In case you're interested, I wanted to pass this along to you guys. I've written the SB Nation Pac-10 Tournament preview for the SBNation.com mothership, and I'm hoping many of your will take a few moments to check it out -- for a couple of reasons.

First off, you might learn something. But since I'm aware that you might not, since a lot of you are pretty darn smart and knowledgeable, you should go over there anyway just to see the cool stuff we're doing as a network.

If you've never been over there, the preview is actually the lead story for what's called a "StoryStream." I'll be continuously updating the stream with posts as the tournament advances, meaning that link above will be your one-stop shop for everything related to the conference tournament, including tidbits, game recaps, video, etc.

Updates are shown chronologically, with the most recent ones at the top. (You can also toggle it to show the oldest posts first, because hey, we're like Burger King -- have it your way.) Additionally, you can help me out by clicking the "submit your post" button on the stream to pass tips my way if you find things that you think could be included on the stream.

The best feature, I think, is this: If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to the stream here. The feed will deliver each update I post directly to your reader over the next four days. Pretty cool.

And if you dig it, take a look around the SBNation.com site -- I think you'll especially appreciate the college basketball page.

Last year, we CougCenter.com authors put together our inaugural Pac-10 all-conference awards. As we were working on this year's edition, a thought hit us.

What if we did a fan vote across all the SB Nation Pac-10 sites?

Here's your chance to get your voice heard. After the text is a link to a form you can fill out to submit your votes. It's pretty lengthy, but you have to fill the whole thing out  for your vote to be counted.

Just a few points of clarification.

1. We're asking for your home blog because it might be interesting to see how certain fan bases vote.
2. We're asking for your SB Nation user name because it will hopefully help keep us from getting spammed. Don't worry, we won't share how you voted, unless ...
3. If you leave a comment and we use it on the results post, we'll attribute it to your user name. If you don't want that to happen, don't leave any comments.
4. Base your selections on performance in conference, not the whole year.
5. This is an all-conference team, therefore, you are asked to select players who would actually comprise a basketball team. None of this wishy-washy, best five or 10 players regardless of position crap the actual conference does.

That's about it. We'll post the results on our site next week.

VOTE HERE NOW.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2010/02/17/20100217asu-football-matt-lubick.html

The Arizona State football coach who lured five-star talent Vontaze Burfict to Tempe is leaving.

 

Matt Lubick, ASU's assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator, finalized a multiyear contract Wednesday to accept different positions at Duke University.

Lubick, who also coached defensive backs for ASU the last three seasons, will be Duke's recruiting coordinator, passing game coordinator and receivers coach. Moving eastward affords him the opportunity to have a hands-on role on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, that's just great.  We lost probably the two best recruiters on the staff (Lubick and Yarber).

Things are not looking good for the ASU football team.

Edit: Jeff Metcalfe has some ideas for what DE should do

via forkemsundevils.com

Even this being the second in two down years of Sun Devil football, many of Erickson's Class of 2010 could have a future in the NFL. Let's review who may have a NFL contract in their near future...

Shawn Lauvao (OL) -- Shawn was probably the most consistent lineman the Sun Devils have had in the past three years. In the last three years, he has played every game at different line positions moving between guard and tackle and starting in all, but four. Shawn played 17 games at left guard and 14 games at left tackle showing he can protect any quarterback's blind side. ESPN reported he can bench over 500 pounds and squat over 600. His high bench numbers could entice many coaches and general managers to take a chance and draft him earlier (see Heyward-Bey.)  Shawn, despite his strength, may have to put on ten to fifteen pounds to be in the average for NFL offensive lineman. I projected Shawn at a early sixth round pick and will probably stick with a team in need of versatility and/or plagued by injuries.

Dexter Davis (DE/OLB) -- Going into the 2009 season, Dexter was considered one of the best pass-rushers in the country and a lock to be draft. Now, after a 2009 season, where he went from 11 sacks to 3.5, he'll be lucky to be drafted. Dexter went to the East-West Shrine practices and was torn to shreds by scouts saying he will not be able to play linebacker because of his lack of coverage ability. Without coverage ability, any team with a 3-4 defense will be out of the question as he will be too small to play defensive end in the 3-4 defensive alignment. If he wishes to play defensive end in another 4-3 system, he will have to located the pass-rushing ability he had in 2009. I project Dexter will catch on as a late seventh round pick with a team running the 4-3 willing to try and find that former pass rushing ability.

