Post by mhbruin on Feb 26, 2023 17:51:31 GMT -8
The last time we played the Sun Devils, they were 15-3 and 6-1 in the Pac-12. They looked like a sure tournament team. Since then they have gone 5-6, and are fighting for their tournament life.
They are fighting for their tournament life on perhaps the toughest road trip in the Pac-12. It wouldn't shock me if they go 2-0 in Los Angeles and it wouldn't shock me if they go 0-2.
The computers see this as an easy win for us, however, there are plenty of reasons to fear the Sun Devils. They have been good on the road, and this isn't a great matchup for us.
As an analyst (at least in my own mind), I hate trying to figure out a team like this. They are very inconsistent. This could easly be the tougher of the two games this week or we could beat them by 30.
To understand why, read on.
METRICS
Estimated Line: UCLA -12.5
Line: UCLA -5 (5 point favorites win 68% of the time.)
ESPN Predictor: UCLA wins 93% of the time
Nolan Prediction: UCLA Wins 73-62
KemPom: UCLA wins 88% of the time, 74-61.
Average prediction: UCLA wins 90% of the time, 74-61.
ARIZONA STATE'S RECORD
ASU's Quad 1 wins are over at Arizona, Creighton (N) and at Colorado and at Oregon. Their Quad 1 losses are to UCLA, Arizona, and Washington State.
Their Quad 2 loss is by 37 at San Francisco, a 13-18 team.
The Quad 4 loss? At home to Texas Southern, who is #306 in KenPom and #321 in the NET. They are the worst team in the country with "Southern" in their name.
ASU wasn't playing very well at the start of the season and almost lost to Tarleton State. They were integrating TEN new players.
The Sun Devils have won 4 of their last 5, however only the win over Arizona is impressive. Their other recent wins are at Stanford, at Cal (in OT), and over Utah, with a home loss to Colorado sandwiched in there.
Arizona State's road record is the second best in the Pac-12. Only our 9-2 record is better.
ASU ROAD WINS
Colorado (1 point)
SMU (18) - SMU is 10-19 and in 10th place in the AAC.
Oregon (17)
Oregon St (9)
Stanford (4)
California (8, in OT)
Arizona (1)
ASU ROAD LOSSES
Texas Southern (by 1 in OT) - Texas Southern is 11-18 and in 7th place in the SWAC.
San Francisco (37)
Washington (3 in OT)
Washington St (17)
Do you see the pattern there? I don't. Except that Arizona is 10-3 in close games. That's a LOT of close game. We are 3-2. (I think a close game is decided by 6 or less or goes to OT.)
This will be a Quad 2 game for us. This is a Quad 1 game for them and they will see it as a chance to win their way into the tournament.
UCLA'S OFFENSE VS ARIZONA STATE'S DEFENSE
Once again, we face a very good defense.
Arizona State's defensive stats look a lot like Colorado's, but Arizona State defends the two-point shot better and is better at blocking shots and generating turnovers.
Arizona State is elite in defending the two-point shot. We are not that great at making the two-point shot, and over 70% of our shots are inside the arc. That's not a great matchup for us, and we may be forced to his some threes to win.
The Sun Devils have lots of quick guard who are very good at on-ball defense. In our first game we shot 50% from the field and 43% from the arc. The excellent three-point shooting was mainly because Singleton went 4 for 6. I would have to believe they are going to emphasize denying him the ball and never leaving him on defense.
When you go inside, they are good at stealing the ball and blocking shots. Of course, we are excellent at not turning the ball over and not getting our shots blocked. In our first meeting we turned the ball over 13 times, and they had 6 blocks. Neither of those are good numbers for us. The 6 blocks ties a season-high for our opponents.
If we have an edge, it should be on the offensive glass. They don't protect their defensive boards very well, and we are a very good offensive rebounding team. However, we have been in single digits for offensive rebounds in 5 of our last 6 games. Apparently the coaches of other teams have told their teams to focus on defensive rebounding, rather than trying to get out on the fast break.
I don't see much to like about the matchup on this end of the floor.
Advantage: ASU
UCLA'S DEFENSE VS ARIZONA STATE'S OFFENSE
Arizona State's offense isn't very good and we have an elite defense.
