Challenging non-conference games have been a staple of Bobby Hurley’s teams at ASU. In an unusual 2020-21 season, constructing such a schedule has been laborious, but no. 24 San Diego State who visits Tempe on Thursday night certainly fits the bill here. Aztecs beat writer and San Diego Union-Tribune’s Mark Zeigler provides his insight into ASU’s upcoming opponent.
DevilsDigest: The Aztecs are currently sitting at a 4-0 record. Are you surprised with what you have seen out of San Diego State so far?
Mark Zeigler: “The thing about this team is that they’ve lost a lot from last year. They lost a pro in Malachi Flynn. They lost a really, really good big man in Yanni Wetzell. They lost the heart and soul of their team in KJ Feagin, who was a transfer from Santa Clara, who had averaged 17 and a half points at Santa Clara. All-conference WCC player and only averaged nine at San Diego State, but he was the glue. He was the best defensive player in the league. He guarded the team’s best perimeter player every game.
“So, they lost those three guys, and so they don’t have that kind of talent this year. But the thing that they have, and this is the carryover from being 30-2, is they know how to win. And they know how to win as a team, and they don’t get flustered. They’ve had bad starts in all four games, and they’ve overcome them all. They were down 16, 16 minutes to go, didn’t panic against Pepperdine. And just very calmly came back and won the game. And you never really got the impression that they weren’t going to win the game. I think that’s their greatest asset is they’re a very old team. They’re very, very together. And they know how to win. And it sounds easier said than done. But ask around the country about that, and you get a lot of coaches saying we don’t know how to win. So, there you go.”
DevilsDigest: How would you schematically define this 20-21 Aztecs’ squad on both ends of the court?
Mark Zeigler: “They’re actually very versatile. They can go really big and really small. They can put two 6’10 guys on the floor together with a couple of 6’6 guards or wings. Add a 6’3 point guard. Or they can go small; they have a 5’8 guy who was the first guy off the bench in Terrell Gomez, a transfer from CSUN. And they can go with a 6’6 center. So, they can play all different ways. They can play fast; they can play slow.
“But when you look at this team, you really have to start with their defense. They’re really, really good defensively and maybe not individually so much as they are as a team. They really know how to play gaps. They know how to play help side. They’re veterans. They understand scouting reports. They have a shot blocker, Nathan Mensah. They can switch every screen if they want. They can force you down the sideline. They can ice things. And so, they’ll change in the middle of games sometimes. They take you out of you out of your rhythm. And they’re very physical. They’re a really physical team that doesn’t really foul that much. The key to the game against Pepperdine is midway through the second half Pepperdine had 10 fouls, and San Diego State had two. And I think part of that is they’re so deep, they typically play 10 guys, that they don’t get as tired and get in the second half, tired teams start to reach and foul, and they still have their legs under them. And the other team’s getting a little bit tired, and they’re able to stay in front of you. They’re not going to wow you with their offense. They have to get their offense out of the team concept. Matt Mitchell’s really the only guy that’ll isolate and try to score other than their big guys. Everything else is out of the offense, moving the ball quickly, making the pass to make the pass.”
DevilsDigest: What do you attribute to the success of the Aztecs over the past decade or so?
Mark Zeigler: “It started when Steve Fisher came there obviously. He came in 1999-2000. The first year he went 5-23, and then he started to get players and did a lot with transfers. He was really one of the first sort of mid-major programs to realize that you could build a team with high major transfers. But what I really think that was one of the keys for their success, and that has been the culture, and there are two aspects to the culture.
“One, is that it’s all about the team. They don’t have 20-point scorers. They haven’t had a 20-point scorer in 34 years. And they’ve only had one 19-point scorer in that Fisher era. Guys average 10 or 12 points. And they play defense. And they have really good kids. They don’t get in trouble. They’re all gym rats. And that’s just how they’re built. And that goes back to the Kawhi Leonard’s influence of working, working, working. He comes and works out here in the summer. So, they see that work ethic. I think that’s what kind of separates them. These guys just love it. They would sleep in the gym if you’d let them.”
DevilsDigest: Would you attribute the success more to being able to get transfers or traditional recruiting?
