Blogging with the Devils

Thought I’d pass along a few other peas and carrots before ASU hits the road for a whopper of a road trip.

The Sun Devils have nine wins against teams ranked in the nation’s top five:

1998: ASU 90, No. 4 Stanford 87 (OT);   1992: ASU 77, No. 5 Arizona 74

1983: ASU 78, No. 4 UCLA 76;  1982: ASU 68, No. 4 Oregon State 60;   1981: No. 5 ASU 87, No. 1 Oregon State 67;

1977: ASU 89, No. 5 San Francisco 70;  1971: ASU 95, No. 3 USC 78;

1965:  ASU 89, No. 3 Michigan 87;   1963: No. 6 ASU 93, No. 5 Wichita State 87.

The conclusion of Saturday night’s game against USC will mark the halfway point of the Pac-10 schedule, and the Sun Devils (4-3) will need a split of this road trip to ensure a winning first half slate for the second time in 13 seasons.

The 2002-2003 team was 5-4 midway through the Pac-10 schedule, then went 6-3 down the stretch and went to the NCAA Tournament.

Before that, ASU had winning records for three straight seasons (1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95). They went to the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and the NIT in the other two campaigns.

UCLA center Kevin Love had it far worse than anyone last weekend when it came to fan behavior, taking the brunt of derrogatory slurs, chants and signs by the Oregon student section. One sign displayed Love’s cell phone number.

Kevin Love (blue) had the last and best laugh against Oregon and its absurd fans with 26 points and 18 rebounds. (photo/L.A. Times).

The Ducks apologized for the bedlam, fueled largely because Love chose UCLA over Oregon (where his father, Stan, played).  The Bruins consider it done, but it was still hard not to feel bad for a 19-year-old guy who wanted to step outside his realm.  College boys will be college boys.

Even more impressive for the Bruins was they played the weekend with two regular contributors out of action, but starting forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (concussion) practiced this week and is expected to play against ASU on Thursday night.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Men's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.