Post by mhbruin on May 13, 2022 15:28:50 GMT -8
Next are the 8th place Arizona State Sun Devils. 8th place is an improvement from the previous season when they finished 9th.
Bobby Hurley can usually get talented players to come to Tempe. However, he has had a problem keeping the talent there. After the 2019-2020 season he lost TEN players who voluntarily left. Then he brought in TEN new players.
With that much roster churn, it should probably be no surprise that they didn't have a great season. They managed a couple of good wins including beating UCLA in triple OT and at Creighton. They also lost to UC Riverside and Cal.
Last season they were a very good defensive team, ranked at #27 in defensive efficiency by KenPom. However, their offense was a mess, ranked #207. Only Cal was worse in the Pac-12.
You would think that the way to fix this was better shooting and better PG play. Let's see if he managed to address those problems.
Also, ASU was not a great rebounding team last season.
There is some pressure on Bobby Hurley to produce. Here is his ASU resume.
Bobby Hurley's tenure has been marked with pretty good talent and terrible team chemistry.
GRADUATING
They have both played their 5 seasons.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
TRANSFERRING OUT
Looking at graduation and transfers, ASU is losing 4 rotation players, including their top 3 rebounders, 3 of their top 5 scorers, and 4 of their top 5 assist men.
Rochelin, Williams, and Felton were all part of Hurley's 5-man recruiting class last year. They never saw the floor, and now they are transferring out. One year of the ASU bench was enough for them.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
For all they lose, the Sun Devils return some pretty good talent.
They hope Marcus Bagley will be a star. Bagley only played 3 games last year before injuring his knee. In two seasons with the Sun Devils, he has only played in 15 games. If he can stay healthy, he will almost certainly be a starter and likely an all-league player.
They also return two starters in Horne and Gaffney, and a part-time starter in Muhammad.
Gaffney and Boakye are both intriguing prospects. They are both big and athletic with some skills.
The offensive problems are pretty clear. Neither Horne nor Muhammad is a natural PG. ASU's best ball-handler seems to be 6-9 Alonzo Gaffney, and he is not Magic Johnson.
Then there is 3-point shooting. The returning players aren't great at it. Maybe a healthy Marcus Bagley will provide the offense, but they will need more than one guy.
Overall, I think ASU has some good big guys, but I am not sold on the guards.
(#44 class, #4 in Pac-12)
With this class and the transfers, ASU brings in six new players. Nunez has some nice offers. Is he ready as a true freshman to be the answer at PG? That could be the deciding factor in the Sun Devils' season.
ASU has Brennan adds some much needed size. Arizona State hasn't been a great rebounding team. Maybe he can help.
Hurley seems to have tried to address the team chemistry issues with his transfers. First he brings in two brothers, who ought to be comfortable playing together. In addition, by bringing in Washington, he adds Desmond's Cambridge's teammate and roommate from Nevada.
Desmond Cambridge was Steve Alford's second-leading scorer. He seems to have been a high-volume shooter.
His brother Devan played quite a bit for Auburn who won the SEC and went to the NCAA tournament. He started almost half their games. He is very athletic, but his shooting wasn't very good, and he wasn't much of a scorer.
They were expecting a lot from Frankie Collins at Michigan, as part of a huge recruiting class. He never quite lived up to their hopes. With a 1.2 A/TO ratio, he doesn't seem like the answer at PG for the Sun Devils.
Washington was a good rebounder for Nevada. He seems very thin, not all great rebounder are bruisers. I am not sure if he will get a lot of PT this season.
CONCLUSION
Bobby Hurley can usually get talented players to come to Tempe. However, he has had a problem keeping the talent there. After the 2019-2020 season he lost TEN players who voluntarily left. Then he brought in TEN new players.
With that much roster churn, it should probably be no surprise that they didn't have a great season. They managed a couple of good wins including beating UCLA in triple OT and at Creighton. They also lost to UC Riverside and Cal.
Last season they were a very good defensive team, ranked at #27 in defensive efficiency by KenPom. However, their offense was a mess, ranked #207. Only Cal was worse in the Pac-12.
You would think that the way to fix this was better shooting and better PG play. Let's see if he managed to address those problems.
Also, ASU was not a great rebounding team last season.
There is some pressure on Bobby Hurley to produce. Here is his ASU resume.
| Record | Conference Finish | Post Season | |
| 2015-16 | 15-17 | 11th | |
| 2016-17 | 15-18 | 8th | |
| 2017-18 | 20-12 | 8th | NCAA First Four |
| 2018-19 | 23-11 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 64 |
| 2019-20 | 20-11 | 3rd | |
| 2020-21 | 11-14 | 9th | |
| 2021-22 | 14-17 | 8th |
Bobby Hurley's tenure has been marked with pretty good talent and terrible team chemistry.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Marreon Jackson | 31 | 17 | 29 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Kimani Lawrence | 30 | 30 | 29 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
They have both played their 5 seasons.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
| None | |||||||
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Destination |
| Jalen Graham | 29 | 22 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 2 | Arkansas |
| Jay Heath | 28 | 17 | 28 | 11 | 3 | 2 | Georgetown |
| Justin Rochelin | 0 | ||||||
| Demari Williams | 0 | ||||||
| William Felton | 0 | North Carolina A&T |
Looking at graduation and transfers, ASU is losing 4 rotation players, including their top 3 rebounders, 3 of their top 5 scorers, and 4 of their top 5 assist men.
