At the end of the 2011 Sun Devil Basketball season, it seemed like Ty Abbott passed the torch to Trent Lockett to take over the team. When the 2012 season kicked off, it seemed like there was no clear leader on the team aside from Coach Herb Sendek.

Keala King and Chris Colvin, a community college transfer, shared minutes at the point guard position. As the season progressed King got more and more minutes and seemed to assume the role of team leader. The tide quickly changed from the team being Lockett's to King's.

On January 8th, King was dismissed for the team. Sendek told the media King was dismissed for "unacceptable conduct." King averaged 13.7 PPG as the teams leading scorer.

As an ASU Basketball fan watching during the 2012 season, it seemed as if Lockett relinquished his leadership to King. The team didn't seem the same. With King at the helm there was more of driving to the basket than passing the ball. When I watched King at the point, he reminded me of Kobe on the floor as a volume scorer that needed the ball. However, in a system where points don't come easy, King's style of play didn't fit.

Since King's dismissal, the Devils have only played visiting Oregon and the style of play seems to be different. Lockett is now playing point and the offense runs through him. It looks as if the team has rallied around Lockett even after losing a key player like King.

This is not an article bashing Keala King in the slightest. He is a great talent that will fit into some system that isn't ASU's. I'm just saying that this could be a pivotal point in the Devils season and future with this quick turn around in leadership.

Only time will tell how the Sun Devils will adapt to Lockett reassuming the leader role. Time will also tell what happens to Keala King, but one thing is certain, everyone at ASU wished him the best.

Michael Crow is the genius in all of this. If Graham tanks (and I'm inclined to think he'll go 4 years and out), Crow can fire Love and blame her for this horrible hire. If Graham gets the job done, Crow will say, in some subtle ways, that he was the force behind hiring Graham. However, I think Love gets canned and we endure a couple of 5-7 seasons along with a couple of 7-5 seasons.

Hello,

I just wanted to stop by and congratulate you Arizona State football fans on the successful coaching hire of Todd Graham away from Pittsburgh. While I will, of course, be rooting against ASU, both the Pac-12 and the Territorial Cup rivalry are improved by good ASU and U of A teams. Good luck next season and beyond, and I hope the rivalry is as fiery as ever next year!

Signed,

A friendly visiting Wildcat fan

Opponent's Name: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks

Conference: Big Sky

(Interim) Head Coach: Dave Brown

Record before matchup: 3-7

Player to watch out for: James Douglas, the only NAU double digit scorer.

The Lowdown (this is where i fill in the opponent's storyline so far in this season and last season. Also highlight players and stats)

Under Mike Adras, NAU has usually been one of the better Big Sky teams for the past decade. But Adras' tenure has ended with a thud, as seen by the 8-19 and 14-14 record in 08-09 and 09-10 seasons. The Lumberjacks rallied to 19-13 last season, thanks in large part to super-scorer Cameron Jones.

With Jones and Shane Johannsen (who led the nation in FG% for two seasons) now gone, this was supposed to be more of a transition year for the club. But things were even more difficult when Gabe Rogers, the leading returning scorer, was sidelined for the early portion of the season due to injury.

Not surprisingly, NAU came out of the gate sluggishly, starting 2-7 (wins were all against non DI teams), eventually leading to Adras' resignation. Under new coach Dave Brown, the Lumberjacks beat their first DI opponent of the season (CA State Bakersfield), but the team has a lot of work to do before it could even think about challenging the Big Sky.

As stated before, NAU will rely on Freshman James Douglas to put the ball in the basket. He's a lights-out shooter with a 6-0 frame.

Poll

Who will be the player of the game?

45%

Trent Lockett

5 votes

45%

Keala King

5 votes

0%

Carrick Felix

0 votes

9%

Other

1 votes

11 votes | Poll has closed

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Jim Leavitt has my vote--seems like we would get both O & D and high energy! He put USF on the map..be nice to see ASU back on any map! Bottom line, before we lose any more recruits we need to nail someone down by Saturday night and have a Press Conference Sunday. Let's get it on ASU! (Tressel still my #1 preference 106 22 take out 12 vacated wins & 94 22--do the math...)

