Summer workouts revealing improved talent level for the Sun Devils

A heightened level of excitement these days in Tempe is palpable. Not only is Arizona State’s basketball team preparing for its inaugural season in the Big 12 conference, a league featuring more than a handful of teams in various preseason Top 25 rankings, but the roster’s overall prowess, which includes a top 10 2024 recruiting class and several talented transfers, can certainly aid ASU in navigating the significant step up in competition.

Despite finishing last season at a 14-18 mark, a conference record of 8-12, and a 9th-place finish in their final Pac-12 campaign, the new-look Sun Devil roster, with just three returning players, looks night and day enhanced, giving head coach Bobby Hurley hope for his team to reach new heights.

“This team stacks up with the best teams I’ve had personnel-wise,” Hurley exclaimed in a press conference Wednesday. “We think we have a lot of components that make up a good basketball team. Once we get everyone here, it’ll be something special this year.”

The new collection of players has justified the current buzz for many reasons, and while so many positive causes can be contributed, according to Hurley, this year’s team is merely more talented than it was in years past.

“I have confidence in what I’m seeing in terms of their ability to get the ball in the basket. Overall, there are just better players in the gym, and sometimes it’s as simple as that,” Hurley admitted. “I felt that last year’s team was limited in some ways offensively, to not be able to shoot the ball well, shoot free throws well, or score around the basket; a lot of things we’ve done in the portal have been to address those things.”

A higher skill plane is undoubtedly this team’s DNA, starting with the No.8 ranked player in the class of 2024 and the top center of this group, Jayden Quaintance. At just 16 years old, Quaintance impressed early on with his size and leaping ability. Listed at 6-foot-10 and 235 lbs., the frontcourt player has displayed his incredible agility, but his maturity at such a young age is just as impressive, with Hurley comparing him to former ASU men’s basketball star, who is enjoying a fine NBA career.

“He’s a grown man physically and mentally he is very advanced for a 16-year-old,” Hurley said. “He’s focused and works hard, like how (Oklahoma City Thunder guard) Lu Dort was to me when he first walked through the door. He’s also very coachable.”

Incoming freshman and four-star guard Joson Sanon has yet to start practicing with the Sun Devils as he wrapped up his academics and AAU season. 6-foot-8 wing Ameir Ali has been another freshman turning heads, impressing Hurley as much as any on the opening day of summer workouts. “He could shoot it in some of our shooting drills initially,” Hurley described, “and his shot-making has been exceptional so far. So it’s going to be exciting to see that class. I mean, those three guys are going to be immediate impact guys for us.”

Returning just three players, even a significantly more proficient roster, cannot by itself lead to a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the Sun Devils. Cohesiveness has eluded ASU last season, another campaign of great player turnover, which is why Hurley is anxious to see how this team ultimately comes together. To date he has been extremely pleased with the work ethic displayed, which naturally is a pleasant character reveal of the players.

“I think we have recruited good people, guys who seem to get along well together. They’re very focused,” Hurley claimed, “Our premier (transfer) portal guys have one year left, and they have to make this year work… we have high school guys that have tremendous reputations, that are on NBA Draft radars… we have the returning players that don’t want to go through another season like [2023-24], they have their reasons why they want to make this a winning situation.”

NCAA restrictions limit the volume of official practices teams can hold in the summer. Nonetheless, Hurley has seen many players engage in individual workouts on their own time.

“We’re limited with the time we could spend with them right now. But you’re hearing basketball bouncing, and guys are in the gym on their own. So that’s a positive sign,” Hurley noted. “At times in my career, I’d be up in the office, and you could hear a pin drop in the gym. And man, that’s just not what we’re doing right now; we’ve collected a bunch of guys that are very focused on getting better.”

The commitment to self-improvement has also manifested itself in a higher degree of intensity in practices and an exhibition of selflessness during those sessions, albeit that can be an element that may change in the teeth of the upcoming season.

“I have confidence in what I’m seeing in terms of their ability to share the ball,” Hurley commented. “I don’t see a lot of selfishness or issues right now that are appearing to surface. Things are going to change when we really get in the trenches.”

A revamped roster flooded with talent from top to bottom would not have been possible without an improved NIL aspect, and the role donors and sponsorships played this season. By his own admission, it took time for Hurley to come around to this new age of college athletics as a self-proclaimed “purist of the game.” However, he has worked diligently alongside new ASU Athletic Director Graham Rossini to provide the financial landscape that allowed for these personnel acquisitions.

“We worked hard in the offseason with fundraising for the [transfer] portal and high school,” Hurley stated. “We just got after it and did the best we could to put together a team that has potential. There’s a lot of optimism; we’re excited about what we’re putting together. It’s a different world, and you have to adapt. I’ve tried to go out of my comfort zone to ask for more assistance; it’s enabled us to have an opportunity to bring in some guys that could help us in the Big 12 this year.”

Hurley is fully cognizant about the demanding Big 12 conference he and the Sun Devils are about to encounter. The fact that eight of its 14 programs this past season were part of the NCAA Tournament succinctly explains why this league is arguably the best in the nation.

“I like the fact that people consider it to be one of the top basketball conferences, if not the premier basketball conference in college basketball,” Hurley remarked. “It wouldn’t be surprising to me this year if it’s potentially ten teams (qualifying for the NCAA Tournament) based on what the whole league has done. I followed very closely the recruiting cycles and the portal work that the whole conference has done and it has been excellent work. So I think we’re going to be very competitive across the board.”

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