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• Don’t miss the top five James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph stories of the year

ASU vs. UA III Audio Preview

Echo from the Buttes sat down with our friends at The Greg and Mark Show to discuss today’s ASU-UA showdown.

The last two seasons have represented a golden age for big men in the Pac-10.

Last season the post was ruled by Robin and Brook Lopez of Stanford and Kevin Love of UCLA—all of whom were first-round NBA picks. And Jeff Pendergraph held his own.

And over the next two days, Pendergraph will face Arizona’s Jordan Hill and (hopefully) Washington’s Jon Brockman – another pair of likely first-rounders – in the Pac-10 Tournament.

The battles have become so epic that when Hill learned his Wildcats would be playing a do-or-die game against the Sun Devils, he sent Pendergraph a text message that read, “There’s about to be another showdown.”

Quoth Pendergraph: “If I fall asleep for one second, I get dunked on. I try not to let that happen, so I just try to keep it even it with him and not fall asleep, because he’ll make you pay for it. … Every time we play each other, it’s kind of an epic battle.”

After entering his senior campaign with a reputation for getting into foul trouble against elite big men, Pendergraph has risen to the challenge in each battle this season.

He’s posted a double-double in each of his four games against Hill and Brockman this year. His average output: 18.0 points and 13.5 rebounds.

(Fortunately Taylor Rohde’s prepared Pendergraph by beating up on him in practice.)

Pendergraph’s face-off with Hill today could go a long way toward determining whether or not ASU advances to a third meeting against Brockman and the Huskies on Friday—and whether or not Arizona gets off the bubble to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The fact that it’s ASU standing in UA’s way of a 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance isn’t lost on Pendergraph. Quoth the big man: “That seems kind of funny. That’s some fate stuff. You can’t really make that happen.”

What’s Your Take, Sun Devils
We’re DVRing today’s game for later viewing, so we we’ll be off the grid during a long afternoon at the day job. But feel free to discuss the game in the comments below!

• Don’t miss the top five James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph stories of the year

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(Photo courtesy Arizona Republic.)

By now you’ve likely heard that James Harden has been named Pac-10 Player of the Year, joining Eddie House and Ike Diogu as the only Sun Devils so honored. It’s easy to see why. Harden is averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Harden is joined on the all-conference first team by Jeff Pendergraph, who’s averaging 14.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 66.5 percent from the floor.

From a team standpoint, Harden and Pendergraph have led ASU to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1979-80 and 1980-81. The Sun Devils posted 11 conference wins for just the second time in the past 14 seasons to finish in a third-place tie with Cal.

We’ve written a lot about Harden and Pendergraph this season. So here are links to our top five Harden and Pendergraph posts of the year:

1. James Harden in blue and gold? After he was profiled in Sports Illustrated we learned how a twist of fate nearly led the greatest Sun Devil hoopster ever to play his college ball on the other coast.

2. Jeff Pendergraph career retrospective. On the eve of senior day, we took a look back at a tumultuous career that included a benign tumor, a near transfer and (finally) a place among ASU’s few elite big men.

3. James Harden leads by beard. During a decent winning streak, Harden sucked his teammates into the ultimate display of masculinity – commitment to splotchy facial hair – with mixed success.

4. Jeff Pendergraph’s cure for the blues. A slow start to his senior season had Pendergraph taking a beating from a teammate, singing the blues and offering up a surprising destination for a morale boost.

5. What’s Your Take, Sun Devils? Do you have a favorite memory or story about Harden or Pendergraph? If so, spill the beans in the comments below.

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We already know that ASU will play UA at noon Thursday in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament. So we’ll take one of our final madness-free moments in March to glance further into the future.

After the weekend that future Sun Devil Demetrius Walker had in the Arizona state tournament, maybe life after Harden won’t be so bad after all.

Walker, who was compared to Lebron James by Sports Illustrated when he was just 14, had a phenomenal Final Four weekend to lead Phoenix St. Mary’s to a state title—something Jerryd Bayless failed to do in three finals appearances at the same high school.

The 6-foot-4 200-pound phenom scored 30 points in an 83-58 semifinal win over Sierra Vista Buena and 27 points in the championship game win over Gilbert Highland.

He did it with more than defense. He swatted a layup three rows out of bounds on Highland’s first possession and hounded highly-touted Indiana recruit Matt Carlino to limit him to just two points in the first half.