Chris McGaha (WR) -- Chris has started in every game since 2007, but never put up a stellar season. His highest receiving yards total was in 2007 where he ran up 830 yards and catch a season-high 61 throws. Chris contributed to the Arizona State offense, but never was a true number one receiver, which the NFL thrives on. Against Georgia, Chris vanished in two years straight only catching 6 balls and 41 yards. I project Chris will most likely go undrafted and, hopefully, catch on with team in need of wide receivers.

Travis Goethel (ILB) -- Travis played in all the games in his four year college career. Despite the emergence of freshman Vontaze Burflict at linebacker, Travis still managed to register 57 tackles, only losing 14 tackles from 2008. He is most likely stuck at ILB because of his apparent lack of pass rushing skills (2 sacks at ASU). Travis could play in either a 4-3 or 3-4 at ILB, while he may not be able to play OLB in either. I project Travis to go in the middle seventh round to a team willing to take a chance on a consistent college player.

Dimitri Nance (RB) -- Nance led Arizona State in rushing the last two years, but that does no say very much. In 2008, he only ran for 410 yards and, in 2009, only ran for 795. He is a tough inside runner and would rather lower his shoulder, then spin out of a tackle. In his 2006 and 2008 seasons, his longest rush was only for 17 and 18 yards, which shows he lacks break-out speed. In his career, however, he ran for 19 touchdowns which shows he has a nose for the goal line and could be a goal line specialist in the NFL. I project Dimitri will go undrafted because many teams will not use a draft pick on only a goal line talent.

Thomas Altieri (C) -- Altieri started a total of 22 games over his last two seasons. He replace Mike Pollak after he went to the NFL. Altieri is slightly underweight like Lauvao. He missed two games in his last season which adds a durability question to an already weak portfolio. I project Alteri will go undrafted and will maybe catch on a practice squad.

Disagree? Agree with all your heart? Either way, comment below and give me your own projections. 

This is for a home and home in 2011 and 2012.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/7921/arizona-state-will-play-missouri-in-2001-2012

The home schedule for 2011 is going to be pretty solid.  We will have Utah State, Washington, Missouri, Oregon State, Cal, USC, and U of A.  Thank goodness I get season tickets.  Go Devils!! 

Just in case anyone was wondering the away games for 2011 are Illinois, Oregon, UCLA, Stanford, and Washington St

Check out the new online photo store of Arizona State called www.sundevilphoto.com.   Pass this on to all ASU fans.  Proceeds go back to benefit ASU.  Upload your personal photos and use licensed marks and templates of Arizona State for the first time ever.  Post it to your facebook and let all fans of Sparky know about this site.  There is also a community sharing site to post all of your Arizona State pics.   

People seemed to enjoy the first couple of episodes, so I just wanted to let you know that the third episode of 18 And Life, the Pac-10 hoops podcast, is live. You can find it by clicking here.

Storming The Floor west coast editor Seth Kolloen and I start off discussing the crazy closeness of the conference race, the Sun Devils' resurrection from the dead, and Washington's precipitous fall from grace. We also spend some time honoring the best 6th Men in the conference, break down Ty Abbott's selection as Pac-10 POW -- sorry, we're not pleased -- and wrap up by looking at the three most interesting games of the weekend. (ASU at Oregon makes the cut.)

Perhaps the coolest part of the podcast is our interview with Basketball Prospectus author John Gasaway, who explains the unique way he looks at the game of basketball, whether down cycles in conferences are inevitable, and who some of the up and comers in the Pac-10 are. It's good stuff!

You can listen to the episode via streaming here, or you can visit our site for myriad subscription options. We're also in the iTunes directory -- just search "eighteenandlife" in the iTunes store -- or simply click this link to subscribe in iTunes.

This is probably the last time I'll promote the show through a FanPost; after this, I'll just drop a link in the FanShots every Tuesday when the new episode is live. Thanks for listening.

Putting up this post so we can discuss the upcoming recruiting class, gets updates when we get a new commit, and what anyone is hearing about some of our prospects.  My personal opinion is that this class has the makings to be very good or very poor depending on a few key recruits.  I have noticed that there have been a lot of recruits that have looked and narrowed their decision to ASU and another school and have more often than not chosen the other school. Heres to hoping that DE can do some serious closing in the next couple of months.

