Blogging with the Devils

The guy on the right (James Harden) is already in mid-season form. The guy on the left (Jeff Pendergraph) is not. He’s lost that scoring feeling, but it’ll come back. At least, it better.

Welcome back to November basketball.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek already gave us a primer on statistics and their relevance earlier this week, but let’s shrug off that notion for a moment.

The Sun Devils are shooting 50 percent as a team, which sounds about right given who they’ve played to this point, yet they’ve taken 17 fewer shots than the opposition, with some rebounding struggles and style of play the two key factors.

Point guards Jamelle McMillan and Derek Glasser are a combined 3-of-17 shooting, and that, along with Jeff Pendergraph’s limited offense early, haven’t helped.

Remember, McMillan has a brand new shot he’s working on, while finger and ribs injuries to Glasser (along with coming back from offseason knee surgery) have been a substantial hindrance.

Pendergraph has been slow out of the gate, though I see no reason for hand-wringing or consternation about his production. He had eight points and nine rebounds through two games last year before busting out for 25 and 10 in game three, but after that he still had a couple slow nights statistically. Plus coach Herb Sendek felt Pendergraph played his best game to date on Sunday, which was five points and six rebounds.

This is also the third different offensive system in three seasons. The motion offense remains the same but there have been alterations within the philosophy, and players say they have more freedom this year than in the past.

“It’s hard right now, just because we’re three games in and it’s a brand new offense for us,” Glasser said. The more experience we have with it the better we’ll get. Last year everything was ‘Do this, go here, we’ve got this play.’ Now we don’t have a set anything. We’ve got two guys in the tunnel (James and Jeff) and they play together and we just work around what they do.”

Coaches were screaming for more player and ball movement during Sunday’s game, and with Harden in the process of posting a career night offensively, there can be a tendency for players to stand around and watch, which should never happen.

“I would hope not,” Sendek said. “Our guys know when he has the ball they have specific places to be and things to do. Our offense isn’t designed to stand and watch James. Their job is to perhaps stand momentarily, but read what the defense is doing and act accordingly.”

So the 30 percent shooting from behind the arc hasn’t helped (even Harden is 2-of-12). Neither has a derth of free throws from Pendergraph and Ty Abbott, a stat built largely on action aggressiveness. Neither has the team’s penchant for allowing offensive rebounding.

“First it’s rebounding the basketball and then getting out on the fast break,” Harden said. “The first two games we really didn’t do that, and we got outrebounded. (Against Pepperdine) we did a better job of rebounding and we got a little more fastbreak points. Even in our sets in half-court we executed it pretty well.”

Breathe deeply. It’s going to take time.

A few other tidbits of randomness:

Though he reported some progress that his left index finger is healing, Glasser will continue to protect it. He’s also been wearing a brace around his mid-section to protect ribs he injured against San Diego State, and he wasn’t cleared by doctors until pratice began this season.

“Other than that, I’m all healthy,” he said. “Once I get there hopefully everything will start turning around.”

The current plan continues for freshmen Johnny Coy and Stephen Rogers to redshirt this season.

The Sun Devils expect a decent contingent on their behalf at the Anaheim Classic later this week, mostly because Harden, Glasser, Pendergraph and Jerren Shipp are from the Los Angeles area.

Thanksgiving will largely go by the wayside for the team because of their 7:30 p.m. tipoff against Charlotte.

“It’s more like Thursday than Thanksgiving for us,” Sendek said. “It’s like ‘Rocky,’ right? For you, it’s Thanksgiving; for me it’s Thursday. We’ll most certainly be thankful and have a grateful heart, but hopefully we’ll also have some really good defensive stops.”

One game reveals very little — and it’s usually long forgotten in about two weeks — but rebounding was a topic of conversation this week around Arizona State basketball team, and not for the better.

On the first possession of Friday night’s opener against Mississippi Valley State, the Delta Devils had four offensive rebounds, and they finished with 14 for the game.

The total difference was 31-25, and though it hardly mattered in the 80-64 final score, players knew to expect an unhappy coach Herb Sendek before they even left the floor.

