Annual Excuses For ASU Hoops Begin

[WizardOfAz]

the Devils strength of schedule is 239th in the country

That's nice considering there are only 332 teams that play Division I basketball.

 

[thirty-two]

That's nice considering there are only 332 teams that play Division I basketball.

where can you find that strength of schedule stuff? i want to see what Marquette's is

 

[WizardOfAz]

i want to see what Marquette's is

Marquette is ranked 46th with a SOS of 223. USA Today updates daily:


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/bkt0405.htm

 

[thirty-two]

Marquette is ranked 46th with a SOS of 223. USA Today updates daily:


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/bkt0405.htm

awesome, thanks! actually not awesome cuz our schedule is easy as hell....

 

[Cland]

I agree our schedule is weak. I don't know anyone who could argue otherwise. But at the same time we have to get another school to agree to play against us. And its not like top 25 teams are itching to play a non-ranked, out of conference team where they have everything to lose and nothing to gain. We need to worry about conference play...then the rest will take care of itself.

 

[WizardOfAz]

And its not like top 25 teams are itching to play a non-ranked, out of conference team

That's a joke right?

If I thought for a second that's who ASU was trying to schedule, I'd let this issue go. They have made such a mockery of scheduling in Tempe, they are actually ducking regional teams that would play them in order to schedule Farligh Dickenson and Delaware State!

 

[Dback Jon]

That's a joke right?

If I thought for a second that's who ASU was trying to schedule, I'd let this issue go. They have made such a mockery of scheduling in Tempe, they are actually ducking regional teams that would play them in order to schedule Farligh Dickenson and Delaware State!

Yup - last time NAU played in Tempe, we won by 20. ASU hasn't played us since.

 

[Cland]

That's a joke right?

If I thought for a second that's who ASU was trying to schedule, I'd let this issue go. They have made such a mockery of scheduling in Tempe, they are actually ducking regional teams that would play them in order to schedule Farligh Dickenson and Delaware State!

Did you even bother reading the article?

Then comes the sobering realization that no one wants to play ASU this time of year because there's absolutely no benefit for higher-profile programs. The game may not be televised - just this weekend, ASU's Tuesday game at Temple was pulled from Fox's lineup - there will be no boost in ticket sales, and a team's strength of schedule index will likely take a hit.

Two years ago, a potential series with Michigan State was killed when television lured the Spartans away, paying them to play UCLA in a nationally televised game. A series with Texas died when Rick Barnes took over the program and promptly erased ASU from the calendar. Nevada-Las Vegas canceled because new coach Lon Kruger doesn't want to play against his son.

"We've contacted everybody, even some of my closest friends in the business," Smith said. "And they tell me no, just like I would if I was in their position. But we've got a series with Iowa locked in, we're really close with Ohio State and we're close with Minnesota. So as frustrating as it is for everyone, and I'm the most frustrated, we're starting to make some progress."

 

[NickelBack]

Yup - last time NAU played in Tempe, we won by 20. ASU hasn't played us since.

What a joke that program has become - dodging NAU!!

 

[Dback Jon]

ASU does have a good game tonight - Santa Clara. Santa Clara is 7-4, and earlier gave North Carolina their only loss.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

ASU does have a good game tonight - Santa Clara. Santa Clara is 7-4, and earlier gave North Carolina their only loss.

ASU should win. Santa Clara was basically playing a home game and beat a North Carolina team that was on it's way to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. That's the epitome of a trap game. And UNC was playing without Ray Felton. But it is going to be funny hearing ASU fans saying nonsense along the lines of "we beat Santa Clara and they beat UNC so we should be ranked."

I think if anyone wants to go to the game, can't you still get in for free with canned goods or something like that?

 

[NickelBack]

Why did this game start at 6:00....certainly it wasn't for TV.

 

[Dback Jon]

ASU should win. Santa Clara was basically playing a home game and beat a North Carolina team that was on it's way to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. That's the epitome of a trap game. And UNC was playing without Ray Felton. But it is going to be funny hearing ASU fans saying nonsense along the lines of "we beat Santa Clara and they beat UNC so we should be ranked."

I think if anyone wants to go to the game, can't you still get in for free with canned goods or something like that?

ASU pulled that one out - let the "ASU is top ten" posting begin

 

[Brian in Mesa]

ASU should win.

And we did.

7 in a row now. Last time we did that was '80-81 season.

Santa Clara beat NC...who cares? They also beat Stanford. That's closer to home. I'm sure it was a trap game or something though. Wouldn't want to give any credit to an ASU opponent...

I know it's early but this is how the Pac-10 looks before Conference play begins...

