2014-15 Pac-12 Conference Preview: #9 Arizona State
Arizona State Sun Devils
2013 Season Results: 21-12 overall, 10-8 conference record. T-3rd place in the Pac-12, 79-58 loss to Stanford in First Round of Pac-12 Tournament. 87-85 loss to Texas in the First Round of NCAA Tournament.
Key Losses: Jahii Carson (went pro), Jordan Bachynski and Jermaine Marshall (both graduated), Egor Koulechov (transferred to Rice)
Key Returners: Jonathan Gilling, Shaquille McKissic, Eric Jacobsen, Bo Barnes
2014 Recruiting Class: Tra Holder (3 stars, #56 PG according to ESPN), Kodi Justice (3 Stars, #51 SG), Connor MacDougall (2 stars, #61 C), Gerry Blakes, Roosevelt Scott, Savon Goodman, Willie Atwood (all JUCO)
Last season ended in heartbreak for Arizona State, and this season is unlikely to provide too much relief. The dynamic Jahii Carson is gone, which is almost equally as sad for neutral fans across the country as it is for partial fans and Tempe. Gone, too, are Jermaine Marshall and conference Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Bachynski.
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This was a decent basketball team last year, which largely beat the teams it was expected to beat and fell to the teams it was expected to fall to. The highlight of the season was a 69-66 double overtime victory over Arizona, but the team fell apart following that win.
After the victory of their in-state rivals, the Sun Devils dropped 4 of 6 to end the regular season before getting blown out by Stanford in the conference tournament and losing to Texas on Cameron Ridley’s buzzer beater to finish the season on four game losing streak. And that was the second best team of the Sendek era in Tempe, which makes it awfully tough to justify his recent extension, especially considering how little comes back this year.
Arizona State brings back less scoring than every team in the league outside of Oregon State. There is no Carson, King, or James Harden-type talent to serve as potential messiah, either.
They will have Jonathan Gilling, who performed very well as an auxiliary scoring option last year. He scored 7.7 PPG, snagged 3.4 RPG, and even added 2.7 APG. He also shot 43% from three while attempting exactly four of them per game, so he is a very good shooter.
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The vast majority of Gilling’s scoring was from those threes, though, as he shot just 14-39 from inside the arc on the season. Gilling is a potential breakout player in this conference, but the Sun Devils will be asking a lot of him. He was able to get a lot of good looks last year as defenses focused on Carson, Marshall, and Bachynski, but defenses will be focused on Gilling this time around.
The other returning starter is Shaquielle McKissic, who had a slow start as a JuCo transfer last season but was awesome for the Sun Devils in the second half of the season. McKissic is the leading returning scorer and rebounder (9.0 and 5.4 a game).
McKissic is a very strong 6’5” forward who will strike a lot of fear into opposing teams if his jump shot is more reliable this season. As it stands, he should be a productive two-way player for an Arizona State team that will be starved for them.
Bo Barnes was the third guard on a team with two stars at the position last season, so his opportunities were limited. He shot well when he did play (21-52 from deep), but also had more turnovers than assists. His adjustment to a bigger role will play a huge part in the Sun Devils’ successes and failures this season.
Arizona State will be very thin in the front court. Gilling and McKissic are more perimeter-oriented players, and the only other returning big man is 6’10” junior forward Eric Jacobsen. Jacobsen was solid but did not distinguish himself in 10 minutes per game last year.
The Sun Devils will need contributions from the new bigs, freshman Connor MacDougall or JuCo transfer Willie Atwood, to be remotely competitive inside. This team is going to have a lot of trouble against the Jordans Scott and Loveridge, Kaleb Tarczewski, David Kravish and the rest of the conference’s quality post players.
To his credit, Herb Sendek would not accept writing off this campaign as a rebuilding year, and added four junior college transfers in addition to the three high school seniors he signed. This will smooth out the Sun Devils’ learning curve a little bit.
Gerry Blakes, one of those transfers, was the California Junior College Player of the Year last season, so the Sun Devils should feel pretty good about his ability to contribute. He is likely to earn one of the starting guard jobs- most likely point guard.
There is definitely some talent here, but it remains to be seen if Gilling and McKissic can make the jump from role players to team leaders. Transfers cost Arizona State a lot of their reserves from last season, so the newcomers will be asked to play a lot.
Herb Sendek’s team will have to take some lumps this season, and if the JuCo guys show up ready to compete and the freshmen develop faster than expected, this team could surprise some teams in the Pac-12. What we will most likely see, however, is the Sun Devils some brief flashes during a mostly tough season.
Prediction: 9th Place