“You can kind of read his face a little,” junior guard Derek Glasser said. “We knew when the buzzer sounded it wasn’t our best performance and he was going to be pretty upset. We knew we got our butts whooped on the boards and that was a big key for us going into the game because they had 20 offensive rebounds in their scrimmages. It was very evident on the first two possessions. We knew we’d be in for it on the glass.”

Ty Abbott led the Sun Devils with eight rebounds, an encouraging sign from the athletic 6-foot-3 sophomore, but it wasn’t good enough.

Foul trouble early took away the team’s best rebounder in Jeff Pendergraph, and a lot of 3-point shooting led to some wild bounces off the rim, but those were only excuses.

“They sent five guys and we sent two or three, that’s the main thing,” fellow guard Jamelle McMillan said. “Size had nothing to do with it. I think it was a combination of effort and them being a little more desperate because of their size. We couldn’t find bodies to put on people and it’s going to cost us if we play a little better team.”

Size isn’t the team’s strength, though further development by Eric Boateng and freshman Taylor Rohde will help some.

Whether long or short, high off the rim or beneath the basket, the Sun Devils failed to collect.

“There was a garden variety (of missed rebounds),” Sendek said. “There were some to serve every taste.”

A few other bits of randomness to pass along before the 9 p.m. tipoff against San Diego State, the earliest date for an ASU road game in school history:

Glasser suffered an injured finger in practice a couple weeks ago and is wearing a splint on his left hand. He’s missed some practice time with it, and though he got through Friday night’s game, Sendek said it was swollen and hurting on Saturday. He practiced Sunday and it won’t keep him out of games while trying to let it heal, but it is a hindrance.

Tonight’s game at San Diego State can be seen on CBS College Sports (which normally requires a satellite dish) but can be followed via these Internet tubes: http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=mwc&media=90819

The current issue of Post magazine (available on newsstands) has a story about Sendek, Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Minnesota’s Tubby Smith. The three will lead their teams into the Stadium Shootout on Dec. 20 (ASU vs. Brigham Young and Louisville vs. Minnesota). The story traces back the trio’s time together on Kentucky’s staff 20 years ago, with Pitino in charge and Sendek and Smith as assistants.

We’ll find out Wednesday if the spaceship is ready to host more than football.

The official announcement will come down Wednesday morning, but it’s hard to imagine the Valley wouldn’t get one of the five slots to host a Final Four between 2012 and 2016.

Phoenix/Glendale already has an excellent venue in University of Phoenix Stadium, and the surrounding Westgate entertainment complex has been sufficiently built up. Also, this is the only metropolitian area among the 10 finalist cities (the others are Atlanta, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Antonio and St. Louis) that hasn’t hosted one before.

Plus, the weather in late March/early April would help the host/tourist/economic cause.

A group led by Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love, Fiesta Bowl president John Junker and former Suns CEO Jerry Colangelo made its final presentation to the NCAA last week.

That’s a pretty good threesome to be making a sales pitch.

… to be determined within the next 24 hours.

Phoenix St. Mary’s coach David Lopez said Demetrius Walker will decide between Arizona State and Southern California, probably before the week-long early signing period expires Wednesday night.

Walker is a 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard from Los Angeles whose family moved to the Valley late this summer, which means he knows all about James Harden, Derek Glasser, and ASU assistant coaches Scott Pera and Lamont Smith, who spent time in southern California.

Walker gave a verbal commitment to coach Tim Floyd at USC, and hasn’t de-committed. But he has waffled in recent days and took a visit to ASU over the weekend.

Lopez said Walker needs to improve his ball-handling before being considered a true point guard — which could occur in college — as well as his outside shooting.

Still, he’s considered an excellent prospect, one Lopez says is as good as former Knight guard Jerryd Bayless at getting to the basket.

Stay tuned. Something should happen either Tuesday or no later than Wednesday, as Walker doesn’t want to string this process out and have to wait until April’s late-signing period to decide.