Quoth St. Mary’s coach Dave Lopez: “He’s a man-child. Like most great players, the high school game has held him back a little bit because of the way it’s played. I think he’ll do real well at the next level.”

Walker won’t be the only freshman arriving at ASU this fall. He’ll be joined by Minneapolis shooting guard Trent Lockett and Russian big man Ruslan Pateev.

But Walker is especially intriguing because he plays a similar game to James Harden. He’s nearly as big as Harden, and he’s not afraid to get physical when attacking the basket – he shot 12 free throws against Highland.

And we like that Highland coach Mark Carlino said Walker “plays with incredible heart and incredible passion.”

The guess here is that Walker slide right into the starting lineup at Harden’s wing position, joining Derek Glasser and Lockett at guard and Rihards Kuksiks and Eric Boateng upfront.

Will he average 18 points and five rebounds a game as a freshman? No. But he’ll have to put up some numbers, because he’ll be filling some mighty big shoes this fall.

What’s Your Take, Sun Devils
Have you seen Walker play? If so, let us know what you thought of his game in the comments below.

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We’re not going to spend much time on last night’s 74-64 loss to Stanford. We all know ASU stunk up Wells Fargo Arena. So we’re going to move ahead very quickly.

To recap: The Sun Devils shot 36.0 percent from the field including 26.7 percent from 3-point range and didn’t convert their first field goal until nine minutes into the game. Stanford answered by shooting 50.0% from the field.

Combined with two overtime losses in Washington over the weekend, ASU has now lost three straight.

As Jeff Pendergraph said: “We’re kind of at the bottom right now. Losing is not good. I haven’t lost this many in a row in a while. As a team we’re disappointed in how we’re playing right now, because this isn’t us. Three in a row? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Where does this leave ASU? Believe it or not, the Sun Devils can still earn the third seed in the Pac-10 Tournament if the breaks go their way Saturday. How? Well, first, the conference tiebreakers go something like this:

• Head-to-head (ASU and Cal split the season series)
• Record vs. champion or champions (ASU went 0-2 vs. Washington, 2-0 vs. UCLA; Cal went 2-0 vs. Washington, 0-2 vs. UCLA)
• Record vs. Division I opponents (ASU would be 22-8, Cal 22-9)
• Coin flip

To earn the third seed in the conference tournament, ASU needs three games to go its way. Washington has to lose to Washington State at home and UCLA has to beat Oregon at home. This would set up a tie atop the conference standings and negate Cal’s advantage in the “Record vs. champion or champions” tiebreaker.

And, of course, ASU would have to defeat Cal to force the tie for third place. The Sun Devils would win the tiebreaker – by a single win – based on their better overall record.

Of course, finishing third or finishing fourth is pretty moot. Either way, ASU will play Arizona, USC or Washington State. But it’ll keep a potential third date against Washington farther on the horizon in the championship game as opposed to the semifinals.

At this point though, we’re not sure we should be looking that far ahead.

***
Don’t miss our lookback at senior Jeff Pendergraph’s ASU career.

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He stands 6 feet 9 inches tall, weighs 240 pounds and has two pet snakes. So it’ll be a little strange watching him turn on the waterworks this weekend.

Jeff Pendergraph will play his final home game as a Sun Devil on Saturday and he fully expects to cry during a Senior Night ceremony which he’ll have all to himself.

ASU’s lone senior will leave the program as a four-year starter who split his games against Arizona and took a season sweep from UCLA. There aren’t many former Sun Devils who can claim that.

Here’s a quick look back at some lows (mostly early) and highs (mostly late) from Pendergraph’s ASU career:

• Nov. 2005 – Commences his college career late after having a benign tumor surgically removed from his knee.
• March 2006 – Considers transferring out of ASU after learning Rob Evans was fired while watching ESPN.
• Dec.-Feb. 2007 – Emerges as team leader as he fumes through a program record 15-game losing streak.
• Feb. 2008 – Picks up the slack for ailing James Harden to score a career-high 29 points in ASU’s 59-54 overtime road upset of Arizona.
• March 2008 – Whistled for going over the back of a USC player on a put-back dunk that would’ve tied the score late in a first-round Pac-10 Tourney loss.
• April 2008 – Flirts with entering the NBA Draft but ultimately decides to return to ASU after receiving input from Doug Collins among others.
• Feb. 2009 – Completes a second consecutive season sweep of Arizona and his first sweep of UCLA in a memorable 10-day home stand.

