(Photo courtesy: ASU athletics)
The end of the out of conference season doesn’t mark the exact middle of the season but it is pretty close. Here are some thoughts from the staff as we head into the real meat of the season.
Samantha Pell: So far this season, ASU has showed it has a solid way of play focused around Carson and Bachynski down low. The big key for ASU going into conference play will be whether it can keep up with some of the premier players in the league such as UCLA’s Zach LaVine and Arizona’s Aaron Gordon.
Arizona is such an intimidating team to play against due to their balance up and down their lineup. ASU is not a team that has that type of balance despite how deep opponents or experts see ASU’s bench. Players like Marshall, McKissic and even Koulechov have come out and performed well, but not all three at the same time. This might be the key issue for ASU.
With Carson and Bachynski carrying the team night in and night out, ASU is always dependent on someone else to perform as well. To make ASU an elite team, players such as McKissic, Marshall, Gilling, and Koulechov should all be able to come out, score, play hard defense, and work on getting to the free throw line.
In addition to helping with the scoring, Bachynski shouldn’t be the only one grabbing rebounds because he has struggled in games with the paint being constantly occupied by the opposing big men. There needs to be another player on ASU that can back up Bachynski.
This role directly lies with Jacobsen. However, Jacobsen hasn’t been a force on the court so far this season so with the addition of Brandan Kearney, he might be the critical component of the ASU offense and defense.
Kearney had a great career at Michigan State, but it all depends on how comfortable Kearney will feel playing on the big stage again, especially in conference play. Despite so many players having the potential to break out during games, ASU still needs to fix its problems with consistency and defending the paint.
Kristina Vicario: As the Sun Devils get ready to tackle their conference schedule at the start of the new year, one word summarizes this ASU team and its nonconference achievements thus far: underrated.
The team moves into its conference play with two losses on the season. The disappointing last-minute three-point loss to Miami caused some undeniable doubt amongst ASU supporters. However, this same team who lost to Miami, took down no. 25 ranked Marquette.
The Sun Devils, currently unranked, have a number of factors that can propel them toward an NCAA bid. Jordan Bachynski, who started the season with a double-double in six consecutive games, can pull down those rebounds and be an imposing presence at the post. Jermaine Marshall and Jahii Carson can stack up double-digit points.
A dark horse who is still emerging as a power player is Egor Koulechov who adds depth to the team with his physicality and has started to secure his position in the starting line-up.
Despite a solid non-conference effort, it seems as though the Sun Devils have not received the respect that they had hoped for. However, a chance to gain said respect comes with a very difficult conference schedule which includes no. 10 ranked Oregon and the school’s longtime-rival and perennial powerhouse no. 1 ranked Arizona.
ASU has speed and height on their side. If they can maintain their much-improved free-throw percentage, diminish their turnovers and stay out of foul trouble I believe that they can claw their way back into the public’s realm of respect to prompt a consideration by the NCAA selection committee.
It is going to be very difficult to win the highly competitive conference. However if the Sun Devils can climb back into the coaches’ poll and use the tough conference schedule to their advantage, they could acquire an RPI that could elicit an at-large berth by the NCAA selection committee.
Cammeron Neely: As the Sun Devils journey into the second half of their basketball season with conference play, the team does not find itself in uncharted territory.
Their record this time last season was identical at 11 wins. Although many of the personnel have changed, most of the aspects responsible for their struggles and virtues have stayed the same.
Seeing as this is the second time around, this part of season in my eyes is all about the tournament and Jahii Carson carrying this team to that destination.
Basketball is a sport where one player can lead a team deep into the post-season and as Carson plays in his last fifteen or so games, give or take a few post-season wins, it remains to be seen how much his figuratively weighted back can travel.
He certainly has help with the consistent Jermaine Marshall; and though Jordan Bachynski, Shaquielle McKissic and the rest of the rotation players can be spotty with their production their contributions are present often enough to make March madness more than realistic.
Carson, Bachynski, Marshall, McKissic will all be departing after this season. Experience is on the Sun Devils side, and an NBA prospect doesn’t hurt either. Anything but a national tournament appearance would be tragic.
Nick Krueger: Looking at the conference schedule, not having return games to the state of Washington this season hurts the team tremendously. ASU does not handle pressure well on the road as already evidenced by the Creighton and Miami losses this season and the Utah loss in Salt Lake last season that was critical to the team missing out on the tournament.
Two losses to Arizona are an immediate given in my book. They will split the road trip to the southern California schools with other losses coming at Stanford, at Oregon, and at Colorado.
That leaves ASU sitting with a 12-6 conference record with a 23-8 overall record. Marquette, Oregon, Colorado and UCLA at home become the important “key victories” while Miami would technically be the only unexpected loss but I would think another surprise loss will probably present itself in conference play against Utah, Cal, or UCLA.
I’m also being very generous giving ASU wins against Oregon and Stanford at home so 10-8 or 11-7 in conference is not out of the question and honestly much more likely. No doubt the Pac-12 will be right up their with the Big Ten as the two premier basketball conferences in the country this year.
Regardless, it puts the Sun Devils in a familiar position as last season with around 20 wins and ten losses with a much better strength of schedule in a more competitive conference. The committee will probably take five or six Pac-12 teams which should put ASU in the tournament just off the bubble but no doubt the maroon and gold will need to be glued to the TV screen come selection Sunday.
You can reach these authors via email spell@asu.edu, kvicario@asu.edu, caneely@asu.edu and nkruege1@asu.edu or on twitter @Sammyjade18, @kristinaV_18, @CammeronNeely, @NickPKrueger