On offense Arizona State is a good ball-handling team. They get assists on their baskets at a pretty high rate, and they don't turn the ball over a ton.
That didn't work out too well for them in our first meeting where they had 12 assists and 18 turnovers.
All this ignores the giant elephant in the room. The Sun Devils are not a good shooting team. They are bad at the two and even worse shooting the three. I wouldn't call them "the team that can't shoot straight." I would call them, "the team that can't recognize a good shot." TThey have terrible shot seletion. This seems to be part of the Bobby Hurley approach. He gives his players a ton of freedom on the offensive end ,if they play defense. (This goes back to his days at Duke where Coach K often didn't run much structured offense and relied on his uber-talented players to figure out how to score.)
ASU has shot over 50% from the floor 5 times this season. They won all five of those games, including their two best wins, in Tucson and in Eugene. Meanwhile the Sun Devils have shot under 40% 11 times. They are 4-8 in those games. Two of those wins are over Cal and Tarleton State, two Quad 4 wins.
It seems pretty clear that the key to winning this game is going to be our defense. We held them to 45% in our first meeting and we won by 12. We might need to do better this time.
OTHER FACTORS
We are a better rebounding team.
UCLA is a little better at handling the ball.
We used to be #1 in Extra Scoring Chances. They we did a terrible job on the defensive boards against the mountain schools. That cost us our #1 spot to Houston, who leads us by a fraction. We are still much better than the Sun Devils.
Advantage: UCLA.
PLAYERS
In recent years, Arizona State teams have suffered from two problems, a lack of size and bad chemistry. This season's team has neither of those problems. 7-foot Warren Washington has been a quality big man, and this team plays together like brothers. Two of the starters are brothers, which helps a bit.
For a change we are not playing a tall team. They Sun Devil are #185 in height. The Bruins are #192. Enjoy it while it lasts Next up are the Wildcats who are #23.
Bobby Hurley really uses his full roster. He plays ten players at least 10 minutes per game. Freshman Austin Nunez didn't play in their last game. He is their best three-point shooter, although 38% doesn't exactly make him a marksman. I don't know if he will play against us.
* 3-Pt Freq = Percent of his shots that are 3-point attempts.
ASU has some good ball-handlers. Four of their ten rotation players have an A/TO margin at least 1.5. UCLA has five players that good, with four over 2.0.
Part of the problem for Arizona State on offense is they have five players who are in love with the three-point shot, namely Desmond Cambridge, DJ Horne, Austin Nunez, Jamaya Neal, and Alonzo Gaffney. The only decent shooter in the group is Nunez. Two of them shoot 33%, Neal shoots a miserable 24%, and Gaffney shoots an even more miserable 23%. Then again, none of them shoot very well from inside the arc with overall field goal percentages ranging from 33% to 42%.
Maybe they shouldn't shoot at all. But then, it's not as the rest of the roster is filled with a bunch of great shooters. The only good shooters are Devan Cambridge and Warren Washington, and they only take around 20% of ASU's shots.
ASU typically plays a center (or forward) and 4 wings.
They play seven wing players who seem a bit interchangeable. The best of the bunch is the younger of the Cambridge brothers, Devan (#25). Although his older brother Desmond (#4) leads the team in scoring and steals, Devan is a much better shooter, particularly inside the arc. On the other hand, Desmond is the better ball handler.
Confused? Just remember #4 is the better shooter. Both brothers are athletic and are very good shot blockers for their size.
Wings DJ Horne, Frankie Collins, Jamiya Neal, and Luther Muhammad are not shooting very well from the inside or outside. All of them handle the ball well, but Collins leads the team in assists and is a quality point guard. If only he could shoot.
Freshman guard, Austin Nunez has shown some flashes of his talent, but he is inconsistent. An inconsistent freshman. Imagine that. As mentioned, I don't know if he will be available.
Turning to the bigs, Nevada transfer Warren Washington has made the jump from the Mountain West very well. He is the center that Bobby Hurley has been seeking for the last few years. He shoots well inside, he sets picks, he rebounds and he is #35 in the country in blocks per game. In the Pac-12, he only trails SC's Joshua Morgan and Utah's Brandan Carlson in blocks.