Opponent: Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Head Coach: Doug Wojcik (Woe-chic), 7th season

Last season: 19-13, 11-5 in C-USA, tied for 2nd

Key Player to Watch: Jordan Clarkson, sophomore sparkplug who's now the primary threat of the Golden Hurricane

Tulsa has never been in the NCAA Tournament in Doug Wojcik's head coaching career, but NEVER count Tulsa out. This is a very consistent basketball program which has been a force in C-USA for quite some time. Last year, Tulsa lost post Jerome Jordan (NBA draft pick) and Ben Uzoh, and Tulsa was still in the thick of the race, tying for second in the conference. Goes to show how consistent the team is.

This season, Tulsa loses their primary scoring threat, Justin Hurtt, but so far the GH is in relatively good shape. Their 3 losses come from Northwestern (Charleston Classic semis, i believe), Saint Joseph and MO State, which isn't too bad, but they haven't done much in the non-conference schedule to begin with (all wins against mid majors or low majors).

Tulsa has solid, though not great players, in their positions. The closest thing to an all-conference player is Jordan Clarkson, who's originally a sparkplug off the bench and is now the primary scorer (15 points, 5 boards a game). Joining him in the backcourt is Scottie Haralson, who's more of a lights out shooter from 3 (around 12 ppg).

Up front, there's Steven Idlet anchoring the post, averaging 10 points and 6 boards a contest. There's also Kodi Maduek, who averages close to 9 points a game and paces the GH with almost 8 boards a game. Another rebounding machine is DJ Magley, who only scores over 5 points a game but gobbles up 6 boards a game.

Other players who play some contributing minutes include Eric McClellan (5 ppg), Tim Peete (4.1 ppg) and Joe Richard (3.3 ppg).

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Ed note: This post was bumped to the front page because it was well-written. Great job! -Cory

Dennis Erickson is the head coach for the Arizona State University Football team. He came to the university with two national titles and a storied past that gave ASU hopes that he could work his magic in Tempe. However, he was only able to put together a winning season once out of five years. Erickson has been told by the university that he will not return for the 2012 season, but will get to coach in the bowl game.

In his first season, 2007, Erickson guided the team to a 10-3 record and a berth into the Holiday Bowl only to lose. After the first year it was all down hill, the team did not have an above .500 record for four years in a row. Erickson has a 31-29 record over these five seasons.

The 2011 season was probably the most disappointing to ASU fans. The university nabbed a partnership with Nike to bring all new uniforms and ad campaigns to the school with the mantra of ‘It’s Time.’ The team only lost four players to graduation, leaving veteran experience galore. There were 27 seniors on this team. That’s enough to have seniors on the field at all times. Teams that have 27 seniors don’t end up 6-6.

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Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Conference: ACC

Head Coach: Jeff Bzdelik (Buzz-Delik)

Last Season: 8-24 (1-15 in conference)

Player to watch: Travis McKie, the leading scorer and key piece since freshman year

I've watched this Wake Forest team quite a bit this year. While they played against sub-par competition so far they seemed to be a but better as a whole. Their returners got better, and they have some solid contributions from a good freshman class. However, they are not all the way back yet, as they lost to Dayton yesterday, and I am pretty sure that they will still be stuggling in the rugged ACC. 

So far, Wake is off to a good start, thanks in large part to Travis Mckie, the face up four man who's built on his great freshman campaign and is who capable of making an All-ACC team if his team starts winning. He's a gifted scorer on the low block and in the high post, and can even step out and shoot the 3. He will be a matchup nightmare for us because ASU has nobody that is tall enough, quick enough and strong enough to properly match up with him. 

