ASU 2007-2008 Men's Basketball Thread

FArting · November 3rd, 2007, 09:18 AM

They start their season against Grand Canyon University at noon. Free parking and free admission.

HooverDam · November 3rd, 2007, 10:03 AM

I'll be there. I wish there was a way the school could've worked it out to show the ASU-Oregon game inside Wells Fargo and kept the concessions open, I'll bet that would've lead to more people coming to the exhibition.

FArting · November 3rd, 2007, 01:39 PM

Anyone know what's the score of the basketball game? I'm hoping my alma mater keeps it close.

Gaddabout · November 4th, 2007, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azsportsfan31

Anyone know what's the score of the basketball game? I'm hoping my alma mater keeps it close.

Oh yeah, that's right. You went to Grand Canyon. My father graduated from there in 1971. My friend graduated from there in the late 80s. Lots of friends there, but all of them in the theology department.

Brian in Mesa · November 4th, 2007, 10:42 AM

Harden scores 19 in debut as Sun Devils beat Grand Canyon 80-53

November 3, 2007

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -

Freshman guard James Harden scored 19 points in his debut for Arizona State as the Sun Devils beat Grand Canyon 80-53 in an exhibition game today.

The 6-foot-4 Harden, from Los Angeles, is the first McDonald's All-American to sign with ASU out of high school since Chris Sandle in 1984.

Harden made both of his 3-point tries in the game and was 9 of 16 from the free-throw line to finish as the only ASU player scoring in double figures.

The Sun Devils built a 36-27 halftime lead and coasted from there.

Rudy Bogan led Grand Canyon with 16 points and Brad Kanis added 10.

HooverDam · November 5th, 2007, 03:38 AM

I went to the exhibition, I'll give you my thoughts:

Herb is still going to run a pretty boring offense, but GCU's is worse. It seems to be built around the point guard and 2 guard passing the ball back and forth to each other between the arc and the circle, until at least one defender gets so bored and annoyed with this tactic that he stops guarding his man.

The best news is, this years Devils squad LOOKS like athletes. Its quite obvious that they are larger, in better shape, et cetera. Harden's going to need to learn how to shoot a free throw, but otherwise it looked pretty good (but certainly not amazing).

I was surprised to see a starting 5 of:

Jamelle McMillan
Ty Abott
James Harden
Jeff Pendergraph
Eric Boateng

I'm fairly certain thats what it was, I thought Glasser still would've been starting and that Christian Polk would've started. Polk didn't seem to play much and didn't get a lot of open looks...I would've like to have seen more of him, I hope he's not worked his way down the rotation.

Kusikis is going to need to get in better shape, he looked pretty frail.

Gaddabout · November 5th, 2007, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HooverDam

I was surprised to see a starting 5 of:

Jamelle McMillan
Ty Abott
James Harden
Jeff Pendergraph
Eric Boateng

I'm fairly certain thats what it was, I thought Glasser still would've been starting and that Christian Polk would've started. Polk didn't seem to play much and didn't get a lot of open looks...I would've like to have seen more of him, I hope he's not worked his way down the rotation.

This is good news to my ears. It means:

1. Polk will have to earn his playing time. That's a good thing. He's got parts of his game he needs to work on.

2. McMillan is adjusting quicker than normal. McMillan and Twi can become a great defensive rotation at PG, while Twi can handle the ball late in games.

3. Glasser can come in shooting and doesn't always HAVE to play PG. He won't always be matched up as a mismatch on defense because ASU's got some size and depth at 2 and 3 now.

I doubt the lineup with Boateng is going to log a lot of minutes. Boateng is almost certain to be a foul machine this year while he gets accustomed to this team and the Pac-10.

Russ Smith · November 5th, 2007, 10:29 AM

How did Boateng look?

HooverDam · November 5th, 2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ Smith

How did Boateng look?

Pretty good, as Gaddabout guessed, he did have a few fouls. If I recall correctly he picked up 2 fairly quickly. He had some very pretty post moves though, and made his foul shots.

FArting · November 7th, 2007, 09:30 AM

ASU plays Western New Mexico tonight at 7pm free admission.

TheKid_1 · November 10th, 2007, 10:49 PM

Why didn't Boateng play vs. WNM?

FArting · November 19th, 2007, 08:31 AM

ASU plays Illinois tonight in the EA Sports Maui Invitational tonight at 9:30 pm on ESPN2. The winner plays Duke vs Princeton.

Russ Smith · November 19th, 2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azsportsfan31

ASU plays Illinois tonight in the EA Sports Maui Invitational tonight at 9:30 pm on ESPN2. The winner plays Duke vs Princeton.

Should be interesting if they get by Illinois they have a shot at taking out Duke because Duke isn't deep or big inside and Pendergraph could give them issues and you know Boateng will be fired up.

Dback Jon · November 19th, 2007, 11:21 AM

Go Illini!!!!

MaoTosiFanClub · November 19th, 2007, 02:07 PM

Illinois sucks and Weber can't coach, they lost to an Canadian college that got blown out by mediocre Arizona and Rhode Island teams for heaven's sake. And just to warn ASU fans of the Illini following, every time they lose the refs are responsible. See Sweet 16 loss to Washington, Title game loss against Carolina, 2001 Elite 8 loss to Arizona, and the list goes on and on.