While the unfinished ending to this college basketball season is nothing short of shocking let alone disappointing, Sun Devil fans certainly have a lot to be thankful for. Junior guard Remy Martin would certainly be on the shortlist of those things, as he’s quickly grown into the face of Sun Devil basketball over his three seasons in maroon and gold.

Ever since his first collegiate games in 2017-18, Martin’s intense and energetic play on both ends of the floor was impossible to miss. Since then, he has improved each season, at least by scoring and steals. His 9.6 points per game along with 1.1 steals, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists earned him co-sixth-man of the year honors as a freshman.

Then as a sophomore, he saw a nearly nine-minute increase in minutes per game and became a mainstay in the starting lineup following the departure of seniors Tra Holder, Kodi Justice and Shannon Evans who made up the nucleus of ‘Guard U.’. Consequently, he upped his scoring to 12.9 points per contest to go with 1.2 steals, 3.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists, earning second-team Pac-12 honors—arguably snubbed for first-team.

This season, Martin let there be no doubt amongst the conference voters, averaging 19.1 points per game, which was second in the Pac-12 only to conference player of the year in Oregon’s Payton Pritchard. Additionally, he paced his squad with 4.1 assists per game, 1.5 steals, and a 77.2 free throw percentage. Most importantly, he guided ASU to their third straight season of at least 20 wins.

“I think most coaches and people that follow the league understand and know how good he is, and he’s one of the best players in the conference,” coach Bobby Hurley said. “When you add the winning component, then all of a sudden I think he should be in the discussion with a lot of the elite players that get talked about a lot in our league.”

Undoubtedly, Hurley’s comments held true over the season’s final eight games, as he uttered those friends on February 12 in the days after Martin hit the winning shot to beat USC 66-64 in Tempe, the third of what would be seven straight wins to start the month. He averaged 18.8 points per game over those final eight contests, and tallied at least four assists in six of the last seven contests.

However, the myriad of these stats and figures only paint a partial picture that is Martin’s ultimate value to the Sun Devils. As the age-old adage states, what’s done in the dark eventually comes to light, and the mentality of Martin’s leadership played no small part in ASU’s memorable late-season turnaround.

“Remy’s the type of person no matter what’s happening he still has the same mentality, the same fight,” junior forward Romello White said. “He gives guys a lot of confidence, like if you miss a couple of shots.”

“He just always goes hard, especially in practice,” freshman forward Jalen Graham added. “He always pushes you, and you just want to follow in his footsteps.”

After a near buzzer-beater loss at Washington State on January 29, the Sun Devils went from tied for eighth in the conference to outright first place in a matter of 25 days, going on to finish third in a fiercely competitive Pac-12 and a league that enjoyed a significant infusion of talent over the previous year’s campaign.

Evidently, the confidence and trust Martin showed in his teammates throughout an adverse season paid off handsomely in the stretch run. White provided a great example of this, which involves his close friend and sophomore forward Taeshon Cherry.

“Taeshon, when he misses a couple of shots, he’ll be doubting himself,” White commented. “But Remy always picks him up, like ‘keep going, I’m going to keep finding you. You’re going to make your shots, they’re going to fall eventually.’ So, Remy’s definitely great with that.”

To no one’s surprise, it seems that Martin takes a similar approach with all of his younger teammates, regardless of their playing time or status.

“Remy’s a good leader, he’s a good person,” junior forward Kimani Lawrence, who arrived together with Martin in the 2017 class, noted. “He just leads by example, showing the guys how to work and stuff like that. He’s never getting down on the freshmen or anything, he’s always encouraging them.”

As hard as it may be to believe during a season with so much adversity, it sounds as if the only person Martin is ever negative towards is himself. He has never shied away from taking the blame after tough losses and during bad stretches of the season, even when it sometimes feels absurd for him to do.

Most notably, he spent a good chunk of a terse, two-and-a-half-minute press conference after the 68-61 home loss to Colorado early in conference play placing self-blame and detailing what he could have done better.

That was a game in which Martin had a game-high 25 points in addition to seven rebounds and six assists, mind you.

“Even though he’s always positive, he’s still sometimes hard on himself,” White stated, “he’s got to take it on him because he’s a point guard. But I’ll tell him ‘it’s not on you, it’s all of us. We’re a team.’”

Regardless of how Martin evaluates his own performances, his teammates know they can rely on him consistently. After all, it’s only right for them to express the same confidence in Martin that he shows in them through good times and bad.

“When we need a bucket, we know who to go to,” junior transfer forward Khalid Thomas said. “The stuff that he says, he’s always positive; he’s not really negative. I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard anything negative come out of Remy’s mouth. But as far as just a guy you can listen to, I think Remy’s that guy.”

While it was hard to find any comments specifically about Martin in recent weeks from his top supporting guards in senior Rob Edwards and junior Alonzo Verge Jr, they have expressed nothing but the highest praise for him throughout the season, just like their teammates. The guard trio’s improved chemistry on the floor was probably the biggest factor in the Sun Devils 10-4 record to close the season after that aforementioned loss to Colorado.

With the promise of what could have happened this postseason, it’s not outlandish to think this will be the most disappointing finish to an ASU basketball season for a long time to come. It’s very hard to imagine college basketball as a whole having a more unsatisfactory finish to a season than no power-five or group of five conference tournament champions, not to mention a canceled NCAA tournament, especially after completing one of the wildest regular seasons in recent memory where five different no. 1 teams were upset throughout the season.

But in a time that is filled with negativity, the Sun Devils have given their fanbase lots to be grateful for in the past few years and hopeful for next season. Having Martin back in Tempe for his senior season, there could be more to add to that list under his leadership.