Arizona State Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Sun Devils

By Brian Rauf | Oct 9, 2019

TULSA, OKLAHOMA - MARCH 22: Head coach Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils speaks to Remy Martin #1 during the first half of the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Buffalo Bulls at BOK Center on March 22, 2019 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

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DAYTON, OHIO – MARCH 20: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot performs during the second half against the St. John’s Red Storm in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Arizona State basketball has made the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons but has been inconsistent along the way. Can they make it three straight?

In what has been a down few seasons for the Pac-12 as a whole, Arizona State basketball has emerged as the conference’s most consistent program over the past two seasons – yet even that consistency has been characterized by inconsistency.

The Sun Devils got off to a surprising 12-0 star during the 2017-18 season that was headlined by a victory over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse that put this program into the national spotlight. They rose to No. 3 in the country after that start! But they came crashing back down to earth in Pac-12 play, going 8-10 before barely earning an NCAA Tournament berth and losing in the First Four.

Last year, Bobby Hurley’s squad got off to a similar hot start. They were 9-2, they had beaten Kansas (again) when the Jayhawks were ranked No. 1 and found themselves ranked in the top 20. Yet stunning losses to Princeton and Utah followed as they went 13-9 to close the season. That was still enough to earn them a second consecutive berth in the First Four. They did knock off St. John’s, but then they were blown out by Buffalo in the first round.

Arizona State is the only Pac-12 program to make the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years.

Each one of those teams had vastly different identities, too. The 2017-18 team was perimeter-oriented, shot a lot of three-pointers, and was one of the country’s smallest teams. The 2018-19 team really struggled to shoot, but was one of the country’s bigger teams and was really good defensively.

The 2019-20 team looks like it will be the most balanced squad Hurley has had since taking over. Arizona State returns five of their top seven scorers and welcome in a highly-touted recruiting class, headlined by four-star guard Jaelen House.

The Sun Devils are big, they have shooters, and they have experience. But can they find that consistency that has escaped them? And how high is their ceiling?

Find out in our full season preview for Arizona State:

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