MVN - Most Valuable Network

Devils rout Trojans

Arizona State crushed USC 80-66 on Saturday afternoon.  This convincing win moves the Devils closer to their first NCAA tournament birth since 2003.  The Devils are now 18-10 overall and 8-8 in the Pac-10.  With two games left at the Oregon schools next week and at least one game left in the Pac-10 tournament. 

Let me start by apologizing for not updating this blog as regularly as I should.  I started an MBA program in early January and it has taken more of my time than I anticipated.  I did get the chance to attend the USC game in person yesterday.  We were in line at the box office to purchase tickets when a kindly ASU fan handed me 2 tickets that he couldn’t use.  Thank you, unknown ASU fan for saving me 50 bucks and for obeying Sun Devil Law #4: no ticket goes unused.

The Devils jumped out to a 11-4 lead by the 16 minute mark of the first half, but then didn’t score a point through the next three TV timeouts!  The scoring drought lasted at least eight and half minutes.  However, the Devils scored ten points in the next two and half minutes, lead by freshman phenom James Harden, to tie the game.

The second half got a little chippy with Trojan guard Daniel Hackett mixing it up with Derek Glasser and Jeff Pendergraph.  This lead to a techincal foul on Trojan coach Tim Floyd and eventually lead to three Trojans, including Hackett fouling out of the game.  The Devils went on a 16-0 run after the technical foul and basically put the game away.  ASU dominated the game at the foul line hitting 34 of 39.  The Trojans were 10-11, this is probably what had Floyd so upset.  It looks like USC freshman O.J. Mayo will be heading to the NBA after the season.  Mayo had a career high 37 points and was raining threes left and right, including two pull up bombs on fast breaks.  Harden held his own in the battle of highly touted freshman.  James was a driving machine, scoring on two incredible three point plays.  Harden was 7-8 from the floor and 10-11 at the line. 

Congratulations to Jeff Pendergraph for scoring his 1000th career point.  Thank you to senior guard Antwi Atuahene, who played his last home game as a Sun Devil.  Atuahene was in the starting line up for Senior Day after receiving his #1 jersey in a nice frame from coach Herb Sendek before the game.  Antwi hit a 3 in the game’s first minute.

I’m looking for USC to get bounced early from the NCAA tournament.  Hacket and Taj Gibson and hotheads that get rattled too easily.  Gibson fouled out after scoring only 2 points against ASU.  The Trojans also rely too heavily on Mayo for scoring.  Mayo scored 56% of USC’s points yesterday.  That doesn’t bode well for the Trojans chances in March.

A Devil of a Collapse Against Stanford

It’s very easy to say that playing without your best player causes defeat. But, heck, that wasn’t the only problem for ASU in its second-half collapse against Stanford Saturday night. 

Herb Sendek’s ASU basketball squad was at Maples Pavilion attempting to keep its winning streak alive and doing a heck of a job doing it, until Stanford took over and won 68-52.

The #22 Sun Devils (14-2, 4-0 Pac-10) had won ten straight games (the best streak since 1980-81).

After building a 10-point lead (30-20 by half), the Sun Devils defense tired and the offense plummeted in the second half; It also didn’t help that junior forward Jeff Pendergraph played sparingly after picking up four fouls with 17:15 remaining.

Observations:

• Time and time again, freshman sensation James Harden has coasted through the first half before exploding in the second. That scenario didn’t quite pan out Saturday. Stanford looked like they did their homework with the scouting report: Swarm Harden in the paint. Let’s hope the Cardinal didn’t provide a blueprint for the rest of the conference.
• We saw tonight how difficult it will be for ASU to play without Pendergraph for extended periods of time. This is already a very young team; and, taking Pendergraph out of the puts way too much responsibility on Harden to be “the guy.” This is especially true because sophomore center Eric Boateng looks lost just about anywhere on the court. His defense was inconsistent. His rebounding was nonexistent, and he has zero offensive moves (besides an occasional hook-shot). Boateng has been, by far, the biggest disappointment.
• Where is sophomore guard Christian Polk? Wasn’t he the guy taking the last shot at the end of games last season? He has some offensive talent (though his shot is hard to look at) and must be fuming with a lack of playing time. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up in a Sylvester Seay-type situation.
• Finally, this is the Pac-10. So, take a deep breath. One loss to a decent team like Stanford shouldn’t shock the Herbivores. ASU is going to suffer these kinds of losses (as a young team) and especially on a tough California road trip like this. UCLA lost as well Saturday, so ASU remains tied for tops in the conference. Losing this time of tough contest should be good for the Sun Devils in the long run.