In 2.1 seconds, Sean Woods was going to snuff out a growing dynasty and be a burning-bright memory to both Kentucky and college basketball.

Turns out there was too much time, and two coaches who know all too well about how long 2.1 seconds can be, will share the floor together Friday night for the first time since that unforgettable sequence near midnight on March 28, 1992.

Woods is the new coach at Mississippi Valley State, and Herb Sendek runs Arizona State.

Fifteen years ago, Woods was one of the “Unforgettables,” a group of Kentucky seniors in 1992 who had stayed all four years while the school dug itself out of NCAA sanctions. And Sendek was an assistant under Rick Pitino at Kentucky when the Wildcats met dynasty Duke in the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional final at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Jamal Mashburn was Kentucky’s star. Woods was the substance, a quick point guard and tough on-the-ball defender.

“If he was on you, he was on you,” Sendek said of Woods this week. “He was going to be harrassing you all night long.”

So what happens? A scoring spree ensues, and it’s 102-101 in favor of Duke when Woods hits a floater off the backboard from 10 feet over an outstretched Christian Laettner in overtime.

’Twas supposed to be the shot which made Sean Woods a Bluegrass hero, since Duke had to go the length of the court with 2.1 seconds left. Uh-oh …

Kentucky 103, Duke 102 with 2.1 seconds left. Game over.

Or not.

“I drew up the defense upon the next play,” Sendek joked.

We know the rest. The full-court baseball pass, the Laettner catch and turnaround jumper, and his celebration. Hard to blame defense for that one.

… Instead, this is the scene we remember.

Duke 104, Kentucky 103. Final.

Woods finished with 21 points, nine assists and three steals.

“To be in the locker room with those guys after the game, with the emotion and brotherhood which existed at that moment, the unity, it was indescribeable,” Sendek said. “To be part of that was amazing. We were disappointed, certainly, but just to be connected with those guys in that moment and that way was an experience of a lifetime.”

ASU sophomore Jamelle McMillan (left) pledges to get further off the ground on his shot to gain more consistency and avoid the likes of Southern California’s Taj Gibson blocking them.

There’s no need to do a double-take tonight when Arizona State’s Jamelle McMillan puts up his first shot of the season sometime Friday against Mississippi Valley State. He still wears No. 10, still has the shaved head, still a bit over 6 feet, 180 pounds.

You’re probably going to see a different shot, however. A “set” shooter for most of his life (feet stay on the floor with a sort of heave upward from his chest), the sophomore has converted himself into a jump shooter, which means he’ll elevate further off the ground and release the ball upward.

It’s an enormous overhaul which required copious amounts of time, repetition and strength.

This renovation idea was originally floated by former assistant Mark Phelps (now the head coach at Drake) and after a season of shooting struggles (40 percent from the floor, 35 percent from outside) and inconsistency, McMillan underwent shooting surgery.

His routine was 500 shots or so during pickup games, plus another few hundred shots on his own.

In addition to his Olympics trip to China, McMillan spent a lot of time with family back in Portland and played hoops with an NBA ball (bigger and heavier) against NBA players such as Luke Ridnour and Michael Dickerson. They were bigger, quicker guys who forced McMillan to have a hot release and elevate to shoot over them.

“I shot the right shot in mid-range game, but the 3-pointer I was standing there launching them,” he said. “(The problem) has been there, I just hadn’t taken it to heart. I really got a lot of reps up and so far it feels really good.”

A few other bits of randomness:

The Sun Devils are relatively healthy. Jeff Pendergraph sat out one of the team’s closed scrimmages while he recovers from a bone bruise in his back, which he said was the result of being landed on by freshman Taylor Rohde. He also missed some practice with a sore quad.

James Harden knicked up his foot during last Saturday’s scrimmage but Sendek said he’s fine, plus the team has dealt with a few bouts of food poisoning. Everyone should be good to go.

