Even now, years after his basketball career has concluded -- with more than 70 collegiate wins in his pocket, with school records and accolades attached to his name -- Derek Glasser is rather self-deprecating about his game.

He wasn’t slow, but he was rarely the fastest guy on the court. He only averaged over 10 points in his senior season (10.1) and in a different era of basketball, he hardly ever shot more than a trio of 3-pointers a game.

He was never the most talented player in a game, and that was fine. As long as Wells Fargo Arena was erupting, regardless of if he caused it or not, he was doing his job.

“I don't know if I was ever like, amazing at anything,” Glasser admitted. “I wasn't the fastest guy so I had to learn how to outsmart them and out-tough them … It was never about scoring for me. It was about whatever I could do at that moment to help us win. Get a loose ball, get an assist, get a hockey assist, get a deflection.

“I scored a lot of points only because I played so many minutes. It wasn’t like I was out there dropping 25 on people.”

That didn’t matter. Glasser, who holds the school record for games played and is ASU’s all-time assists leader, was a quick and shifty point guard who had an innate sense for a game’s flow and pace. He knew when and who to pass to at the most precise moment, an exemplary sharer of the basketball.

Then-ASU head coach Herb Sendek and Glasser would often watch film on Steve Nash and Chris Paul. The Nash comparison was almost too easy. Two Caucasian point guards. Yet, beyond that, it was two game managers, a pair of ball-handlers who used their IQ more than their vertical jump. Oh, and who could whiz a pass through an invisible opening.

“It was like a quarterback in football,” Glasser said. “It doesn't matter where the defense is, you have to find that crease and you have to move people with your eyes. You have to throw people open that sometimes aren't open. Watching a lot of film on those two guys just seeing how creative they were with the ball just kind of opened up a whole new avenue for me.”

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Glasser’s tenure in Tempe ran from 2006 to 2010. A lot of people remember what he and James Harden -- his former teammate at Artesia (Calif.) High School -- were able to accomplish in the future NBA MVP’s two seasons (07/’08 and ‘08/’09) with ASU. The Sun Devils won a combined 46 games, made the NCAA Tournament and posted a 5-0 mark against the University of Arizona.

“He could have gone to, you know, Texas, North Carolina, Washington, wherever he wanted,” Glasser said of Harden. “He kind of always had it in his mind, once he felt like he was an (elite) kind of player, that he wanted to go somewhere and create his own legacy.”

But even when Harden left Arizona State for the NBA in 2009, Glasser -- in his senior season -- led the Sun Devils to their third-straight 20-win season and what came erringly close to being a rare third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance if the current field of 68 teams existed (ASU was a NIT 1-seed in both 2008 and 2010. The field expanded from 64 teams in 2011).

It culminated though in what was one of the more accomplished careers by any Sun Devil basketball player in recent memory.

Four years prior, Glasser’s decision as a Southern California kid to attend Arizona State had little to do with the school and more with a familiar face. One of Sendek’s first assistant-coach hires after accepting the ASU job in 2006 was Scott Pera, Glasser and Harden’s former head coach at Artesia.

Glasser had decommitted from USC after the Trojans informed him his scholarship was only going to be good for three years. Rapidly after that decision, his old high school coach rang, discussing the possibility of Glasser playing in Tempe.

“I had never even met coach Sendek. I had never met him. Had never spoken to him. Never met anybody on his staff. Never had received one letter from ASU or anything throughout my whole recruitment,” Glasser said with a chuckle. “I think I had been to Phoenix once before that.”

Glasser was actually on a family vacation in Spain at the time. After a few phone calls with Sendek, who is now the head coach at Santa Clara, Glasser may go down as the only American player who made his college decision for ASU while being on a different continent. When he landed stateside, he finally visited ASU -- the school he pledged sight unseen for the next four years of his life to merely on the basis of Pera’s presence.

“I mean, I’ve known him since I was 13 years old and he had never steered me wrong before,” Glasser said of Pera. “And it worked out.”

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When his overseas basketball career ended, Glasser returned home and worked with his late father -- Michael Glasser, a famed denim innovator -- in the family business. Eventually, he joined his buddy Michael Silverman -- who also went to ASU -- at the basketball agency, Athlete Management Group (AMG).

To become an NBA agent, Glasser said, all he had to do was fill out a short form, have a college degree and not be a felon. It was simple enough. And AMG’s client list had a handful of known names like Atlanta Hawks’ forward Dewayne Dedmon and former college standouts Quincy Acy and Georges Niang.

But the shortlist of prerequisites didn’t turn the job into a lifelong career.

“I wasn't loving it,” Glasser said. “I just couldn't see myself doing it forever.”

In comes Pera again.

“Coach Pera had an opening at (Rice University) and he flew me out (to Houston) to interview for the job,” Glasser recalled. “He offered me the job and I just knew coaching was where I wanted to be so I accepted the position.”

A few weeks ago, Glasser finished up his second season as Rice’s video coordinator. He joked, because of his relationship with Pera, that he’s allowed to do more than “99.9 percent of video coordinators,” virtually an assistant who isn’t allowed on the floor.

Last season, Rice finished 15-17. Glasser didn’t sugarcoat it, the Owls aren’t snatching any four- and five-star prospects. They’re getting good, solid players with potential. Some may even become elite, but it’ll rarely be for their athleticism alone.

Ironically, that’s exactly the Glasser mold -- and he wants it to prove beneficial for his players as well as it did for him in Tempe.

“We’re already going to have to spend so much time on player development and getting our guys better not only on the court but mentally with film and everything,” Glasser explained. “You know, for me, the type of player I was, it was all about IQ … I just feel like I have so much to offer.”

Glasser joked that ASU’s recent success has given him a bit more credibility with his players at Rice, who have tried to track down every highlight and interview of their coach from his playing days.

He speaks about coaching like reuniting with his long lost love. He’s rediscovered his fire through coaching, a flame that he hopes will continue to burn for many more years.

“Since I’ve come here I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day. I love it,” Glasser said. “This is where my heart is. This is where my passion is.”