Behind the curve
January 11th, 2008, 5:12 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Apologies for not emptying the vault on Thursday, but I got caught up doing our what-the-heck-let’s-do-it NCAA Tournament story.
Sure it’s mid-January. No, Arizona State doesn’t want any part of tournament talk (there’s a reason I didn’t bother seeking coach Herb Sendek’s thoughts). But with a 3-0 start to the Pac-10 and a week off until the California/Stanford road trip, people are talking.
One other quick note about James Harden (they’ll be fast and furious if he somehow keeps up this level of play):
With 26 points on Wednesday night, he scored 20 points for a fourth consecutive game, which no ASU freshman has ever done, and only two others have accomplished since 2000. Ike Diogu scored 20 in six consecutive games in 2004-05 and Chad Prewitt had four straight in 2001-2002.
Eddie House holds the school record of eight consecutive games in the 1999-2000 season.
Watching was all the Wildcats could do against Harden in the final 25 minutes Wednesday night. His string of 20-point games reached four consecutive. (Ralph Freso/Tribune)
As expected, UCLA and Washington State both won, which leaves a three-way tie in the conference standings (though the Bruins lost Darren Collison during the game to a hip injury). It sets up the first big tilt of Washington State at UCLA on Saturday.
The rankings will come out Monday. ASU will likely be in one poll. They’ll likely take some of Arizona’s previous votes and leap Oklahoma (home to Kansas State on Saturday) and Notre Dame (at Marquette on Saturday) among those who are receiving votes, but losses by Miami (Fla.), and Stanford would also help.
Either way, it looks like the Sun Devils will have an easier time cracking the Associated Press poll than the coaches Poll.
We’ll find out Monday.
