With just five days remaining until No. 18, ASU tips off against No. 2 Baylor at the Empire Classic in Uncasville, CT, one word stood out above the rest when ASU head coach Bobby Hurley sat down with the media on Friday.
Trust.
Entering his sixth year as the head coach of the Sun Devils, this year Hurley oversees the most talented squad he’s ever coached during his tenure in Tempe, that’s no secret.
Headlining the returning group is a duo that began to find its stride towards the end of last season: First-team All-Pac-12 and AP Preseason All-American Remy Martin and 2020 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year Alonzo Verge Jr.
Martin, who was named to the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list today, and Verge, who racked up numerous accolades and Sun Devil records in a breakout year following his transfer to Tempe, are expected to lead, both on and off the floor for the Sun Devils this season.
While returning the pair of stars and veteran playmakers is certainly helpful, ASU’s offseason transfers and signees are really what makes this year’s team pop.
The hype surrounding the signings of five-star recruits Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley was an immense deal for Sun Devil basketball as the two freshmen were some of the most highly touted players in the country. Christopher was the 12th ranked recruit in the 2020 class, Bagley the 30th. Their recruitment announcement videos on social media went viral almost instantly.
Another offseason move for ASU, one which came without the glitz and glamour of the viral videos of Christopher and Bagley was the acquisition of transfer guards Holland Woods from Portland State and Luther Muhammad from Ohio State.
Woods, who Hurley described as a “very reliable, dependable, low-maintenance player with a great attitude,” averaged 17.7 points and five assists last season. Despite playing three years at Portland State, Woods is the school’s career leader in assists and steals. Woods adds valuable leadership to the Sun Devil roster, and with his ability to facilitate the ball, he’s “constantly looking to make his teammates better.”
Muhammad, who averaged seven points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists last season joins Arizona State from Ohio State, but is out for a 2-3-month window after shoulder surgery to repair a lingering issue from his days with the Buckeyes.
With talent as far as the eye can see, the potential for Sun Devil Basketball is almost bursting at the seams, nonetheless Arizona State must put the rubber to the road if they are to make the 2020-2021 campaign a special one, and to do that, they need to embody Hurley’s favorite word from Friday.
“Trust is an important word for me this year,” Hurley explained. “Trust the guy you're playing with that if you make the next pass, that he’s going to make the right play as well on offense. Trust that if I'm running back on defense at 110% that the guy to my left, to my right, is doing the same thing. It's more than just about how these guys are going to share the ball and play together on offense; it's going to be a total buy-in and commitment to do all the other things that may not be valued by high school players or incoming players, that are critical to winning at the highest level here in college.”
With so much firepower comes the question of the basketball’s distribution. Martin averaged 19.1 points per game last year, Verge 14.6 and Woods 17.7. Add on one of the nation’s most dynamic guard recruits in Christopher and a prolific stretch scorer in Bagley, and you have a lot of mouths to feed.
Nevertheless, Hurley shrugged off the daunting task of trying to give every player their moments, referencing the offensive success thus far in practice, before referencing other aspects of the game that are more important to work on.
“I’m not as concerned about the offensive end, actually there have been some terrific examples in the last couple of days of the ball popping and all of those guys giving up a potentially good shot for a better shot,” Hurley explained.
“From that standpoint, I’m not concerned; I’m more (concerned about) who’s going to do what Mickey Mitchell did for us last year, who’s diving out of bounds to keep the ball in play, who’s getting on the floor for a loose ball, who’s going to take a charge.”
Not only is it the offensive success and acceptance of the dirty work that’s essential for the progress of Hurley and the Sun Devils, it’s what will and should be accomplished on the other end of the floor, on defense, where the Sun Devil door of success swings on its hinges.
“I think the same speed and athleticism and quickness that we could exhibit offensively we have to commit to doing defensively,” Hurley said. “As good as they're going to be on offense, they have to strive to be one of the best defensive perimeters in the country in addition (to their offensive contributions) …I think if we could really get that commitment from the core guys to do that, it would certainly enhance our chances to be a much better defensive team.”
With guards like Martin, Woods, Verge, and sophomore Jaelen House, whom the ASU head coach calls specifically upon for tight, suffocating on-ball defense, Arizona State’s perimeter defense certainly appears to be stout. But the alarms begin to sound when you shift down low towards the blocks.
Long gone is the rim protection and glass cleaning from forward Romello White, who transferred to Ole Miss during the offseason. Hurley’s proverbial dirty work man, Mitchell, also exited after graduating in the spring.
Filling the void is a quartet of bigs, consisting of two returners and two fresh faces. The returners, junior forward Taeshon Cherry and sophomore forward Jalen Graham, have gotten their feet wet at Desert Financial Arena and are both poised for solid years back in maroon and gold. Hurley praised the pair for their defensive commitment and abilities displayed thus far in practice.
“I hope that Taeshon Cherry can put it together and hold it together. He plays with great energy. He really rebounds the ball, he’s a good position defender and has good instincts on defense. If you’re strictly talking about defense and a guy that could impact that, I think he would be that guy,” Hurley said.
“Jalen Graham, with his shot-blocking ability (can make an impact), I think I can switch Jalen out one through five. He moves his feet well; he’s fluid. So I think he could have a really good impact defensively.”
The fresh faces are junior transfer Chris Osten, who comes from Lee College, a junior college in Baytown, Texas just outside Houston, and Pablo Dziuba, a freshman signee from Ukraine.
“We're going to need that interior presence, that rebounding, that shot blocking at the basket, and all the things that you talk about in trying to become a complete team,” Hurley listed. “And that's our goal. I mean, it's very early, and we've had a, you know, a very unusual offseason. But we got to get it in gear. We have to practice better than we have the last couple of days. And so there are some alarms going off a little bit about what we're doing on the practice floor right now, and about our maturity level.”
With only a few weeks of practice under their belts and a daunting set of opponents in an opening contest date with No. 2 Baylor less than a week away, Hurley has his hands full as he tries to form a cohesive bond amongst a team that boasts an array of veterans and young guns. While Hurley’s voice carries great weight whilst coaching, the leadership of the team goes beyond just the man at the helm.
“I think we have plenty of vocal leadership,” Hurley explained. “My voice is pretty strong; Coach Burno’s voice is very strong. Remy Martin is going to be very vocal, Verge is going to be vocal, so we need guys just going out there and be connected as a group and playing with a great attitude, with passion and toughness…..the more that guys buy into doing all those things, and the better success we're going to have this year as a team.”
With only a few intrasquad games and several weeks of practice under their belt; the Sun Devils still have many unanswered questions to solve before Wednesday’s showdown with Baylor, with interior defense, offensive distribution and hustle plays being the most pertinent among them.
“I would equate it to dating someone right now,” Hurley said, describing his team’s evolution as a group. “We are going to the movies and maybe getting a nice dinner. But you know, are we ready to take it to the next level? Like, are we ready to commit to each other?”
“It's great when you have a lot of talent and a lot of expectations and a lot of guys with a lot of hype, but we got to do a lot of the little things that you got to do in a relationship, and that's where we all are. We're a team where we're like a living, breathing relationship that needs work, every day.”
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