Corey Hawkins Leaving Sun Devils Basketball Program

Corey Hawkins announced, in what seems to be an offseason trend, that he will transfer from Arizona State, and try to find a school where he can garner more playing time. While it is unknown exactly how big of an impact this will have on the Sun Devil squad, it brings up a bigger issue with the coaching staff and recruiting.

In the past 2 seasons, nearly an entire basketball team has transferred from ASU to other schools. Hawkins joins Brandon Dunson on the list of transfers for 2011, and in 2010 Demetrius Walker, Taylor Rohde, Victor Rudd, and Brandon Thompson all transferred.

This brings up one question. What is Herb promising his recruits and failing to deliver on? Sure, every school will have a few players transfer from time to time as the depth chart gets sorted.

Herb's recruits seem to jump ship even when they are likely to get significant playing time in the future. While this may be a knee-jerk reaction, ASU's athletics department needs to take a serious look into what is going on.

Either Sendek's recruits aren't cut out for Pac-12 basketball to begin with, Herb doesn't play freshman enough, or the players egos are getting in the way of reality. All I know is that it seems like the hot seat might be starting to heat up just a bit.

Without a doubt, Herb deserves a chance to "re-build" this program over the next few years with the current team and committed recruits. He's a highly capable coach that has proven his ability to put together competitive teams at both NC State and ASU.

My biggest concern lies in the lack of adapting to the players and somewhat containing the up and down flow of college basketball. What I see in teams that win national championships is a team that can run and gun, but has the poise to slow the tempo down when needed.

You hardly even notice the coaches direction when watching UNC, Duke, UConn, Kentucky, etc. While this is certainly no call for a new coach, I feel like it's time to put a little more pressure on Herb. We can't afford to step back to where we were 5 years ago.