketologists say no.
Let’s start with the historical side of things. Since the Pac-10 expanded in 1978, adding Arizona State and that other institution located 90 minutes southeast of Tempe into the mix, a team has won at least 12 conference games 88 times. In 83 of those occasions (or 94.3% of the time), those teams received a bid to the Big Dance. Never has a team with at least 12 wins in the Pac-10 and 22 regular season wins been denied a chance to play for a national championship. Let me repeat…never.
Now let’s hear what the “bracketologists” have to say on the matter. Mark Schlabach of ESPN says the Sun Devils need to win at least 2 games at this week’s Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles to even have a chance to hear their name called on selection Sunday. Huh? So winning 67% of your games in a conference over a two-and-a-half month period isn’t enough because the conference is in a “down year”, but beating two of those same teams on a neutral court in a tournament designed primarily for money making purposes somehow bolsters the resume’?
Up until this morning, Joe Lunardi of ESPN didn’t have ASU in the field of 65, but apparently he got hit by a bolt of lightning on Monday, and currently has ASU in the Big Dance, as one of the last four teams into the tourney. And Lunardi’s the only one that has ASU in. My colleague, Greg Esposito’s Monday morning research showed that ASU is not in the current field of 65 in projections by CollegeRPI.com, Sporting News Today, ESPN Bubble Watch, SI.com Bubble Watch, and Fox Sports among others.
So now Pitchfork Nation has to be asking another question…”what did ASU do to piss off everyone with any insight on the NCAA Tournament?”
Yes, it’s a down year in the Pac-10. That’s not ASU’s fault. They played the teams on their schedule and beat 22 out of those 31 opponents. I realize ASU lacks a high RPI number. As of this morning, the Devils are #52 in the RPI Rankings. No it’s not sexy–but it’s still higher than the RPIs of UConn and Notre Dame!!!
In each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, the team with the lowest RPI to make the field came from the Pac-10. Last year, Arizona, with 19 regular season wins and an RPI of 62 got into the tournament. In 2008, the Oregon Ducks, who had 18 regular season wins got in with an RPI of 58. And in 2007, Stanford was 18-12 with a low RPI of 62 and was one of the 65 teams announced on selection Sunday.
By the way, all three of those teams, who would seemingly need wins in the Pac-10 Tournament to help their case, lost their opening games in Los Angeles.
I know each year is a different situation, but come on! Twenty-two wins and a 2nd place finish in a major conference has been good enough every other year. So why is it even a question this season?
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Remember all the talk about how hard it is to beat a team three times in one season? 
