Send in the Ducks
December 30th, 2007, 2:43 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Arizona State played well against Saint Francis on Saturday afternoon. That can be hard to tell when the Sun Devils are the obviously superior team, but the words, tone and body language of players and coach Herb Sendek were vastly different than after they beat Idaho last week. They were quicker on their feet running at shooters, moved the ball side-to-side and cut down turnovers.
Are they ready for the Pac-10? We’ll find out in a few days. The team said the right things afterward, but even a scuffling Oregon team and Arizona without Jerryd Bayless (for the moment) is a millennium removed from Saint Francis.
They’re counting on freshmen to do a lot, namely be prepared for a huge leap. But the upside is they’ve already responded to making this leap against Lousiana State and Xavier.
“When the Pac-10 starts, it’s like season two,” junior Jeff Pendergraph said. “Everything that happens before it is kind of irrelvant. Guys could have bad games all through nonconference and conference comes, they’re a brand new team. All the (Sports) Ticker and SportsCenter, all that stuff doesn’t even matter, because when Thursday-Saturday comes, it’s go time.”
In talking about the Pac-10, it was mentioned to Sendek that ASU received votes in the past two Associated Press top 25 polls.
His reply: “Obviously, not everyone has seen us play.”
Don’t worry, it was said tongue-in-cheek.
ASU fell at No. 13 Oregon 55-51 last year. The 55 points by the Ducks, the eventual Pac-10 Tournament champion and Elite Eight team, remains the fewest scored by Oregon since a 70-53 loss to UCLA on Feb. 26, 2006, a span of 53 games. The Ducks averaged 75.9 points per game last year, and have pushed it above 80 points per game this season.
Malik Hairston (17 points per game) looks pretty smart in choosing Oregon over Michigan four yearas ago. He leads five Ducks who average double figures. He’s shooting 52.6 percent from the field and from behind the 3-point line. The Ducks are 41 percent from outside as a team.
There a few James Harden-related impressions forthcoming, but I’ll save those for later this week.
Until then, Happy New Year.
