Missed Herb Sendek’s First Two Seasons? Here’s the CliffsNotes
With Pac-10 play upon us, there’s no time like the present to jump on the Sun Devil hoops bandwagon. If you haven’t been following along at home, here’s the CliffsNotes version of what you’ve missed in Herb Sendek’s first two seasons.
At Echo from the Buttes we understand that Arizona State is first and foremost a football school. We also understand that it wasn’t long ago – ok, it’s been about two years – that Sun Devil hoops was unbearable to watch.
But with a Top 20 ranking, the Pac-10 season approaching, and two first-round NBA Draft Picks on the roster, we believe it’s time for those not yet on the bandwagon to catch up on what they’ve missed and jump onboard.
Two years of hoops under Herb Sendek. Here’s the CliffsNotes:
- ASU loses 22 games in Sendek’s first season—five more than predecessor Rob Evans lost in his final season. The tally includes 15-straight conference defeats during which ASU fails to score 50 points four times.
- In Year One, Sendek ditches his preferred Princeton-style offense and man-to-man defense. The moves works out and the Sun Devils never go back.
- Sendek also smartly hires a high school coach as an assistant and awards an under-recruited LA point guard a scholarship. The assistant, Scott Pera, and the point guard, Derek Glasser, happen to be good buddies with James Harden, one of the country’s top prospects.
- In Year Two, Harden arrives in Tempe, averages 18 points per game and leads the Sun Devils to the cusp of the NCAA Tournament. ASU becomes only the second team in Pac-10 history to lose 20+ games one season and win 20+ games the next.
- Following Year Two, Harden and Jeff Pendergraph forego the NBA Draft to make another tourney run. They return to find the Pac-10’s powers depleted to the point that UCLA coach Ben Howland predicts a four- to five-loss champ.
The end result? Since Sendek’s first season when the team lost 22 games, the Sun Devils are 32-14 – including 10-5 in games decided by 10 or fewer points. Entering Pac-10 play this weekend, they’re ranked 17th in the country and enjoying their best start in 34 years.
It’s time to get on the bandwagon.
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Interesting point from the Tucson Citizen. It seems the pollsters don’t agree on how good ASU is.
“The Sun Devils are ranked as high as seventh by Phil Chardis of the Journal Inquirer newspaper in Manchester, Conn., but don’t even appear on four ballots. Among those voters leaving off ASU are two Pac-10 writers — Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News and Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star.”
Wilner used to write for one of the Tucson papers, right? I think ASU is overrated but they should make the dance.
I don’t agree that Pendergraph is a first round draft pick.
ASU isnt overrated, and i am sick and tired of our enemies down in mexico ripping on ASU weak schedule, and how we have played no one and they have. Here is a stat for those idiots, ASUs RPI is 33, UofA is in the 60s. I will say it again, ASU isnt overrated, IUPUI was close because Harden was shut down, and other people had off games. BYU was close because BYU is good. Other than that, ASU is looking scary good, with inside and outside scoring, not to mention a solid defense led by Abbott leading the point of the zone
I think it’s impossible to determine definitively whether or not ASU is overrated yet. Fortunately, we’ll have a pretty good idea by Sunday night. This is a quite a road swing through Stanford and Cal. They’re combined 20-2 this season!
I take offense at some ASU fans refering to Tucson to Mexico as though it is an insult. I have lived in Phoenix for 10 years but still have a lot of love for my birthplace. If being Mexico is an insult, being Mexican must be an insult. If Mexico is so horrible why do thousands of people of the Phoenix area(mostly ASU students) flock to Mexico every chance that they get. Puerto Penasco, San Carlos, and Bahia Kino have practically been claimed by Americans. I have even heard many here say that Puerto Penasco is practically part of the United States. It must not be an insult to be Mexico. I think it is wonderful the way that Tucson has embraqced it’s multi-culturalism.
@Jesus, that’s a fair point. To say the Mexican culture has not added to our own in the Southwest is clearly ignorant — either that or you think Taco Bell is Mexican food.
Besides, as ASU fans, we should be sensitive to how Mexicans feel about being lumped in with UofA trash.
Sorry, i did not mean to offend you with the Tucson = Mexico part. Its not an attack against your culture at all, its more of a reference to how close to Mexico Tucson is. I do apologize, but it has been something i have always done.
[...] We offered a CliffsNotes version on Herb Sendek’s first two seasons at ASU [...]
“If Mexico is so horrible why do thousands of people of the Phoenix area(mostly ASU students) flock to Mexico every chance that they get.”
College students go there because they can drink underage legally. But they always come back home. If Mexico is so great, why do millions come to the states and stay, almost never going back to Mexico?