Sun Devil Slump: What's Stopping ASU In 2011?
by Cory Williams on Feb 1, 2011 12:25 AM MST
in ASU Basketball
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PrintArizona State has had a very tough season, going 1-8 on their first round through the Pac-10 round-robin schedule. This past weekend was particularly brutal, losing to USC and UCLA by a total of three points.
There have been several reasons for this losing streak, one being that the offense is stagnant. Jamelle McMillan has been haunted by a groin injury for the entire season, and it shows at inopportune times. Ty Abbott and Rihards Kuksiks have been inconsistent with their long range shooting, and without a strong post presence this team cannot afford to shoot a low percentage from beyond the arc.
On top of that, ASU was dreadful from the free throw line this past weekend. ASU made 12 out of 25 attempts in their two point loss to USC, and improved to a putrid 15 of 24 in their one point loss to UCLA. Making 27 out of 49 free throws is an average of 55.1% and is a recipe for disaster for a young team. You can try to blame Jordan Bachynski, who only made 6 of his 14 attempts during this homestand, but it shouldn't come down to that.
As a Sun Devil fan, this losing streak truly hurts my feelings. These guys are really playing hard and to lose by such close margins is a backbreaking blow to this program. While 1-8 was the record during the first swing, there is always a real possibility of improving to 6-3 on the second go-around. And that's all we have left to cheer for - a .500 regular season and a shot at the CBI. Go Devils!
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Not too surprised; we should have seen this coming
While watching ASU become the first (?) team in Pac-10 history to go from second to last in one season I think to myself, “I’m not surprised.” Simply put, the talent just isn’t on this team, and this lies solely at the feet of Sendek.
In five years he has recruited one exceptional player – James Harden – and a whole lot of serviceable players. He ran off an entire recruiting class – these were his recruits and he decided that they weren’t fit for the program. He runs an offense that most players boring, which limits who is going to be interested in the program. And for all teh talk about his discipline, his players are horrible at the free throw line. A disciplined coach would have the team shooting 100s of free throws and be demanding much more than he is getting.
While I didn’t think the fall would be this fast nobody should be terribly surprised about what they are seeing.
Great comments
Especially the one about the lost recruiting class. That made NO sense. It’s not like those guys were recruited by another staff.
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