Coach Herb Sendek, doing his best management manuevering of expectations and win totals (must have learned it during undergrad at Carnegie-Mellon):  “Sometimes, no matter what your business is, progress isn’t linear. Sometimes in sports we get tempted into think that you always play better the next day, always play better the next game, the next year is automatically better than the previous year. Progress isn’t like that in most endeavors in life. You take a step back to take two forward sometimes. Just like in business. Every quarter you don’t make more money than the year before.”

ESPN writer Dana O’Neill wrote a Who’s Hot, Who’s Not column this week. Sun Devil fans may enjoy that more than Arizona fans.

This Sports Illustrated cover will appear on newsstands en masse on Wednesday. It’s one of six being printed regionally through the country.

The nation’s premier sports magazine is doing a “double” themed college basketball preview this season, featuring standouts from the men’s and women’s team at their respective schools.

Rumor has it James Harden is pretty good, and similar rumors also suggest Briann January is pretty good, too.

The magazine has Arizona State’s men ranked No. 16 and the women at No. 15.

The other cover pairs: Rashanda McCants and Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, Ashley Barlow and Kyle McAlarney of Notre Dame, Courtney Paris and Blake Griffin of Oklahoma, Shavonte Zellous and DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh and Maya Moore and Hasheem Thabeet of Connecticut.

There’s not a grandiose amount to report coming from Arizona State basketball land, where the Sun Devils are grinding through practices (a few at the crack of dawn) in preparation for the Nov. 14 season opener against Mississippi Valley State, but here are points of (possible) interest:

To exactly no one’s surprise, James Harden was among 50 preseason candidates named for the John Wooden award, given at the end of the year to, essentially, the best player in the country (and being an upstanding person off the court helps the cause as well).

Harden is the only ASU player on the list, and is joined by fellow Pac-10 players Jon Brockman (Washington), Chase Budinger (Arizona), Darren Collison (UCLA) and Taj Gibson (Southern California).

It’s not the end-all, be-all. Players deemed worthy can be added in January, and the official ballot is cast in March. The winner is determined during the NCAA Tournament.

There are several radio conflicts on KTAR (620 AM) between ASU, the Suns and Cardinals this month, so here’s what we know thus far:

(All of these games are on television – either an ESPN channel or FSN Arizona — except the Nov. 18 tilt against San Diego State on CBS College Sports, which around here is only found on DirecTV or satellite dish).

Nov. 14 vs. Mississippi Valley State, KMVP (860 AM)

Nov. 18 at San Diego State,  KTAR (620 AM)

Nov. 23 vs. Pepperdine,  KMVP (860 AM)

Nov. 27 vs. Charlotte (76 Classic):  KMVP (860 AM)

Nov. 28 vs. Providence or Baylor (76 Classic):  KMVP (860 AM)

Nov. 30 vs. TBD (76 Classic):  KMVP (860 AM)

The Sun Devils had a top-secret scrimmage against New Mexico last weekend. NCAA rules prohibit schools from revealing dates or times, keeping score, charting stats, or otherwise acknowledging its existence publicly.

The Sun Devils will scrimmage again, against Nevada-Las Vegas. And that’s the most information anyone has. Nobody besides coaches or players are allowed inside during the scrimmage. Nobody.

I’m not a betting man (you need money for that), but betonline.com has ASU has an early 50-1 long shot to win the 2009 NCAA championship.  Unshockingly, North Carolina (9-4) is the heavy favorite among the preseason top 25 teams (based on the Associated Press poll), followed by Duke (10-1), UCLA (12-1), Michigan State (20-1), Georgetown, Memphis and Kansas (all at 25-1).

Somebody (Sports Illustrated writer S.L. Price) didn’t read the brother-in-law’s scouting report (below) on Barack Obama. Oregon State coach Craig Robinson knows why you make the presidential candidate go right.

Just hanging out in Los Angeles for the day (a loooooong day), but before I catch a flight back to Phoenix let’s empty the vault of randomness from today’s Pac-10 basketball media day.

Arizona State was supposed to have Jeff Pendergraph and James Harden in attendance Thursday, and how would that have been for league-wide respect of Herb Sendek’s program? Not even UCLA in the last few years had two players in attendance.

