FArting
Lopes Up!
From turnovers to turmoil, there's not much that junior Jeff Pendergraph and senior Antwi Atuahene haven't endured through two years with the men's basketball program at Arizona State.
There's been a coaching change, two losing seasons and only two Pac-10 victories last year. The glass isn't even half full.
Where there was empty frustration, however, there is now some brimming optimism. Some of it is just timing. Everybody is unbeaten on media day, which for the Sun Devils is this afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
But this time Pendergraph and Atuahene are surrounded by incoming talent, a nationally ranked recruiting class. That means expectations.
"I hear talk on campus, and it sounds good to me," Pendergraph said. "It's not like before, when you wouldn't hear anything at all."
The expectations hinge on the arrival of star recruit James Harden, a shooting guard, and center Eric Boateng's eligibility after the Duke transfer sat out last season.
Their impact will be immediate, but it's hard to say what that means in terms of victories. The Sun Devils, who begin practice Friday, are something of a wild card in early Pac-10 projections. Nobody knows what to make of them.
"I think we can be a surprise," said Atuahene, a do-it-all guard who is expected to provide defense, energy and leadership in a variety of roles off the bench and in the locker room. "I think we've got a real good mix of young talent and experience with me, Jeff and Steve Jones. We've learned a lot the last couple of years. It's made us tougher."
The immediate impact figures to come from Pendergraph, who will finally be allowed to move to his natural position, forward, because of the 6-foot-10 Boateng.
Boateng promises to relieve Pendergraph of the double and triple teams that surrounded him through his freshman and sophomore seasons.
"For one thing, it's going to be nice to play with Eric instead of against him like I did in practices all last year," Pendergraph said. "Then, I can get away from the double teams. Eric have an effect all over the floor. In the frontcourt and the backcourt.
"It'll be a little bit of an adjustment for me. I've been working on it. But it'll be surprise, too. People will look over and say: 'You're not there anymore?' "
Not there, or if Pendergraph and Atuahene have their way, at the bottom of the Pac-10 anymore, either.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/1009asubkc-ON.html
ASU's first game is against my alma mater Grand Canyon University. ASU VS GCU will be the only game I will root against ASU.
There's been a coaching change, two losing seasons and only two Pac-10 victories last year. The glass isn't even half full.
Where there was empty frustration, however, there is now some brimming optimism. Some of it is just timing. Everybody is unbeaten on media day, which for the Sun Devils is this afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
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But this time Pendergraph and Atuahene are surrounded by incoming talent, a nationally ranked recruiting class. That means expectations.
"I hear talk on campus, and it sounds good to me," Pendergraph said. "It's not like before, when you wouldn't hear anything at all."
The expectations hinge on the arrival of star recruit James Harden, a shooting guard, and center Eric Boateng's eligibility after the Duke transfer sat out last season.
Their impact will be immediate, but it's hard to say what that means in terms of victories. The Sun Devils, who begin practice Friday, are something of a wild card in early Pac-10 projections. Nobody knows what to make of them.
"I think we can be a surprise," said Atuahene, a do-it-all guard who is expected to provide defense, energy and leadership in a variety of roles off the bench and in the locker room. "I think we've got a real good mix of young talent and experience with me, Jeff and Steve Jones. We've learned a lot the last couple of years. It's made us tougher."
The immediate impact figures to come from Pendergraph, who will finally be allowed to move to his natural position, forward, because of the 6-foot-10 Boateng.
Boateng promises to relieve Pendergraph of the double and triple teams that surrounded him through his freshman and sophomore seasons.
"For one thing, it's going to be nice to play with Eric instead of against him like I did in practices all last year," Pendergraph said. "Then, I can get away from the double teams. Eric have an effect all over the floor. In the frontcourt and the backcourt.
"It'll be a little bit of an adjustment for me. I've been working on it. But it'll be surprise, too. People will look over and say: 'You're not there anymore?' "
Not there, or if Pendergraph and Atuahene have their way, at the bottom of the Pac-10 anymore, either.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/1009asubkc-ON.html
ASU's first game is against my alma mater Grand Canyon University. ASU VS GCU will be the only game I will root against ASU.
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