Having a rim protector has allowed Arizona State to play more pressure defense at the three-point line.
Washington is backed up by Alonzo Gaffney who is athletic, but hasn't shot well and never lived up to his lofty recruiting ranking. He's a post player who shoots 33% from the floor, but over half his shots are from behind the three-point line.
Duke Brennan is another backup big, who is young and raw. He's not much of a scorer, but he plays hard and rebounds well. Don't expect much out of his passing. He has THREE assists and 12 turnovers in 284 minutes of playing. That's one assist in every 95 minutes he is on the floor.
CONCLUSION
Arizona and Arizona State provide very different challenges, with ASU being guard driven and Arizona being led by their two big men. Although the computers think the Wildcats are the better team, I think the Sun Devils may be the bigger challenge for us.
First, they are an excellent defensive team, particularly inside the arc. We have had problems scoring against defenses like this.
Also, they have a bunch of quick guards who are capable of beating us off the dribble. That has also caused us some issues. Fortunately, those quick guards love to shoot from the outside, and don't do it very well.
On the other hand, our defense is elite, and they are a pretty bad offensive team.
Teams that shoot a lot of threes are dangerous and less perdictable. The Sun Devils will shoot too many threes and many of them will be lower-percentage shots. (You might argue that with their poor shooting, most of their shots are low-percentage shots.) However, low-percentage shots can drop. If they are hitting their outside shots, all bets are off.
It's almost a cliche to say that the outcome may depend on how well we shoot from the outside and how well they shoot from the outside. But it's a cliche because it is true.
I think that in Pauley the shots will drop the right way. However, this game worries me.
I see this game as a 9 on the nail-biting scale. (0=I finish the game with all my nails intact. 10=All my nails are trashed by the end of the game.)
It's definitely at least a two drink minimum game for me.
A VIEW OF ASU FROM 247. I AGREE WITH IT.
Arizona State guards with fury and tenacity most nights. Bobby Hurley has guards who are very comfortable hounding you constantly for 40 minutes. They’ll play up in the passing lanes and try to force turnovers because Warren Washington is one of the best shot-blockers in the country, and both Devan Cambridge and Alonzo Gaffney are helpful rim protectors, too.
But you have to generate easy buckets to advance in the NCAA Tournament, and Arizona State doesn’t do that easily. The Sun Devils have been very streaky offensively, and the shot selection leaves a ton to be desired. When DJ Horne, Desmond Cambridge and Frankie Collins are clicking, you’re in real trouble. But Arizona State only gets 73% of its shots from 3-point range or at the rim (292nd nationally, according to Shot Quality). Arizona State is one of the worst jump-shooting teams in the country this year (18th percentile), an erratic free throw shooting team (69.5%, 263rd nationally) and a horrendous layup-making team (48.3%, 2nd percentile).
Arizona State’s offense can keep you in the game, and its defense might not be good enough for 40 minutes to win it.
There are a lot of pitfalls for Arizona State in the Big Dance. It is the type of team that scares both their own coach and the opposing coach because you truly don’t know if the low-percentage, contested jumpers Cambridge, Horne and Collins always take are going to go in.
Arizona State is on the doorstep of earning a NCAA Tournament bid after knocking off potential No. 2 seed Arizona Saturday. A disciplined team who doesn’t turn the basketball over and limits easy looks could have its way with a sometimes-reckless Arizona State squad.
Source
Go Bruins!
-------------------------
Many around the basketball world wondered why Marcus Bagley wasn't getting more minutes as a junior. That was until Bagley himself took to social media to explain what was happening.
Bagley put out a statement on Twitter, saying that he made some mistakes by voicing some comments toward the coaching staff. According to Bagley, his comments were directly toward head coach Bobby Hurley.
The 6'8" junior said in his statement over and over again that he made some mistakes with his actions. Bagley then followed up with another tweet, saying that he was eventually suspended for putting his statement on Twitter.
Also, former 5-star sophomore Enoch Boakye rarely plays.
They are fighting for their tournament life on perhaps the toughest road trip in the Pac-12. It wouldn't shock me if they go 2-0 in Los Angeles and it wouldn't shock me if they go 0-2.
