Afternoon Mates...
Today's Topic = Men's BB Revival
My worst fears were realized this weekend when we got swept by a surging UCLA team and a physical USC team, on the road...
However, as we all know, we get both Wash and Wazzu home next weekend, so if we don't blow it, we should beat both of them, that would cinch a top 4 conference finish, which would mean a first-round bye in the upcoming PAC tournament...
Something that is most probably not going to happen for our Cat friends who have 7 conference losses, while the Bruins and Ducks only have 5 losses, and while both Colorado and ASU only have 6 PAC losses...
However, Colorado plays at Stanford (19-9/8-7) later today and ends its season, next weekend, at Utah, while the Ducks get Cal and Stanford at home next weekend and UCLA plays at USC, next weekend, as well...
Who would have thought that with all of that elite talent the Cats recruited that the Devils would stand a good chance of finishing ahead of the Cats in the conference this season and might get a first-round tournament bye, while the Cats would not...
What does this all mean for us..??
That we've finally caught up with the Cats in men's BB..??
That elite talent isn't always the key to winning championships..??
Or, that you shouldn't rely too heavily on freshman players, even if they are elite guys..??
Greg Hansen addressed this last point in an article he wrote earlier in the week for the Daily Star entitled "Final Four favorites are mostly free of freshmen"...
He points out that highly rated Dayton, Baylor, San Diego St and Gonzaga are almost Freshmen Free, while playing this season, as both Dayton and Baylor have not played any FR this year, while SDS and Zaga have played freshmen very sparingly this season...
He goes on to say that "the Bears, Flyers, Aztecs and Zags have filled 445 starting line-up spots this season, and, so far, FR have only filled 9 of those starting spots, which is about 2% of the spots filled"...
Or, out of a total of 21,700 total minutes played by those teams only 961 minutes of that total have been played by freshmen or less than 5% of the time...
While the Cats have have played freshmen in about 50% of the available minutes, for their team, this season, which is why they have not been all that successful in Hansen's opinion...
Additionally, he points out that the primary reason why the Devils are ahead of the Cats, at this point, was because Hurley hasn't had to rely on freshmen to carry the burden as Sun Devil freshmen, Jaleen House and Jalen Graham, have only made a few starts and not played many overall minutes for ASU...
They have played less than 13% of the available minutes for the Devils, who have had a "glue guy" in junior Remy Martin, who Hansen likens to Oregon's all everything player Payton Pritchard...
Of course, we don't really care who is doing it for our Sun Devils; freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors, as long as we win, baby...
Right...??
It would be nice to get a #3 or #4 seed in the upcoming PAC tournament since that would show some real progress in our BB endeavors under Bobby Hurley but, then again, if we don't do anything with a seed like that, it all goes down the proverbial drain quickly, as we all know...
So, I'm rooting for Stanford in their game against Colorado later today and betting that our Devils will take care of business next weekend against both Wash and Wazzu, keeping in mind that nothing is a sure thing in life or any sport, for that matter...
I'm also not taking it for granted that the Devils will be Dancing again this year, since there is still a lot of BB to be played, so the Devils need to win another 3-4 games to assure a spot in the Big Dance, once again, IMHO...
What say you..??
Hard to believe it is March already and that the Devils could go Dancing for the third straight year, under Hurley, if they take care of business in the coming weeks...
How awesome would that be.....??
Please let the revival continue...
Fingers crossed...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Men's BB Revival
My worst fears were realized this weekend when we got swept by a surging UCLA team and a physical USC team, on the road...
However, as we all know, we get both Wash and Wazzu home next weekend, so if we don't blow it, we should beat both of them, that would cinch a top 4 conference finish, which would mean a first-round bye in the upcoming PAC tournament...
Something that is most probably not going to happen for our Cat friends who have 7 conference losses, while the Bruins and Ducks only have 5 losses, and while both Colorado and ASU only have 6 PAC losses...
However, Colorado plays at Stanford (19-9/8-7) later today and ends its season, next weekend, at Utah, while the Ducks get Cal and Stanford at home next weekend and UCLA plays at USC, next weekend, as well...
Who would have thought that with all of that elite talent the Cats recruited that the Devils would stand a good chance of finishing ahead of the Cats in the conference this season and might get a first-round tournament bye, while the Cats would not...
What does this all mean for us..??
That we've finally caught up with the Cats in men's BB..??
That elite talent isn't always the key to winning championships..??
Or, that you shouldn't rely too heavily on freshman players, even if they are elite guys..??
Greg Hansen addressed this last point in an article he wrote earlier in the week for the Daily Star entitled "Final Four favorites are mostly free of freshmen"...
He points out that highly rated Dayton, Baylor, San Diego St and Gonzaga are almost Freshmen Free, while playing this season, as both Dayton and Baylor have not played any FR this year, while SDS and Zaga have played freshmen very sparingly this season...
He goes on to say that "the Bears, Flyers, Aztecs and Zags have filled 445 starting line-up spots this season, and, so far, FR have only filled 9 of those starting spots, which is about 2% of the spots filled"...
Or, out of a total of 21,700 total minutes played by those teams only 961 minutes of that total have been played by freshmen or less than 5% of the time...
While the Cats have have played freshmen in about 50% of the available minutes, for their team, this season, which is why they have not been all that successful in Hansen's opinion...
Additionally, he points out that the primary reason why the Devils are ahead of the Cats, at this point, was because Hurley hasn't had to rely on freshmen to carry the burden as Sun Devil freshmen, Jaleen House and Jalen Graham, have only made a few starts and not played many overall minutes for ASU...
They have played less than 13% of the available minutes for the Devils, who have had a "glue guy" in junior Remy Martin, who Hansen likens to Oregon's all everything player Payton Pritchard...
Of course, we don't really care who is doing it for our Sun Devils; freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors, as long as we win, baby...
Right...??
It would be nice to get a #3 or #4 seed in the upcoming PAC tournament since that would show some real progress in our BB endeavors under Bobby Hurley but, then again, if we don't do anything with a seed like that, it all goes down the proverbial drain quickly, as we all know...
So, I'm rooting for Stanford in their game against Colorado later today and betting that our Devils will take care of business next weekend against both Wash and Wazzu, keeping in mind that nothing is a sure thing in life or any sport, for that matter...
I'm also not taking it for granted that the Devils will be Dancing again this year, since there is still a lot of BB to be played, so the Devils need to win another 3-4 games to assure a spot in the Big Dance, once again, IMHO...
What say you..??
Hard to believe it is March already and that the Devils could go Dancing for the third straight year, under Hurley, if they take care of business in the coming weeks...
How awesome would that be...
..??Please let the revival continue...
Fingers crossed...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
