Perhaps the start of Arizona State’s season is the perfect barometer for where it is as a program. For a second, disregard its feeble 3-point shooting, its embarrassing losses, and its inconsistency.

Go back to late June -- when guard Luguentz Dort and forward Zylan Cheatham signed with an NBA team after both names went absent during the draft. It was a great moment for ASU, a program that, aside from James Harden and a few others, doesn't exactly claim dozens and dozens NBA players.

But just in the way Dort and Cheatham’s departure was a shining example the Sun Devils were elevating to a school that could ultimately send players -- most notably freshmen -- off to the NBA in regularity, it was the precedent for what’s become of this season.

They lost Cheatham and Dort, who accounted for over a third of last season’s total offense and have yet to adequately replace them. Now that’s a tall task. It’s tough to recruit a Dort- or Cheatham-caliber player every season. But, with that, no one for the Sun Devils has drastically stepped up to fill the void.

And, thus, the Sun Devils have struggled.

“When you lose two pros at Arizona State, that’s a lot. We’re not built to sustain that type of loss. We’re not Arizona. We don’t have the tradition or depth that certain schools in the country have,” ASU assistant coach Rashon Burno said.

“As long as we understand the end result, the end goal, but stick to the process and be willing to start over every day to get ultimately where we want to go, we’ll be fine.”

Burno said the Sun Devils have two main goals, two things ASU can’t lose focus of. 1.) Get better through the course of the year. 2.) Have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

Right now, he argues, the Sun Devils are going through turbulence. They can still right the course, can still achieve their two goals … if things change. For starters, shots need to start falling.

Asked about ASU’s low assist numbers -- it had just two in a 28-point loss to Arizona -- Burno chuckled.

“As simple as it may sound, you can’t get an assist if a guy doesn’t make a shot,” he argued. “It’s the same offense you ran versus Georgia, minus the shot-making. That’s been our Achilles' Heel.”

Burno and coach Bobby Hurley have been reasoned and rational through the shooting lull. They’re not quick to jump on their players for struggles. If it was a good shot that didn’t drop, they can live with that. But when guys begin to force jumpers and chuck low-percentage opportunities, that’s on them. That’s what needs to be corrected.

ASU is big on ‘95%’. It boasts a giant white poster in its practice gym with the three symbols. It’s to remind players they are playing without the ball 95 percent of the time they’re on the court. Make the most of it.

Through 14 games, the results up and down their roster has been a mixed bag.

“Some good, some bad. It’s a process,” Burno said. “Sometimes some guys will listen to you, but they still have their own way of thinking and they still buck the system until they’re desperate enough to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to surrender and I’m going to do it your way.’

“At the end of the day, when kids know it’s time to really buy-in, you’ll see the results.”

Mickey Mitchell finally able to celebrate his health

Last year, Mickey Mitchell was an enigma. He played in a few games to start the season. Then he was gone. He came back a few weeks later and logged eight minutes against Nevada. Suddenly, it was like he vanished.

Hurley would answer questions about him on occasion, but his responses were often quite vague and cryptic. He wasn’t on the bench for games, wasn’t at many practices. For months, the media didn’t see him.

He returned to the court last month to a rousing ovation. On Tuesday, he spoke about his year from hell, why he was out of sight for so long. It was always known he was suffering from a back injury -- the severity was widely unrecognized.

Mitchell said the culprit was a pinched nerve. Doctors gave him an MRI last season but the austerity of a pinched nerve can range from person to person. So he kept trying to play, trying to practice. In his second practice following the Nevada loss, he fell to the floor unable to move his legs.

“It got to the point where sitting in a chair for longer than five or 10 minutes, (pain) would just go down my legs. Honestly, laying on the floor on my stomach was the best thing for me,” Mitchell said.

“I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t walk to get something to eat. I just had too much pain in my back and down my leg. It was just painful living.”

As a result of his immobility, Mitchell gained more than 45 pounds, his weight ballooned to over 260 pounds. Hope was bleak. But, even knowing how tough his recovery would be, he admitted he never thought about giving up basketball.

Instead, he had discectomy -- a surgery that removes herniated disc material in the lower back that is pressing on a nerve -- in early July. The procedure went well. He began working out again -- lifting, running, heck just simply walking felt like freedom.

He cut out junk food, sugar, and soda. He stopped eating after 8 p.m. On Tuesday, he weighed himself again, happy to share the news that he was a lean 215 pounds.

After more than a year off the court, Mitchell made his debut for the Sun Devils in mid-December against Prairie View. Since then, he’s racked up just six points in as many games.

But a scorer was never Mitchell’s prime role for ASU. He was the glue guy, the forward who never minded fighting for a rebound or going up top to set screens. And in his third season for the Sun Devils, that hasn’t changed. ASU’s coaches are thankful.

“My hope was just that he would get healthy and feel good. As a former player who went through injury, I can empathize with the frustration he felt last year,” Hurley said. “He’s been able to play pain-free and he’s been contributing.”

Romello White status update

It was clear forward Romello White was anything but 100 percent against Arizona. He wasn’t limping, but his explosiveness was tempered. He didn’t jump with his usual ferocity and the Wildcats attacked him because of it.

Still dealing with an ankle injury sustained two Saturdays ago against Texas Southern, Hurley said White looked good during Tuesday’s practice and was moving better around the court.

“We took the gloves off a little bit this week,” Hurley said. “We were going to baby him and give him more days to rest. He agreed with me on that plan.”

Added White: “Feeling pretty good. Been getting a lot of treatment for my ankle .. I really didn’t feel like myself (against Arizona).”