The computers see this as an easy win for us, however, there are plenty of reasons to fear the Sun Devils. They have been good on the road, and this isn't a great matchup for us.
As an analyst (at least in my own mind), I hate trying to figure out a team like this. They are very inconsistent. This could easly be the tougher of the two games this week or we could beat them by 30.
To understand why, read on.
METRICS
Estimated Line: UCLA -12.5
ESPN Predictor: UCLA wins 93% of the time
Torvick Predictor: UCLA wins 90% of the time 74-61.
Nolan Prediction: UCLA Wins 73-62
KemPom: UCLA wins 88% of the time, 74-61.
Average prediction: UCLA wins 90% of the time, 74-61.
| Arizona State | UCLA | |
| NET | 61 | 4 |
| KenPom Rank | 61 | 2 |
| Sagarin Rank | 58 | 4 |
| Torvick Rank | 71 | 3 |
| SOS | 56 | 40 |
| Record | 20-9 | 25-4 |
ARIZONA STATE'S RECORD
| QUAD 1 | QUAD 2 | QUAD 3 | QUAD 4 | |
| UCLA | 7-4 | 7-0 | 5-0 | 6-0 |
| Arizona State | 4-3 | 5-5 | 4-0 | 7-1 |
ASU's Quad 1 wins are over at Arizona, Creighton (N) and at Colorado and at Oregon. Their Quad 1 losses are to UCLA, Arizona, and Washington State.
Their Quad 2 loss is by 37 at San Francisco, a 13-18 team.
The Quad 4 loss? At home to Texas Southern, who is #306 in KenPom and #321 in the NET. They are the worst team in the country with "Southern" in their name.
ASU wasn't playing very well at the start of the season and almost lost to Tarleton State. They were integrating TEN new players.
The Sun Devils have won 4 of their last 5, however only the win over Arizona is impressive. Their other recent wins are at Stanford, at Cal (in OT), and over Utah, with a home loss to Colorado sandwiched in there.
| Arizona State Road | 7-4 |
| UCLA Home | 15-0 |
Arizona State's road record is the second best in the Pac-12. Only our 9-2 record is better.
ASU ROAD WINS
Colorado (1 point)
SMU (18) - SMU is 10-19 and in 10th place in the AAC.
Oregon (17)
Oregon St (9)
Stanford (4)
California (8, in OT)
Arizona (1)
ASU ROAD LOSSES
Texas Southern (by 1 in OT) - Texas Southern is 11-18 and in 7th place in the SWAC.
San Francisco (37)
Washington (3 in OT)
Washington St (17)
Do you see the pattern there? I don't. Except that Arizona is 10-3 in close games. That's a LOT of close game. We are 3-2. (I think a close game is decided by 6 or less or goes to OT.)
This will be a Quad 2 game for us. This is a Quad 1 game for them and they will see it as a chance to win their way into the tournament.
UCLA'S OFFENSE VS ARIZONA STATE'S DEFENSE
Once again, we face a very good defense.
Arizona State's defensive stats look a lot like Colorado's, but Arizona State defends the two-point shot better and is better at blocking shots and generating turnovers.
Arizona State Defense | UCLA Offense | |
| KenPom Rank | 34 | 22 |
| Torvick Rank | 37 | 30 |
| Points per game (allowed / scored) | 67 | 74 |
| Tempo (Rank in US) | 126 of 363 | 230 |
| FG Percent | 39.3% | 46.5% |
| Effective FG Percent | 46.0% (18) | 51.6% (129) |
| 3-Pt Percent | 33.7% (152) | 35.4% (104) |
| 3-Pt Rate | 40.0% (276) | 28.7% (344) |
| 2-Pt Percent | 43.0% (5) | 50.9% (154) |
| FT Percent | 70.1% (245) | |
| Offensive Rebound Percent | 30.9% (285) | 34.1% (25) |
| Assist Percent | 54.6% (273) | 51.8% (151) |
| Turnovers (created / committed) | 20.4% (68) | 15.3% (23) |
| Block Percent | 14.1% (10) | 6.3% (16) |
Arizona State is elite in defending the two-point shot. We are not that great at making the two-point shot, and over 70% of our shots are inside the arc. That's not a great matchup for us, and we may be forced to his some threes to win.
