Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = March Blues
My wife and her mom are visiting her uncle, who turned 90 this weekend, in the great Northwest, where it's raining all of the time, so she left me some meals in a bag knowing full well that I wouldn't do anything with them except to stare at them, while I ordered pizza and/or went out for Mexican food...
This has allowed me to watch some basketball this weekend and it pretty much bored me to tears but I did watch a little of the Auburn-Kentucky game, since Auburn is coached by Bruce Pearl, who we have had numerous discussions about in the past while referencing Sun Devil basketball, and since Kentucky is an NBA team with talent galore across the board...
Anyway, Auburn (15-20) won three SEC tournament games before losing to the Wildcats yesterday, which already ties Pearl with Herb's nine year ASU effort in the PAC tournament, as each coach has three wins thus far...additionally, Auburn had only won three SEC tournament games between 2001 and 2014, so they have been just as bad or worse in their conference tournament, as we have been in ours...
Kentucky is now 33-0 and will be the #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament while our Sun Devils are now, as far as I can tell, an NIT bubble team having lost to the #12 seed in the PAC tournament, that was won last night by the Arizona Wildcats (31-3), as we all know by now...it is conceivable that Arizona could play Kentucky for the national championship, I suppose, depending on how the regional brackets play out...
The Cats have really gotten their act together since losing to ASU over a month ago in Tempe, while the Sun Devils looked to also be improving until they imploded against USC in the PAC tournament...as we know it's the tale of two cities and two programs headed, as always, in totally different directions...
I think we have a fan or two in China where the PAC, under Larry Scott, is set to play a game next season when Washington will play Texas in Shanghi...the PAC has a season long TV contract with LookTV in China and I can't wait to see our Devils play over there in the coming years (being sarcastic) in our quest to be "global"...
I say if you can't make the NCAA tourney and/or the NIT then you might as well play in a place like Shanghi...heck, the Sun Devils might even become an icon of sorts over there as you never know how the fans will react to The Fork since they use chop sticks, I think, over there...
I bring this up since I really think the Chicken or the Egg debate, over which comes first, has been resolved in favor of the coach vs having great facilities, fan support, basketball history, etc, as what is needed in order to improve our basketball program...
Even Vince Marotta in his "Confessions of a Herb Sendek Defender" (Arizona Sports) has come out recently and declared that, given what has happened to ASU football under Todd Graham, that ASU is going to need a different basketball coach in order to come out of its basketball doldrums but, even more importantly, it can be done with the right coach in place as Graham has proven...
So, even if Pat and Vanna won't be showing up in Tempe this Spring with their Wheel of Fortune game show to help Ray Anderson select a new BB coach for the Sun Devils, at least the chicken and/or the egg controversy has been set to rest, I think...
This concludes my March Blues section of the Walkabout and now I want to ask this question to all of you...
As we begin Spring football practice, do the Devils have any glaring weaknesses this spring..??
Last year, we had to replace nine defensive starters but we still finished with 10 wins so I have to think that we will be better on defense...
I also think that Berco will be a dynamic QB for us and that we have enough offensive resources with which to beat just about anybody...
Special teams have had some deficiencies but Graham just hired a special teams coordinator so I think those teams will improve which leads me to believe that we could actually win all of our games this year...
Am I being totally unrealistic..??
G'day Mates...Championships or Bust...Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = March Blues
My wife and her mom are visiting her uncle, who turned 90 this weekend, in the great Northwest, where it's raining all of the time, so she left me some meals in a bag knowing full well that I wouldn't do anything with them except to stare at them, while I ordered pizza and/or went out for Mexican food...
This has allowed me to watch some basketball this weekend and it pretty much bored me to tears but I did watch a little of the Auburn-Kentucky game, since Auburn is coached by Bruce Pearl, who we have had numerous discussions about in the past while referencing Sun Devil basketball, and since Kentucky is an NBA team with talent galore across the board...
Anyway, Auburn (15-20) won three SEC tournament games before losing to the Wildcats yesterday, which already ties Pearl with Herb's nine year ASU effort in the PAC tournament, as each coach has three wins thus far...additionally, Auburn had only won three SEC tournament games between 2001 and 2014, so they have been just as bad or worse in their conference tournament, as we have been in ours...
Kentucky is now 33-0 and will be the #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament while our Sun Devils are now, as far as I can tell, an NIT bubble team having lost to the #12 seed in the PAC tournament, that was won last night by the Arizona Wildcats (31-3), as we all know by now...it is conceivable that Arizona could play Kentucky for the national championship, I suppose, depending on how the regional brackets play out...
The Cats have really gotten their act together since losing to ASU over a month ago in Tempe, while the Sun Devils looked to also be improving until they imploded against USC in the PAC tournament...as we know it's the tale of two cities and two programs headed, as always, in totally different directions...
I think we have a fan or two in China where the PAC, under Larry Scott, is set to play a game next season when Washington will play Texas in Shanghi...the PAC has a season long TV contract with LookTV in China and I can't wait to see our Devils play over there in the coming years (being sarcastic) in our quest to be "global"...
I say if you can't make the NCAA tourney and/or the NIT then you might as well play in a place like Shanghi...heck, the Sun Devils might even become an icon of sorts over there as you never know how the fans will react to The Fork since they use chop sticks, I think, over there...
I bring this up since I really think the Chicken or the Egg debate, over which comes first, has been resolved in favor of the coach vs having great facilities, fan support, basketball history, etc, as what is needed in order to improve our basketball program...
Even Vince Marotta in his "Confessions of a Herb Sendek Defender" (Arizona Sports) has come out recently and declared that, given what has happened to ASU football under Todd Graham, that ASU is going to need a different basketball coach in order to come out of its basketball doldrums but, even more importantly, it can be done with the right coach in place as Graham has proven...
So, even if Pat and Vanna won't be showing up in Tempe this Spring with their Wheel of Fortune game show to help Ray Anderson select a new BB coach for the Sun Devils, at least the chicken and/or the egg controversy has been set to rest, I think...
This concludes my March Blues section of the Walkabout and now I want to ask this question to all of you...
As we begin Spring football practice, do the Devils have any glaring weaknesses this spring..??
Last year, we had to replace nine defensive starters but we still finished with 10 wins so I have to think that we will be better on defense...
I also think that Berco will be a dynamic QB for us and that we have enough offensive resources with which to beat just about anybody...
Special teams have had some deficiencies but Graham just hired a special teams coordinator so I think those teams will improve which leads me to believe that we could actually win all of our games this year...
Am I being totally unrealistic..??
G'day Mates...Championships or Bust...Go Devils!!!