Though most observers rightfully point to Harden’s arrival as the turning point for the program, we often look back at that 15-game losing streak in 2007.

With three freshmen in the starting lineup, Pendergraph not only carried the load, but also provided the heart and pride on a very bad team—whether that meant grabbing teammates’ attention in the huddle or beating his chest after a big defensive play.

Now, at Herb Sendek’s insistence, Pendergraph plays with “passion” rather than “emotion”, so the chest-beatings at the stare-downs are a little less common. But there’s no question Pendergraph is the leader of a team that’s about to break a long NCAA Tournament drought.

So we wonder, where does Pendergraph fit among the great Sun Devils of the last 20 years?

What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
Mario Bennett, James Harden, Eddie House, Ike Diogu, Jeremy Veal. Where does Jeff Pendergraph rank among the ASU greats of the last two decades? Let us know in the comments below!

More Sun Devil News, Less Hassle

Don’t fool around with bookmarks or the refresh button. We’ve made it easier to subscribe, so you can have Sun Devil news delivered FREE straight to your inbox.

• Jeff Pendergraph: Hoops Warrior, Snake Lover, Emotional Wreck?
• Is a Sun Devil Teammate being Too Rough with Jeff Pendergraph?
• ASU 74-UCLA 67. Quoth Jeff Pendergraph: “Yeah, What You Going to Say Now?”

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention ASU baseball’s 2-1 win over Missouri last night. Mike Leake gave up one hit in eight innings, then let the bullpen tie a bow on it.

A very rare opportunity slipped through the grasp of Herb Sendek and the ASU basketball team last night. In over two decades of Pac-10 play, the Sun Devils have never won even a share of the conference title.

After last night’s 73-70 overtime loss at Washington, ASU is a full game in the loss column behind the Huskies and will likely have to win out to catch up. The top of the standings now look like this:

Washington’s Justin Dentmon compared the game to a 12-round fight and nowhere was that more apparent than in the post. Fiery as ever, Jeff Pendergraph went for 24 points and 13 rebounds. Jon Brockman bruised his way to 21 points and 11 boards.

The Sun Devils still have between four and six games to make their case to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

Best Case Scenario: ASU closes out with three-straight wins and then wins three in the Pac-10 tournament. That would give the Sun Devils a 27-6 record and likely land them with a No. 3 seed outside the West.

Worst Case Scenario: ASU drops its last three games (two to teams to which it’s already lost) and is upset by a UA or USC in the Pac-10 tourney opener. The resultant 21-10 record would likely drop the Sun Devils to an 8 vs. 9 game.

What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
There’s still plenty of hoops to play. How do you think the Sun Devils season will play out?

More Sun Devil News, Less Hassle

Don’t fool around with bookmarks or the refresh button. We’ve made it easier to subscribe, so you can have Sun Devil news delivered FREE straight to your inbox.

The stretch run of the Pac-10 basketball season begins tonight—and both the Sun Devils men’s and women’s teams control their own destinies. We’ll get out of the way and let our friends at The Greg and Mark Show provide the analysis.

The men begin their trip to the Pacific Northwest with a huge tilt against conference-leading Washington tonight. The game doesn’t tip until 9 p.m. Arizona time, but by the time you wake up tomorrow ASU could lead the Pac-10 with three games to play.

In the audio clip below, the guys discuss Herb Sendek’s national coach of the year candidacy, matching up with big man Jon Brockman and Washington, and James Harden’s comment that ASU is now a basketball school.

Men’s Audio:

The women, who haven’t lost since George W. Bush was in office, host the Washington schools this weekend before capping the season with a road trip to the Bay Area. Stanford and Cal share the conference lead and hold a one-game cushion over the Sun Devils.

And in the next audio clip, the guys discuss a program record 12-game winning streak, Charli Turner Thorne‘s suffocating style of D, and the ladies’ odds of upending Cal and Stanford to steal the conference title.

Women’s Audio:

Check back tomorrow to listen to Greg and Mark’s take on the ASU baseball team’s hot start. Go Devils!

More Sun Devil News, Less Hassle

Don’t fool around with bookmarks or the refresh button. We’ve made it easier to subscribe, so you can have Sun Devil news delivered FREE straight to your inbox.