The Sun Devils have lots of quick guard who are very good at on-ball defense. In our first game we shot 50% from the field and 43% from the arc. The excellent three-point shooting was mainly because Singleton went 4 for 6. I would have to believe they are going to emphasize denying him the ball and never leaving him on defense.
When you go inside, they are good at stealing the ball and blocking shots. Of course, we are excellent at not turning the ball over and not getting our shots blocked. In our first meeting we turned the ball over 13 times, and they had 6 blocks. Neither of those are good numbers for us. The 6 blocks ties a season-high for our opponents.
If we have an edge, it should be on the offensive glass. They don't protect their defensive boards very well, and we are a very good offensive rebounding team. However, we have been in single digits for offensive rebounds in 5 of our last 6 games. Apparently the coaches of other teams have told their teams to focus on defensive rebounding, rather than trying to get out on the fast break.
I don't see much to like about the matchup on this end of the floor.
Advantage: ASU
UCLA'S DEFENSE VS ARIZONA STATE'S OFFENSE
Arizona State's offense isn't very good and we have an elite defense.
UCLA Defense | Arizona State Offense | |
| KenPom Rank | 2 | 114 |
| Torvick Rank | 2 | 132 |
| Points per game (allowed / scored) | 60 | 71 |
| FG Percent | 40.5% | 42.2% |
| Effective FG Percent | 46.5% (26) | 48.4% (286) |
| 3-Pt Percent | 30.7% (28) | 31.6% (306) |
| 3-Pt Rate | 39.7% (264) | 39.1% (132) |
| 2-Pt Percent | 46.9% (51) | 49.1% (231) |
| FT Percent | 68.5% (263) | |
| Offensive Rebound Percent | 28.3% (173) | 29.3% (162) |
| Assist Percent | 52.2% (218) | 56.7% (48) |
| Turnovers (created / committed) | 24.3% (6) | 16.9% (77) |
| Block Percent | 12.1% (47) | 8.5% (160) |
On offense Arizona State is a good ball-handling team. They get assists on their baskets at a pretty high rate, and they don't turn the ball over a ton.
That didn't work out too well for them in our first meeting where they had 12 assists and 18 turnovers.
All this ignores the giant elephant in the room. The Sun Devils are not a good shooting team. They are bad at the two and even worse shooting the three. I wouldn't call them "the team that can't shoot straight." I would call them, "the team that can't recognize a good shot." TThey have terrible shot seletion. This seems to be part of the Bobby Hurley approach. He gives his players a ton of freedom on the offensive end ,if they play defense. (This goes back to his days at Duke where Coach K often didn't run much structured offense and relied on his uber-talented players to figure out how to score.)
ASU has shot over 50% from the floor 5 times this season. They won all five of those games, including their two best wins, in Tucson and in Eugene. Meanwhile the Sun Devils have shot under 40% 11 times. They are 4-8 in those games. Two of those wins are over Cal and Tarleton State, two Quad 4 wins.
It seems pretty clear that the key to winning this game is going to be our defense. We held them to 45% in our first meeting and we won by 12. We might need to do better this time.
OTHER FACTORS
| Arizona State | UCLA | |
| Rebound margin | 2.9 | 3.8 |
| Offensive Rebound Percent | 29.3% (162) | 34.1% (25) |
| Defensive Rebound Percent | 69.1% (295) | 71.7% (173) |
| Assist-Turnover Ratio | 1.2 to 1 | 1.4 to 1 |
| Extra Scoring Chances | 1.8 (98) | 8.8 (2) |
We are a better rebounding team.
UCLA is a little better at handling the ball.
We used to be #1 in Extra Scoring Chances. They we did a terrible job on the defensive boards against the mountain schools. That cost us our #1 spot to Houston, who leads us by a fraction. We are still much better than the Sun Devils.
Advantage: UCLA.
PLAYERS
In recent years, Arizona State teams have suffered from two problems, a lack of size and bad chemistry. This season's team has neither of those problems. 7-foot Warren Washington has been a quality big man, and this team plays together like brothers. Two of the starters are brothers, which helps a bit.
