Is it really ever too early to talk about football? Sure, March Madness just started and everyone is thinking about their brackets and how Murray State, St. Mary’s, and Old Dominion have begun the busting of said brackets. Nonetheless, I am already excited for ASU’s football season. You see, ASU Football is the only game in town that I have season tickets for. I’ll go to 5-10 Diamondbacks games, one or two Suns games, and maybe a preseason Cardinals game (Sunday games unfortunately make it that way for me). But when college football comes around, my best friend Nathan, my brother-in-law/friend Jared, Jared’s best friend and best friend’s wife (most games), Jared’s parents, my wife (most games), and I dress up in maroon and gold, go out to eat barbecue and drink Mormon booze (Dr. Pepper or Pepsi/Coke), and attend every game in Tempe. Road games almost always involve at least Nate at my house or me at his (sometimes with wives and four children per family) with ribs or pizza, more Mormon booze, and a big screen TV. So, to answer the question, it is NEVER too early to talk about football, especially when it is ASU.
With all that being said, we have been very disappointed by ASU’s past two football seasons. Last season (a disaster) I personally did not have high expectations (I was hoping and expecting a bowl game, ANY bowl game). This was because of the previous year’s performance (disappointing), an unsure quarterback situation, and an overall opinion from the press that it was going to be a struggle. However, there was a buzz about the ASU defense. Dennis Ericksonwas excited about his defensive front, especially the linebacker corp (with a mix of senior leaders and young play makers). Other writers were expecting that the ASU defense was going to have win games for the team, with the offense simply needing to be adequate. The only “buzz” about the offense was the discussion of who was going to be the starting quarterback, not about talent.
The ASU defense was as advertised, finishing 13th overall nationally. Unfortunately, the same was the case for the offense, which finished 97th out of 120 schools. The defense, with the exception of the Stanford game, held up, but three times gave up game-winning field goals in the final minute of games. In each of the cases, the offense either left a short field or special teams gave the other team the ball in field goal range to start with. The result? An atrocious 4-8 record.
This year is different going into spring practice, which starts at the end of this month. There is still uncertainty at the quarterback position, as Stephen Threet, Brock Osweiler, and Samson Szakacsy all could be the starter. But this year, the buzz is about the offense. Here is what Dennis Erickson said that gives me some optimism:
We feel like we’ve got wide outs with the addition of the junior college players coming in that can do things. We feel like the speed of our offensive football team is way better than it’s ever been. So he (new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone) likes what he’s seen plus we have some guys coming in the fall…We’re using the Gerell Robinsons and Kerry Taylors of the world a little differently. They’re going to be much more involved and Aaron Pflugrad and Jamal Miles and the running backs that we have. We’ve got some running backs coming in who are very fast. So you’ll see more speed and our ability to use that speed more than you have. I think you’ll probably see as fast an offensive team as you’ve probably seen in a long time here and us taking advantage of that stuff.
This has me excited. Do I expect Dirk Koetter offensive numbers? I’m not saying that, but I do expect to see, rather than offensive ineptness, offensive efficiency at the very least. There should be energy on offense, with the hurry-up style that Mazzone is bringing. This, at the least, should lead to less defensive snaps, which will help a defense that is already solid.
Will the defense be as dominating as it was last year? That is a valid question. Even Erickson wonders, “Can we stay where we were defensively? We think so, but we lost some awfully good players.” The personnel is still solid. Vontaze Burflict now has a year under his belt. Matching last year’s defensive performance would be great, but shouldn’t be necessary. I would not be surprised to see a step taken backward, but I think that step back will still result in a top 40 defense. Offensively, could it be any worse? Not really. My hope is that at minimum that it can become an average offense. Even average would be a marked improvement over what happened last year.
What do we have to look forward to this next season? Well, we still have months to wait for the finished product, but if we can believe the enthusiasm there is for this year’s offense, we can hope to see anywhere between 7 and 10 wins in a year where the PAC-10 can been seen as wide open. Is it early? Yes. We still haven’t seen anyone practice. Is it early for excitement for football? NEVER! One thing I know about this year is that there is a different feeling, a good one.