Here are the commits we already have:

George Bell, WR - 6-3 with 4.4 40 sounds pretty good to me.  I also heard he used to be a lockdown CB too

Josh Fulton, TE - Not going to be a Miller but anything is better than we saw this year.  Also an in-state guy so I am glad he stayed home.

Kevin Anderson, Mike Willie (JC) and Randy Knust,  WR - All over 6'1" and under 4.5 40

Taylor Walstad, Deantre Lewis, Carl Bradford, and Damian Williams, RB - Dont seem to be gamebreakers but depth is needed.  Walstad is another AZ guy and our first commit.  Bradford is more of a fullback at 6'1" 230

Nduka Onyeali, DE - 6'1" 240 and runs a 4.5-4.6 40.  Just recently named second team high school all american.

Jordan McDonald and Joita Te'i DE - McDonald is a local kid that has good size at 6'4" 215.  Would like to see him redshirt to put on some weight. 

Devan Spann, CB - Playing for one of the best teams in the nation.  Hopefully he can bring his big name teammates this year and next.  There are some huge recuits that would be nice additions to the Sun Devils.

Chris De Armas and Sil Ajawara, OG; Aderious Simmons, Tyler Sulka, and Jamil Douglas, OT - A lot of these kids are big with Simmons and De Armas being teammates at a Cali JUCO.  Douglas and Sulka will need to put on about 20-30 pounds.

Here are the major prospects that would greatly help this program:

Jackson Jeffcoat, DE - I think we might be a long shot at getting him but hopefully he wants to follow in his dad's footsteps. Visited ASU

Hayes Pullard, MLB - He would be a nice pickup since he could start the Crenshaw HS to ASU since we are recruiting about 5 others from their team including the #1 RB in the class of 2011.  Visited ASU

Marquis Flowers, S - AZ kid that would really help this program.  I think he could come in and start right away.  Really hope he becomes a Sun Devil.  Visited ASU

Other pretty big prospect - Eric Dargan - S, Kemonte Bateman -  WR,  James McConico - RB, Soma Vainuku - LB, Kain Colter - QB, and John Cullen - OT.

Hope this gets us started and we should be hearing shortly about some commits coming.  Please update if anyone hears anything new.

People seemed to enjoy the last episode, so I just wanted to let you know that the second episode of 18 And Life, the Pac-10 hoops podcast, is live. You can find it by clicking here.

Storming The Floor west coast editor Seth Kolloen and I start off discussing USC's 2-0 start in the face of a postseason ban and Oregon's 2-0 start (with a huge assist from the refs), but then we move on to ASU's tough trip to Los Angeles, trying to get to the bottom of why ASU struggled in Southern California.

We also catch up with Eugene Register-Guard reporter Adam Jude to talk about the Ducks, and then weigh in on the most interesting games of this weekend -- including the UW/ASU matchup on Friday, which we think is a pretty big contest at this point. We also break down the huge USC at Cal tilt on Saturday. You'll have to listen to find out which team we think that matchup favors.

You can listen to the episode via streaming here, or you can visit our site for myriad subscription options. We're also in the iTunes directory -- just search "eighteenandlife" in the iTunes store -- or simply click this link to subscribe in iTunes.

Hey House of Sparky readers! Just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a new Pac-10 hoops podcast which makes its debut this week, 18 and Life. It's co-hosted by myself (one of the founding editors of SBN brother blog CougCenter) and Seth Kolloen, a freelance writer out of the Seattle area who also is the west coast editor at Storming The Floor, an excellent national college basketball blog.

We're both just college basketball junkies who wanted an outlet for talking about our favorite hoops conference.

In this first episode, we talk about why this should be the most exciting Pac-10 race in years, whether Ernie Kent should be on the hot seat, who the favorites are for player of the year, and more. There's a little something in there for every Pac-10 fan, and we do spend a bit of time breaking down the Sun Devils' chances of winning the conference. Also, Derek Glasser is Seth's dark horse candidate for Pac-10 Player of the Year. Hear why.

If you want to listen to the first episode, you can do so via the player below. If you're interested in subscribing, or just want to set a bookmark, you can find our home page here. You can play this episode and all future ones there. You can also follow us via Twitter @18andLIFEhoops. We're not in the iTunes directory yet, but hope to be soon; if you want to manually add the feed, it's http://eighteenandlife.podbean.com/feed.

And if you like it, do us a favor and spread the word. Thanks!