For all your ASU Baseball Coverage, visit The Sun Devil Sweet Spot. It gets started in February.

ASU Football Recruiting Gaining Steam

One would think embarrassment on national television would do anything but help. But as the crucial weeks of college football recruiting wear on, ASU is doing quite well despite its loss to Texas in the 2007 Holiday Bowl.

The fact that Dennis Erickson kept his team in the BCS discussion was likely enough. But as Erickson knows has readily admitted, ASU must do accomplish two tasks to stay relevant in the eyes of high school football talent.

1) Keep Arizona talent in-state

2) Recruit the big-three: California, Texas and Florida

And while those two goals remain unfulfilled, some experts say has ASU currently has the 12th best haul of prospects for 2008, while others lean closer to 21st best nationally. According to Rivals.com or Scout.com (the top recruiting sites), ASU already has 26 verbal commits. Here’s the cream of that crop, according to Rivals: all four-star prospects…

• Gerrell Robinson (also considered Notre Dame)
• Jarrell Barbour (decommitted from UA)
• Ryan Bass (decommitted from UA)
• Kemonte Bateman (decommitted from UCLA)
• Lawrence Guy
• Zach Schlink

The Sun Devils remain in the hunt for a few other blue-chippers but should already be content. Erickson and his staff (namely recruiting coordinator Matt Lubick) got a late start in 2007, but are proving that even a Holiday Bowl appearance attracts a segment of the nation’s top talent.

For all your ASU baseball coverage, visit The Sun Devil Sweet Spot. It gets started in February.

With Extra Period, ASU Trumps Rival UA

They needed five extra minutes to do it, but the ASU basketball team outlasted intrastate rival UA Wednesday night in Tempe. The Sun Devils started out at a deadly slow pace but stayed in it ’till the end, beating the Wildcats 64-59.

Freshman James Harden scored 26 points, including 22 in the second half, but the rest of the team looked out of sync early and throughout the contest.

Some of my observations from the crazy atmosphere of the student section:

• ASU junior center Jeff Pendergraph got out-muscled too often by UA’s Jordan Hill, especially down the stretch. Hill is an athlete, not a basketball player - at least when Pendergraph isn’t guarding him. Hill torched ASU’s defense for 18 points and 14 rebounds. You know there’s a problem when Coach Herb Sendek was forced to sub struggling sophomore Eric Boateng in on defense late in the game. My concern is that Pendergraph will struggle even further against UW’s John Brockman, UCLA’s Kevin Love and Cal’s Devon Hardin.
• Harden is already by far ASU’s best player, but he needs to take over earlier in games. In the first half and early in the second, Harden was too passive. He need not be shy about driving to the hoop at every opportunity. Seeing him again live also firms my belief that it would be a mistake for him to leave for the NBA before his sophomore year. In the league, the 6′5” Harden will be too slow to defend guards and lacks the physicality to stop forwards. On the offensive end, he won’t always be able to get away with charging at the basket and creating contact: That only works in college.
• This is obviously a good win for the Sun Devils, who are building a nice NIT resume (if not NCAA tourney). But UA just isn’t that great of a squad; and I don’t think it was the absence of Lute Olsen or Jerryd Bayless. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them finish outside of the conference’s top five teams.
• It’s early, but the excitement surrounding the basketball program is only mounting. If former Sun Devils like Andrew Walter and Terrell Suggs keep showing up, you should too. It’s fun and we’re not even close to March.

Also, the East Valley Tribune’s Scott Bordow wrote a nice column….