Washington (12) 0-0 9-1
Arizona St. 0-0 9-1
Oregon 0-0 7-1
Arizona (14) 0-0 8-2
UCLA 0-0 6-2
Oregon St. 0-0 7-3
USC 0-0 6-3
California 0-0 6-3
Stanford 0-0 5-4
Washington St. 0-0 5-4

GO DEVILS !!

 

[sundevilscott]

Did you UA fans not watch the football game in November or the NE, MIA game?

Does ASU have 0 chance to beat UA just like you guys had 0 chance to beat us in football? Stop being a bunch of hypocrits. You should want us to be 11-1 when we come in to Tucson.

 

[Cland]

And we did.

7 in a row now. Last time we did that was '80-81 season.

Its crazy to think we're only one win away from last years total. I wish I could have seen Ike's dunk off the glass from Moore. It sounded like a nice encore to Braxton's dunk against Northwestern.

Late free throws are still are problem though. (And it seems like always have been)

 

[NickelBack]

Did you UA fans not watch the football game in November or the NE, MIA game?

Does ASU have 0 chance to beat UA just like you guys had 0 chance to beat us in football? Stop being a bunch of hypocrits. You should want us to be 11-1 when we come in to Tucson.

The thread was started to call attention to the routinely poor quality of ASU basketball's schedule, not to compare the ASU and U of A programs.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The thread was started to call attention to the routinely poor quality of ASU basketball's schedule, not to compare the ASU and U of A programs.

Oh, okay...this is in the first post...

Not really the same league

Welcome to an Arizona State nightmare. The football team is humiliated. The alumni are seething. And now everyone has to pay attention to basketball season, where the difference between two rivals is again painfully obvious.

While it does go on to explain ASU's weaker non-Conference schedule, it clearly compares the two programs (ASU and UofA) and opens the door for comments on that too.

Just my opinion on the matter.

 

[NickelBack]

Oh, okay...this is in the first post...

If you read the first full page of comments on the subject - your's included - the tone of the thread had nothing to do with comparison. In fact the original article only made mention of it because of the result of last month's football gmae, right?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Did you UA fans not watch the football game in November or the NE, MIA game?

Does ASU have 0 chance to beat UA just like you guys had 0 chance to beat us in football? Stop being a bunch of hypocrits. You should want us to be 11-1 when we come in to Tucson.

Nobody denied the fact that there's a possibility that ASU will beat UofA. You put one of the best players in the country in a game and he can win it against any team no matter how weak his surrounding cast or coaching staff is. I'll admit there's a chance ASU and UA split this year because of UA's streakiness and sometime laziness as well as ASU having Diogu. Then all the ASU fans will say all this nonsense about the gap between the two schools closing and how ASU could take over UA as the premier basketball program in the state.

Then reality will set in. ASU will have a early round loss of a postseason tourney followed by Ike leaving school. Then ASU will be left with nothing but another upcoming losing season, a bad coaching staff, mediocre players, and an athletic department that seems to be pretty apathetic towards it's basketball program. That apathy, currently evidenced by their out-of-conference schedule, has rubbed off on the fans and students of the school and is why ASU will never be a top basketball program under the current administration.

 

[WizardOfAz]

ASU pulled that one out - let the "ASU is top ten" posting begin

After the win, ASU is ranked 52nd in the Sagrin ratings, with a SOS rating of 256th.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/bkt0405.htm

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The Trib had a list of longest recent winning streaks by Pac-10 basketball teams. Stanford was the longest, since they recently ran off 26 in a row, then UofA and another team, I think, at 9, then ASU and a couple of others at 7...and the others with 5 or 6.

 

[sundevilscott]

Nobody denied the fact that there's a possibility that ASU will beat UofA. You put one of the best players in the country in a game and he can win it against any team no matter how weak his surrounding cast or coaching staff is. I'll admit there's a chance ASU and UA split this year because of UA's streakiness and sometime laziness as well as ASU having Diogu. Then all the ASU fans will say all this nonsense about the gap between the two schools closing and how ASU could take over UA as the premier basketball program in the state.

I for one will be a fan that does not think the "Gap is closing" with a split this year. It takes years to close a gap like this. But it would be a start. The comparisons between the BBall and FBall situations is rather funny. ASU is still ahead of UA in the FBall programs no matter what happened in the win this year. We will still be set up to have another good year in '05. M Stoops is starting off strong but he is still 2 to 3 years away. It was a great win for UA but it was still just 1 of 3.

The difference is that UA has been dominant for many many years in BBall and that will take a long time to make up.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Long Island U - they are ranked 274th by Sagrin - even if we win will will be ranked lower after the game - is coming in for the Holiday Tourney...anyone interested?

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Go Devils !! Beat the Cats !!