A year ago, at this point, Arizona State’s roster was unable to practice together. The COVID-induced shutdown of Pac-12 athletics left the Sun Devils without a chance to get acclimated with each other. Once the 2020-21 version of ASU began play; what was once believed to be an overwhelming array of talent was derailed by an inability to defend and play as a unit.
This year is different, though, Bobby Hurley says. On a Zoom call Monday with reporters, the now seventh-year Sun Devil head coach reiterated how obvious it is that his team enjoys competing and playing with each other.
“I already notice a more cohesive group. I think the guys genuinely enjoy competing against each other and working together. That was pretty noticeable,” said Hurley, following last season’s 11-14 struggle. “It’s nice that this quickly throughout the summer you’re starting to see a team that genuinely is enjoying playing basketball together. It’s been a pleasant group to work with day-in and day-out.
“It seems like a group of people that enjoy each other. People that truly like competing together and go at each other, making the workout dynamic and then after going over the whole thing. It’s good to see that cohesiveness and a little bit of team bonding and chemistry that I’m watching in addition to us being a more balanced team.”
A team-oriented approach Hurley mentioned should complement one of anger for those who were a part of the disappointing year prior.
“Everyone should be a little pissed off and have a chip on their shoulder,” the feisty Sun Devil coach said. “I thought our workouts all summer reflected that. We were super competitive. The new guys came in with the right attitude and the right approach.”
When Hurley would walk out for warm-ups during last season, the striking difference between ASU’s size (or lack thereof) and its opponents stood out. This year, the additions of five-star center Enoch Boakye and former Ohio State forward Alonzo Gaffney have given the Sun Devils some added length down low, another talking point for Hurley after a year full of defensive struggles.
“I like the versatility of the group and the potential defensively,” said Hurley. “Certainly, we are a lot bigger than we’ve been, especially last year. There have been some good confrontations in the paint. I think this is probably as big of a team as I’ve had since (2019-19) when we won 23 games and had a really good interior defense.”
Arizona State ended its summer program with an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. Hurley highlighted the play of Toledo transfer guard Marreon Jackson, Luther Muhammad and Jalen Graham. Muhammad spent all of last season rehabbing surgery on both of his shoulders, but was a vocal leader, something that Hurley said has continued into this year.
“How he competes day-in, and day-out reminds me a lot of Zylan Cheatham with some of those characteristics that he brings to workouts” said Hurley.
Even after a phenomenal scrimmage performance from Graham and seeing Jackson have “a knack for making plays,” Hurley still stressed the importance of improvement on the defensive end for ASU.
“We have to get better on defense and rebounding,” Hurley noted. In 25 games last season, the Sun Devils ranked 332nd out of 357 Division I teams in rebounding. “We were good at stealing the ball, but we couldn’t rebound successfully. The size and physicality of our team is different than last year, and I think that will impact both of those areas for us in a positive way.”
While Hurley and the Sun Devils are getting a better understanding of how the 2021-22 campaign shapes out; they do so now knowing what the non-conference portion of the schedule looks like. The program officially announced dates and opponents for the November and December portion of the schedule. Among the highlights: Nov. 18 and Dec. 14 trips to San Diego State and Creighton, as well as a Battle 4 Atlantis opener with the defending national champion Baylor Bears.
During Hurley’s time in Tempe, the Sun Devils are 8-2 in out-of-conference road games. Also of note, the Dec. 9 visit from Grand Canyon will provide the stage for the return of Taeshon Cherry and Holland Woods, who each left the program following last season.
After nine Sun Devils from last year’s roster entered the transfer portal, only forward Marcus Bagley chose to withdraw his name from the portal – and the NBA Draft – and return to Tempe. Bagley’s opening season in Maroon and Gold was cut short due to injury, but the highly touted forward averaged 10.8 points per game in his 12 games of action.
“We were super excited to hear the news,” Hurley said of Bagley’s decision to return to Arizona State. “I stayed in touch with Marcus periodically through his pre-draft experience, and it was a grueling process to go through that. He worked out for a bunch of teams and made the decision that he felt was best for him.
“He truly loves Arizona State. It’s not just lip service. He lives it with his decision-making and wanting to come back and be a part of a successful season next year. As much as he’s thinking of the next level, he wants the true experience of playing at Desert Financial with a big crowd under somewhat of a normal environment and having an opportunity to win.”
Hurley expressed a belief that the pieces around Bagley are better suited to help the 6-foot-8 Phoenix native meets his potential in year two. At times in his opening season, Bagley was relegated to a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter as the Arizona State offense got stagnant during the struggles of 2020-21.
“We’ve surrounded him with a team that is going to put him in a better position to experience those things this year. I visualize him having a bigger role and a bigger influence on our offense particularly. He’s going to be working hard this offseason to try and put together an all-conference type of season.”
Skeptics have pointed to Hurley’s ‘Guard U’ mantra surrounding the Arizona State program as something that skewed the Arizona State program in a poor direction. The failure to make things work with last year’s guard crop of Remy Martin, Alonzo Verge and Josh Christopher contributed to that notion, but Hurley said the motto shouldn’t be viewed as a negative for ASU.
“We are going to be able to recruit really good guards,” Hurley reiterated, making a point to note how many recruits have been impressed by the association ASU has with Josh Christopher, who was drafted 24th overall by the Houston Rockets in Thursday night’s NBA Draft. “We have a good track record of doing that. We’ve had a number of high-level guys in the program, so I’m not going to run from that, but I do know the importance of rebounding and shot blocking and getting more balanced.”
Following a summer of working the phones and the portal, Hurley said he’s excited for a new-look Sun Devil squad and the chance to bounce back.
“I think we had a really good summer. I haven’t had to get after them about their effort and how they are competing because they’ve been really consistent about doing that up to this point,” Hurley told reporters. “I always feel like I’ve always been the underdog. When I played, and people doubted me, and certainly you can look at last year and say, ‘Wow, these guys had all this hype about them, and they failed.’ But I take that very personal, and we’ve worked extremely hard to change our roster in the off-season.
“We’ve had a lot of change, but I think it’s been a breath of fresh air. Last year we got a touch impatient throughout the year. It was hard to manage that.
With NIL laws changing recently, the former college basketball superstar expressed his support for the development, as well as how Arizona State’s compliance department has handled educating Sun Devil student-athletes.
“It’s pretty wide open in terms of what they can do,” Hurley said. “I do think that there is a lot more freedom for our players to explore a variety of ways in which they can earn some money. I’m certainly in favor of it. I think it’s an education, too. Some of these guys are going to be playing at the next level, and they have to learn about paying their taxes if they earn any money. We’re going to be providing our guys with a lot of services to be able to handle these potential business opportunities.
“It’s a part of the college process to educate and to prepare our guys for the real world. They’ll get a small taste of that through NIL.”