Mark Zeigler: “They’ve done a little bit of both. They’re a veteran, veteran staff. (head coach) Brian Dutcher was with Steve Fisher as his chief lieutenant for 25 years. And it’s an older staff, and they have a really good eye for evaluation. And they all have to chime in. If they’re going to take a guy, they all have to like them. And as I mentioned before, there’s a personality component to it. But the staff is also talented, and they’re really savvy in finding guys.
“They don’t look at the recruiting rankings at all. The last time they played UCLA in 2012 and UCLA had seven McDonald’s All-Americans on their roster. San Diego State started a guy that got cut from his high school team, two zero-star recruits, a two-star, and a three-star, and they beat them handily. And that’s just how they’ve always been. They find guys, and they also have realized that when guys come from a major program, maybe it didn’t work out as well as they wanted to. This is sort of the ‘last chance saloon’ when they come to San Diego State. And they have to produce, and they have a chip on their shoulder. The coaches want guys who weren’t recruited by UCLA because they know they’ll work harder. When they play UCLA, when they play a big school, they feel like they have something to prove. There’s no complacency. And it was interesting after they went 34-3 with Kawhi Leonard’s team in 2010-11, they all of a sudden thought, ‘well, we’re really going to have some doors open in recruiting.’ They got two five star recruits, and both were okay, but not one-and-done. Both of them lasted all four years, and they weren’t great, and I think they kind of said, ‘we don’t really want five stars,’ and so they typically recruit in that kind of three-four star happy sweet spot.
“Two examples, in the last two years: a big man that they got, Yanni Wetzell, was a Division II player who went to Vanderbilt, played one year, didn’t start, and they just saw something on film they really liked. This year, they have a guy named Joshua Tomaić who played at Maryland and was there four years. Redshirted one of them, barely played for the next three years because he was playing behind pros. But they (SDSU coaches) saw something on film, and they asked for his practice and really liked him. And he’s really produced. So, you just wonder, how did everybody miss on this guy? But they just have that eye, and that’s how they build their teams.”
DevilsDigest: What is your view about Arizona State in general this season and this matchup specifically coming up Thursday night?
Mark Zeigler: “It’ll be interesting. I definitely think Arizona State’s the favorite. If you look at the rosters and you held them side by side, you would say San Diego State has no chance. Not because they’re bad players at San Diego State. They’re very good college players, but they’re not going to have five guys who play in the NBA, and Arizona State might. That roster is loaded with guys who I think are NBA prospects. I’m sure they’ll be quite a few scouts there just to see them.
“They’re really two different teams, and that’s what to me is the fascinating part of this matchup is you have a team that’s got a ton of talent, wants to play one-on-one isolation basketball. I saw the game against Villanova. I think they had one assist in the first half. San Diego State is the opposite. They’re going to have to beat you with their team; they’re not going to be able to isolate guys. And so, it’s going to kind of be this contrast of sometimes Brian Dutcher trying to get them to be less unselfish. And I think Bobby Hurley’s trying to do the opposite thing at Arizona State. It’s probably who does the best will win the game, but I think it’ll be a really good game.
“When you look at the rankings, there are only three teams in the Pacific and Mountain time zones that are ranked right now, and that’s Arizona State, San Diego State obviously Gonzaga No. 1. And so, this is about as good as you’re going to get in the West Coast.”
DevilsDigest: What are the keys to this game for the Aztecs?
Mark Zeigler: “Defensively, they’re used to playing good teams, and so I think they’ll be locked in defensively, and they’ll do what they do. But for them, the key is going to be three-point shooting. That is one thing they do very, very well. They have like three, four, five guys who were 40 percent, legitimate 40 percent (shooters). They got to shoot well from the perimeter. They were 2-19 against Pepperdine. And still managed to win the game. But they can’t be 2-19, obviously, against a team the caliber of Arizona State. They’ll get their doors blown off. So, I think that’s going to be the stat to watch. If they get that number around 40 percent, I think they can stay in the game.
“Last time a few years ago, Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel were freshmen on that team (that lost to ASU) they were up by like eight or nine at the half and looked very, very good and just got completely annihilated in the second half and lost by close to 20. And so, there’ll be a little bit of a hunger there from those two guys at least, remembering that experience.”
(Jesse Morrison contributed to the article)
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle to discuss this article and other ASU football and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and get all the latest Sun Devil news!