So it is that, just a few hours after I write about how great a season the Sun Devils have had and how they had the chance for something special, they drop a stink bomb in the last part of their first round NIT game against Jacksonville. Up 60-49 with under four minutes remaining, the Devils couldn’t shut the door and move on. Instead, they treated us to missed free throws in clutch moments and giving up a game-winning three point shot with a little more than a second left in the game, ending their season in gut-wrenching fashion with a 67-66 loss.
I still hold to my previous statements that the season was still great, beyond any expectations that anyone outside of the locker room may have had. However, the last two losses still sting. The Devils, before the NIT and PAC-10 Tournament, played gutsy basketball, winning almost every game that they needed to to stay alive for the PAC-10 championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. That is, until it came down to one game elimination time.
I guess this is just another case of “Phoenix fan disappointment-itis.” You would think that we are all immune after all the bitter disappointments that all of our teams give us (except for 2001 Dbacks and 1997 Wildcats- although it makes me want to vomit a little in my mouth to even bring up the team that plays in the place that I prefer not to mention by name). The problem is that in this case, with the Sun Devils, they lost to two teams that most would say they should have beaten. Most of the other instances of disappointment came in situations where the Arizona team was the underdog. In any case, it still stinks.
Perhaps in a few days, after the the pains of disillusion wane a bit, I can cheerfully look at the fact that ASU has now made the postseason for three consecutive years, something worth cheering about. The future still looks promising for the Sun Devils. I suppose it could be worse, I could be a UofA fan, but for today, even after a season of overachieving, let me be bitter. I’ll get over it. I always do.
Nothing like following up your worst performance of the season, you know, the one that kept you out of the NCAA Tournament, by opening up the NIT with a loss on your home floor to a team who hasn’t had a postseason win in 36 years.
That, in a nutshell, was the plot line for the Arizona State Sun Devils as they were stunned 67-66 by Jacksonville on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Jacksonville guard Ben Smith hit a long three-pointer after a Sun Devil turnover with just 1.5 seconds left to give the Dolphins (I bet you didn’t know what their mascot was) the win.
Jacksonville moves on to the second round of the NIT to take on Texas Tech. ASU’s season is over.
Smith, Jacksonville’s leading scorer, was not a factor in the first half, scoring just 3 points on 1 of 8 shooting. But he took over in the second half, scoring 23 points, including 7 in the last 1:12 of the game, in which he also added 2 steals and an assist.
The Sun Devils led by 11 points with just under four minutes to play after Jamelle McMillan hit a layup. From that point, ASU scored only 6 points, all on free throws, but two misses at the charity stripe killed them. McMillan missed the second of two tosses with :20 left that could have put the Devils up by six. Instead, Jacksonville got a layup by Ayron Hardy to cut the lead to 3 with :16 left. McMillan then turned the ball over against full court pressure from Jacksonville, and committed a foul on a layup attempt by Chris Edwards (fouling on a layup up by 3 with under :20 to go?). Edwards hit both free throws to cut the ASU lead to 1 at 65-64.
Edwards then fouled Derek Glasser, the school’s all-time leading free throw shooter, with :08 to go. Glasser could have put the Sun Devils up by 3 with just seconds left, ensuring that overtime would be the worst-case scenario for ASU, but he missed his 2nd free throw attempt. Hardy rebounded, got the ball to Smith who banked in a long three with 1.5 left. Stunned, the Sun Devils turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, ending the game and their season.
“It was a difficult way to lose at the end, and end the season,” ASU head coach Herb Sendek said after the game. “It doesn’t take away from the season our guys had, but you’ve gotta give Jacksonville great credit for making the play at the end.”
Sendek also opined on what did his team in. “We didn’t put it away the right way, there’s no question about it. If we make our free throws, if we convert, if we have a couple better press offensive situations, then we’re not having this conversation.”
McMillan, who finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists spoke for the team after the loss. “The last two games have been two of the toughest of my career here. We didn’t take care of business, and as a consequence, we have to deal with this,” he said. “But you have to give a lot of credit to both the Stanford team and Jacksonville for doing what the ultimately came to do.”
The roller coaster of feelings those who follow this team have experienced in the last five days has been amazing. Last Thursday, there was optimism and hope that a win over Stanford in the Pac-10 Tournament would give the Sun Devils’ resume’ the improvement it needed to qualify for the “Big Dance”. After the loss to Stanford, there was embarrassment. After not being selected to the NCAA Tournament there was somewhat of an angry “we’ll show you” type of attitude. And Tuesday night there’s just disbelief that the Sun Devils blew a double-digit lead late in the game against a team they should have disposed of when they had the chance.