For a change we are not playing a tall team. They Sun Devil are #185 in height. The Bruins are #192. Enjoy it while it lasts Next up are the Wildcats who are #23.
Bobby Hurley really uses his full roster. He plays ten players at least 10 minutes per game. Freshman Austin Nunez didn't play in their last game. He is their best three-point shooter, although 38% doesn't exactly make him a marksman. I don't know if he will play against us.
| Class | Size | Recruiting | Games | Minutes | Points | Rebounds / 40 Min | Assists | Blocks / 40 Min | FG % | 3-Pt % | 3-Pt Freq * | A/TO Ratio | |
| Desmond Cambridge Jr. G | Sr 5 | 6'4" 180 | Unranked | 27 | 28 | 14 | 2.3 | 41% | 33% | 60% | 1.9 | ||
| DJ Horne G | Jr | 6'1" 175 | Unranked | 28 | 29 | 12 | 2.4 | 35% | 33% | 51% | 1.7 | ||
| Frankie Collins G | So | 6'1" 185 | 4-star 47 | 28 | 28 | 10 | 4.5 | 40% | 34% | 27% | 2.0 | ||
| Devan Cambridge G | Sr | 6'6" 215 | 3-star 217 | 29 | 27 | 10 | 8.1 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 51% | 35% | 32% | 0.6 |
| Warren Washington F | Sr | 7'0" 225 | 3-star 359 | 27 | 26 | 9 | 10.1 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 60% | 1.2 | ||
| Austin Nunez G | Fr | 6'2" 170 | 4-star 97 | 28 | 16 | 5 | 0.9 | 42% | 38% | 50% | 0.7 | ||
| Jamiya Neal F | So | 6'6" 185 | 3-star 219 | 24 | 15 | 4 | 8.0 | 1.9 | 39% | 24% | 48% | 1.5 | |
| Luther Muhammad G | Sr | 6'3" 195 | 4-star 79 | 29 | 10 | 4 | 0.4 | 35% | 16% | 33% | 1.2 | ||
| Alonzo Gaffney F | So | 6'9" 200 | 4-star 50 | 29 | 17 | 3 | 7.1 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 33% | 23% | 51% | 0.7 |
| Duke Brennan F | Fr | 6'10" 235 | 3-star 196 | 29 | 10 | 3 | 10.1 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 54% | 0.2 |
* 3-Pt Freq = Percent of his shots that are 3-point attempts.
ASU has some good ball-handlers. Four of their ten rotation players have an A/TO margin at least 1.5. UCLA has five players that good, with four over 2.0.
Part of the problem for Arizona State on offense is they have five players who are in love with the three-point shot, namely Desmond Cambridge, DJ Horne, Austin Nunez, Jamaya Neal, and Alonzo Gaffney. The only decent shooter in the group is Nunez. Two of them shoot 33%, Neal shoots a miserable 24%, and Gaffney shoots an even more miserable 23%. Then again, none of them shoot very well from inside the arc with overall field goal percentages ranging from 33% to 42%.
Maybe they shouldn't shoot at all. But then, it's not as the rest of the roster is filled with a bunch of great shooters. The only good shooters are Devan Cambridge and Warren Washington, and they only take around 20% of ASU's shots.
ASU typically plays a center (or forward) and 4 wings.
They play seven wing players who seem a bit interchangeable. The best of the bunch is the younger of the Cambridge brothers, Devan (#25). Although his older brother Desmond (#4) leads the team in scoring and steals, Devan is a much better shooter, particularly inside the arc. On the other hand, Desmond is the better ball handler.
Confused? Just remember #4 is the better shooter. Both brothers are athletic and are very good shot blockers for their size.
Wings DJ Horne, Frankie Collins, Jamiya Neal, and Luther Muhammad are not shooting very well from the inside or outside. All of them handle the ball well, but Collins leads the team in assists and is a quality point guard. If only he could shoot.
Freshman guard, Austin Nunez has shown some flashes of his talent, but he is inconsistent. An inconsistent freshman. Imagine that. As mentioned, I don't know if he will be available.