Another player to watch up for is CJ Harris, who is averaging 20 points per contest and shooting 50% from 3 land. He's a marksman who's not too shabby when forced to go to the hole. The only weakness he has is his 67% free throw percentage, which is not indicative of his real skill (over 80% in 2 years). 

Beyond these two the next 3 players are pretty solid: Tony Chennault is a freshman who's leading the team in assists (3 per game, to go along with 13 points). Chase Fischer showed that he is a deadeye, thanks to his performance against Dayton, and the middle is anchored by Nikita Mescheriakov (8.5 ppg, transferred from Georgetown two years ago)

My take:

Wake has a good core but has little around it. OUt of their 9 players that saw action, 6 of them played over 26 minutes per game. ASU must capitalize that lack of depth by driving hard to the basket and getting Wake into foul trouble. There's no way Coach Bzdelik will risk getting a key piece fouled out of the game early. 

Wake has a good offense but has struggles defensively, and that is seen with the loss against Dayton. The Flyers shot over 47% from the floor and had a lot of wide open looks from 3 point land. 

It's interesting to see how ASU will handle McKie and Harris. I suggest giving Mckie different looks but assigning different defenders at a time. We can start with maybe Carrick Felix and then work our way out from there if it doesn't work. Maybe more importantly, we must deny him the ball. We need to stop Harris from heading towards the basket and to the free throw line, but we must put a hand up whenever he takes a long range shot, because he will make some. Watch out for Fischer, he can also get hot from the outside. All and all, I am worried about using a matchup zone, because Wake will be content to fire away from long distance and will make some of those shots. Man-to-man seems like a better option. 

Regardless, Wake Forest under Jeff Bzdelik will play a Princeton-like offense, meaning that they will make reads off of the defense and react from them. ASU must be careful about the quick play actions and the infamous backdoor cut. Communicate on defense at all times.

I actually have faith that ASU will stop Wake because we did so against a better Fairfield team. As bad as that game was, we only allowed Rakim Sanders to have a good game (albeit an inefficient one). We limited the Stags to a low percantage from the field, we are one freebie short of matching them in the free throw department, and we matched Olander basket for basket (11 points to 9). Our huge problem was the turnovers (22, tied for most in the Sendek era). We need to shore up the offense, make crisp passes and AVOID TURNOVERS. 

Speaking of offense, we need someone who can score aside from Lockett. King and Felix look like good candidates, but I am interested to see if James Bachynski can repeat the performance (9 points, 4-4 shooting) against Wake. If he can, give him the ball. If he can do something like what he did against Wake, the Devs have an extra weapon, but more importantly James will open up the floor for everybody else. 

Well, that's all I have to say about this game. GO DEVS

Who's who

Opponent's name: Fairfield Stags

Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (in his 1st season)

Last Season Record: 25-8 (16-4 in conference)

Went to the NIT and lost in the second round

Key Player to Fear: Rakim Sanders (almost 19ppg so far)

The last two seasons had the Stags on a tear. They won 20+ games and had postseason tournaments outside the NCAA (first the CBI and then the NIT). With their coach Ed Cooley taking the Providence job, Sydney Johnson, the passionate Princeton coach who almost upset Kentucky last year in the NCAAs, comes in and try to continue the momentum and sustain Fairfield as one of the premier mid-majors in the country, just a step below Xavier, Gonzaga and Butler. 

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After watching ASU basketball fall to Pepperdine in Wells Fargo Arena on 11/16/11 the guys record Episode 3 of the Kip and Kev Sports Experience. It gets feisty in episode 3 with discussions between the two about the latest on the Penn State scandal, including Joe Paterno’s legacy and ASU’s disappointing loss in Pullman. The guys go deep into the future of the ASU Football program and Dennis Erickson’s job security. As always a NEW SPORTS FAN RULE is explained and picks are made for this weekend’s football games. No Pity for the Kitty!

http://kipandkev.blogspot.com/