Hurley enthusiastic about ASU’s offense, 20-game Pac-12 schedule

With the highest expectations since the James Harden era in place for Arizona State basketball, an enthusiastic Bobby Hurley joined the “Maroon Monsoon” show on 98.7 FM Thursday to provide an update on his team’s preseason progress to date and discuss the newly announced conference schedule.

Hurley, entering his sixth season as the Sun Devils’ head coach, praised his team’s offensive ability, implying that his squad could be a nightmare matchup for defenses.

“If you don’t bring your lunch pail and your hard hat to the defensive end, there are multiple guys that could make you look bad,” Hurley told ASU broadcaster Tim Healey. “So we got a lot of firepower on the offensive end of the court, and it’s a matter now of bringing it all together …. Certainly, we have a lot of talent. We got a unique mixture of experienced guys that have been very successful. We have an All-American candidate that’s played multiple years. And then we have an infusion of some exciting young players.”

A Thursday morning news dump also involved the Pac-12 release of its conference schedule for men’s basketball. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams are trying to limit travel as much as possible, and thus play fewer non-conference games. Coneincencetly, the conference had previoulsy planned to implement a 20-game conference slate for the 2020-21 season, which naturally fits the current landscape of college basketball.

ASU will square off twice against UCLA, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Washington, Washington State, Utah, and Cal as well as once against Colorado (on the road) and once against Stanford (at home). The Sun Devils’ biggest test of conference play will most likely be Stanford. NCAA.com writer Andy Katz predicted the Cardinal as only the third Pac-12 team besides ASU in his preseason top-25 ranking. Katz has Arizona State at no. 14, UCLA at no. 19, and Stanford at no. 24.

Hurley was excited about the 20-game conference slate and is confident the league will execute it despite the ongoing pandemic challenges.

“I think it makes sense and especially in this environment with the uncertainty of the virus and the impact of teams traveling a whole lot from out of the region to come and play and what type of testing procedures they have and I think us bumping that up made a ton of sense,” Hurley said. “We have a unified testing program, the Pac-12 does, and we were heading to 20-game schedule anyway. This keeps more of our teams in this general area and doesn’t expose us to traveling as much in the non-conference. And I think the league is very strong this year.”

While Pac-12 play was a primary topic of discussion, the yet to be released non-conference schedule was also discussed on Thursday’s show. Hurley provided some insight as to which teams the Sun Devils might play. Hurley hopes his squad will head to the Mohegan Sun tournament in Connecticut in late November, where the Sun Devils would play powerhouse programs, Baylor and Villanova, in that tournament.

Earlier this month, Hurley addressed the media and went into detail on his thoughts concerning an exceptional group of newcomers. He sang the praises of his three freshmen forward Pavlo Dziuba, five-star guard Josh Christopher, and five-star forward Marcus Bagley.

One newcomer Hurley did not elaborate on in the call with media members was Portland State transfer guard Holland Woods. At the time, it was unknown if Woods, who had one year of eligibility left, would elect to play this season or not. Playing time would certainly be hard to come by since both senior guards Remy Martin and Alonzo Verge withdrew their names from the NBA draft. However, due to the NCAA's eligibility freeze rule enacted earlier this month, on Oct. 16, it was announced Woods intended to play this season.

This provided an opportunity for Hurley to go into to detail about what Woods, a Phoenix product out of Apollo High School, brings to the table.

“He’s just got a real maturity about his game,” Hurley stated. “Another guy that’s very experienced player at Portland State that was just getting blitzed in ball screens and facing double teams. Was the No. 1 guy on every scouting report of all his opponents. And now he finds himself in a unique position here at Arizona State that he may not be necessarily looked upon that way and could fly a little bit more under the radar but just has a real stabilizing presence about him and how he carries himself in practice.

"I think the guys enjoy playing basketball with him because he’s very unselfish, noticing a lot of situations where he breaks down the defense and hits the paint. He’s got a great feel for where his teammates are on the floor. We have a lot of guys who can score it, and it’s a breath of fresh air just to see how he’s looking to distribute and get his teammates involved.”

Hurley provided a few other nuggets of information on the show Thursday. He said Verge would be starting this season instead of being the sixth man like last year. He also updated the progress of the injured players on the roster, nothing that senior forward Kimani Lawrence should be back to practicing next week as he recovers from his knee issue. However, sophomore guard Caleb Christopher is still a few weeks away from returning from thumb surgery.