Turning to the bigs, Nevada transfer Warren Washington has made the jump from the Mountain West very well. He is the center that Bobby Hurley has been seeking for the last few years. He shoots well inside, he sets picks, he rebounds and he is #35 in the country in blocks per game. In the Pac-12, he only trails SC's Joshua Morgan and Utah's Brandan Carlson in blocks.
Having a rim protector has allowed Arizona State to play more pressure defense at the three-point line.
Washington is backed up by Alonzo Gaffney who is athletic, but hasn't shot well and never lived up to his lofty recruiting ranking. He's a post player who shoots 33% from the floor, but over half his shots are from behind the three-point line.
Duke Brennan is another backup big, who is young and raw. He's not much of a scorer, but he plays hard and rebounds well. Don't expect much out of his passing. He has THREE assists and 12 turnovers in 284 minutes of playing. That's one assist in every 95 minutes he is on the floor.
CONCLUSION
Arizona and Arizona State provide very different challenges, with ASU being guard driven and Arizona being led by their two big men. Although the computers think the Wildcats are the better team, I think the Sun Devils may be the bigger challenge for us.
First, they are an excellent defensive team, particularly inside the arc. We have had problems scoring against defenses like this.
Also, they have a bunch of quick guards who are capable of beating us off the dribble. That has also caused us some issues. Fortunately, those quick guards love to shoot from the outside, and don't do it very well.
On the other hand, our defense is elite, and they are a pretty bad offensive team.
Teams that shoot a lot of threes are dangerous and less perdictable. The Sun Devils will shoot too many threes and many of them will be lower-percentage shots. (You might argue that with their poor shooting, most of their shots are low-percentage shots.) However, low-percentage shots can drop. If they are hitting their outside shots, all bets are off.
It's almost a cliche to say that the outcome may depend on how well we shoot from the outside and how well they shoot from the outside. But it's a cliche because it is true.
I think that in Pauley the shots will drop the right way. However, this game worries me.
I see this game as a 9 on the nail-biting scale. (0=I finish the game with all my nails intact. 10=All my nails are trashed by the end of the game.)
It's definitely at least a two drink minimum game for me.
A VIEW OF ASU FROM 247. I AGREE WITH IT.
Arizona State guards with fury and tenacity most nights. Bobby Hurley has guards who are very comfortable hounding you constantly for 40 minutes. They’ll play up in the passing lanes and try to force turnovers because Warren Washington is one of the best shot-blockers in the country, and both Devan Cambridge and Alonzo Gaffney are helpful rim protectors, too.
But you have to generate easy buckets to advance in the NCAA Tournament, and Arizona State doesn’t do that easily. The Sun Devils have been very streaky offensively, and the shot selection leaves a ton to be desired. When DJ Horne, Desmond Cambridge and Frankie Collins are clicking, you’re in real trouble. But Arizona State only gets 73% of its shots from 3-point range or at the rim (292nd nationally, according to Shot Quality). Arizona State is one of the worst jump-shooting teams in the country this year (18th percentile), an erratic free throw shooting team (69.5%, 263rd nationally) and a horrendous layup-making team (48.3%, 2nd percentile).
Arizona State’s offense can keep you in the game, and its defense might not be good enough for 40 minutes to win it.
There are a lot of pitfalls for Arizona State in the Big Dance. It is the type of team that scares both their own coach and the opposing coach because you truly don’t know if the low-percentage, contested jumpers Cambridge, Horne and Collins always take are going to go in.
Arizona State is on the doorstep of earning a NCAA Tournament bid after knocking off potential No. 2 seed Arizona Saturday. A disciplined team who doesn’t turn the basketball over and limits easy looks could have its way with a sometimes-reckless Arizona State squad.
Source
Go Bruins!
-------------------------
Many around the basketball world wondered why Marcus Bagley wasn't getting more minutes as a junior. That was until Bagley himself took to social media to explain what was happening.
Bagley put out a statement on Twitter, saying that he made some mistakes by voicing some comments toward the coaching staff. According to Bagley, his comments were directly toward head coach Bobby Hurley.
The 6'8" junior said in his statement over and over again that he made some mistakes with his actions. Bagley then followed up with another tweet, saying that he was eventually suspended for putting his statement on Twitter.
Also, former 5-star sophomore Enoch Boakye rarely plays.