Rochelin, Williams, and Felton were all part of Hurley's 5-man recruiting class last year. They never saw the floor, and now they are transferring out. One year of the ASU bench was enough for them.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| DJ Horne | 30 | 28 | 30 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 39% | 36% | 1.2 | Jr 4 | Unranked | |
| Marcus Bagley | 3 | 3 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 39% | 39% | 0.7 | So 2 | 4 | 28 |
| Luther Muhammad | 30 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 31% | 19% | 1.4 | Jr 4 | 4 | 79 |
| Alonzo Gaffney | 30 | 24 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 43% | 31% | 1.9 | So 3 | 4 | 50 |
| Jamiya Neal | 30 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 24% | 22% | 0.7 | So | 3 | 219 |
| Enoch Boakye | 31 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 53% | 0.3 | So | 5 | 27 |
For all they lose, the Sun Devils return some pretty good talent.
They hope Marcus Bagley will be a star. Bagley only played 3 games last year before injuring his knee. In two seasons with the Sun Devils, he has only played in 15 games. If he can stay healthy, he will almost certainly be a starter and likely an all-league player.
They also return two starters in Horne and Gaffney, and a part-time starter in Muhammad.
Gaffney and Boakye are both intriguing prospects. They are both big and athletic with some skills.
The offensive problems are pretty clear. Neither Horne nor Muhammad is a natural PG. ASU's best ball-handler seems to be 6-9 Alonzo Gaffney, and he is not Magic Johnson.
Then there is 3-point shooting. The returning players aren't great at it. Maybe a healthy Marcus Bagley will provide the offense, but they will need more than one guy.
Overall, I think ASU has some good big guys, but I am not sold on the guards.
RECRUITS
(#44 class, #4 in Pac-12)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Austin Nunez | 6-2 170 | PG | 4 | 97 | Arkansas, Baylor, Oregon, Texas |
| Duke Brennan | 6-10 235 | C | 3 | 196 | Georgia, California, Oregon St, Wake Forest |
With this class and the transfers, ASU brings in six new players. Nunez has some nice offers. Is he ready as a true freshman to be the answer at PG? That could be the deciding factor in the Sun Devils' season.
ASU has Brennan adds some much needed size. Arizona State hasn't been a great rebounding team. Maybe he can help.
TRANSFERRING IN
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Devan Cambridge | 6-6 215 | 33 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 40% | 22% | Auburn | Jr 4 | 3 | 217 |
| Desmond Cambridge | 6-4 180 | 30 | 29 | 33 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 44% | 37% | Nevada | Sr 5 | Unranked | |
| Frankie Collins | 6-1 185 | 31 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 43% | 17% | Michigan | Fr 2 | 4 | 47 |
| Warren Washington | 7-0 215 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 61% | Nevada | Jr 4 | 3 | 359 | |
Hurley seems to have tried to address the team chemistry issues with his transfers. First he brings in two brothers, who ought to be comfortable playing together. In addition, by bringing in Washington, he adds Desmond's Cambridge's teammate and roommate from Nevada.
Desmond Cambridge was Steve Alford's second-leading scorer. He seems to have been a high-volume shooter.
His brother Devan played quite a bit for Auburn who won the SEC and went to the NCAA tournament. He started almost half their games. He is very athletic, but his shooting wasn't very good, and he wasn't much of a scorer.
They were expecting a lot from Frankie Collins at Michigan, as part of a huge recruiting class. He never quite lived up to their hopes. With a 1.2 A/TO ratio, he doesn't seem like the answer at PG for the Sun Devils.
Washington was a good rebounder for Nevada. He seems very thin, not all great rebounder are bruisers. I am not sure if he will get a lot of PT this season.
CONCLUSION
In previous reviews we were looking at teams with less the Pac-12 level talent. That isn't true of ASU. They have a 5-star and five 4-star players.
They will need all their talent to produce. They need to shoot and rebound better.
This team is an enigma to me. I like the front court. I have questions about the guards. I also question Hurley's coaching ability.
With all those reservations, I suspect this will be a pretty good team. Not great, but pretty good. If Bagley has a breakout season, and a couple of guys figure out how to shoot from the outside, they could finish in the top half of the league.
They will need all their talent to produce. They need to shoot and rebound better.
This team is an enigma to me. I like the front court. I have questions about the guards. I also question Hurley's coaching ability.
With all those reservations, I suspect this will be a pretty good team. Not great, but pretty good. If Bagley has a breakout season, and a couple of guys figure out how to shoot from the outside, they could finish in the top half of the league.