ASU Baseball played host to the Auburn Tigers. Auburn, out of the SEC West, came into the contest as the leading offensive team in the SEC and one of the top five in the nation. Coming into the weekend, ASU knew it was going to have to hit early and often to stay in the three ballgames. Game 1 was a college baseball classic. Auburn jumped out to an early lead against Sun Devil starter Seth Blair. Auburn extended the lead to 7-2 after their half of the fifth inning. Two defensive miscues up the middle got that inning going. Five Tigers ended up coming in to score, all with two outs. However ASU responded in kind in their half of the fifth inning, putting up a six spot to take the lead back from the Tigers. Great bullpen work from Mitchell Lambson, Jake Barrett, and Jordan Swagerty closed out the Friday night victory for the Devils. Those three combined for four innings pitched, four hits, one run, and 8 strikeouts. It was the perfect example of the mental toughness this team possesses. Every time Auburn had a quality offensive inning, ASU responded. Every time Auburn made a big pitch, ASU made an adjustment. And that Friday night win was a statement to the type of weekend it would be.
Auburn came out swinging early on Saturday. Scoring six runs in their first six offensive outs. But by the end of the third inning, the Sun Devils had tied the ball game. The Devils scored in six of their eight offensive innings on Saturday, and by the time it was all said and done, ASU had won 16-7.
Sunday was more of the same. Auburn jumped out early, ASU responded. And after one out in the second inning, Auburn would not cross home plate again. The Devils continued their great team offensive approach to the tune of eight more runs on Sunday. The final was 8-3. Jake Borup pitched very well and moved to 4-0 on the season. The Devils ended up scoring 33 runs in the three game series.
Most Impressed With
ASU offensively had eight times this weekend where they came to hit after Auburn had scored a run. Of those eight opportunities to respond, ASU responded an astounding six times. It is so tough on a team to know that every time you score as a ballclub, the guys in the other dugout are going to come right back. The mental toughness that ASU showed this weekend is what you hope to gain by playoff time. For most teams, that never happens. For this team, they have 40 more games to hone that mentality and toughness through a hellish regular season schedule. And when they come out of the regular season, they will be as close to mentally invincible as a team can get. I’m also impressed with not having to mention a single offensive player individually. I could, a lot of players had outstanding weekends. But I know that those guys were proud of how they played as a unit, so let’s recognize them as a unit.
Words of Caution
Defense should have been a big key for ASU this weekend. However, they kicked the ball around way too much. Four errors on the weekend may not sound like much. But against the versatile offensives of the Pac-10, free bases kill teams. That ASU Infield is a very veteran group who knows how important it is to take care of the rock. I expect Head Coach Tim Esmay will be hitting plenty of ground balls this week.
Week Ahead
No rest for the wicked this week. Tuesday and Wednesday our Boys in Maroon head up to Fullerton to play the Titans. Kevin Costner will probably be in the first row with his hat on backwards, screaming at us because For Love of the Game was a terrible movie. It’s like, “Dude, it’s not our fault you just looked old in that movie. Plus you had Cal Naughton, Jr. as your catcher. And don’t be scared to get some tailored baseball pants. After Little League, the real ballers have their pants down past the lower calf area.” But, I digress. It should be a great two-game, mid-week contest between two top 25 programs. On Thursday the Devils will take the day off before coming back to Winkles-Packard-Brock for a three game set against Houston. The Cougars are crazy hot right now. They have won their last six games including a win against Texas, a win against Texas Tech, and a three game sweep of Cal Poly. This will be another hard fought series against a very talented group. This is going to be a fun week to watch ASU Baseball.
Weekend Coverage
Both games at Fullerton and all three games against Houston will be covered on the Fan AM 1060. Sam Eshelman and Randy Policar will call the games out at Fullerton. And myself will be joined by someone who can carry me through three games against Houston. Tickets are still available for this weekend’s ball games. The number for tickets is 480-727-0000. We hope to see you out at the yard.
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 know the ones I mean. The ones whose parents have guests over for dinner, but let them stay home if they 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”.
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