Except the duo didn’t make it.

Fog led to massive delays between Phoenix and L.A. on Wednesday night. They were with Sendek at the airport waiting to leave for three hours, but as the hour grew later and later, the prospect of missing study time (Pendergraph has a mid-term in the next day or so) and the team’s 5 a.m. wake-up call on Saturday looming (Pendergraph thought about coming over to L.A. early Thursday morning), it wasn’t worth the trip.

So the players ultimately stayed behind. Sendek said he arrived in L.A. after midnight on Wednesday night, three hours late.

Pendergraph enjoys these media functions because he used to get decent food, out of class, and can gab and schmooze with the best of them. Harden, though, shouldn’t feel like he missed anything special.

Former Mesa Mountain View standout Harper Kamp has had a rough go to begin his sophomore season at California. New Golden Bears coach Mike Montgomery said Kamp struggled with knee problems last season, playing in pain.

An aggressive rehabilitation program in spring and summer didn’t work, and Kamp was forced to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery to clean out loose debris and cartilege.

When full squad workouts started two weeks ago, Kamp was in pain again after three practices.

“It’s still been a problem,” Montgomery said. “It acted up, and that happens after surgery, but it happened quicker than we hoped. He’s real discouraged but we need him. He’s an important part of our program.”

Speaking of Montgomery, he recruited Washington coach Lorenzo Romar to come play at Montana early in Montgomery’s coaching career. Romar wound up at Washington for two seasons, but he spoke of a recruiting letter his mother still has from Montgomery, circa 1977.

“I’ve always been a lousy recruiter,” Montgomery joked as he walked out of the room.

Russ Pennell, on Kamp’s former Toros teammate Brandon Lavender: “I’ve been pleased. He knows how to play and make shot. I think he can help.”

Washington State has had consecutive 26-win seasons under Tony Bennett, including a trip to the Sweet Sixteen last spring, but while the Cougars return three starters, they also have nine freshmen (two redshirted) on the roster, believed to be the most newbies of any Division I school.

Basketball scouting report on Barack Obama, courtesy of Oregon State coach and brother-in-law Craig Robinson: “I can give you a scouting report. I can also make a comment on his judgement: We’ve never played one-on-one, so he knows exactly what he’s doing. Eighty-five to 90 percent of the world are pickup players, not college or pro or European, just average run-of-the-mill playgrounders.

“He could play pickup with just about any of them. Left-handed – and a true lefty, not one of those who’s better going to his right. If you make him go right he’ll stop and shoot. He has a very good outside shot, wiry strong, and he knows the game, which makes it fun. A very high basketball IQ.”

A couple of weeks ago, I promised to divulge my Pac-10 preseason basketball ballot upon its return to the league office, so here it is:

1. UCLA — A couple of veterans return (notably Darren Collison) with a top-three recruiting class.

2. Southern California — O.J. Mayo are Devon Jefferson are gone, but Daniel Hackett, Dwight Lewis and Taj Gibson return, plus freshman DeMar DeRozan has already turned heads. 

3. Arizona State — The top seven scorers return. The key will be staying healthy and getting Eric Boateng to progress a little more. Also, who amongst Ty Abbott, Rihards Kuksiks and Derek Glasser will become consistent offensive threats?

4. Washington — A situation similar to ASU’s in that nearly everyone returns. The Huskies have Jon Brockman in the middle, but have still underachieved the last couple years. Methinks that will finally change.

5. Washington State — Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low left, leaving Taylor Rochestie, Daven Harmeling and big man Aron Baynes to lead this team. Tony Bennett’s coaching style means that the Cougars will be in almost every game.

6. Arizona — Fair or not, the circus surrounding Lute Olson leaving is a big distraction (witness Kevin O’Neill last season). A terrific trio returns in Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill, but there’s not much behind them, and defense will again be a problem.

7. Oregon — The Ducks lost a bevy of seniors, but point guard Tajuan Porter returns, a promising freshmen class is in, and a couple players (Kamyron Brown and LeKendric Longmire) emerged late in the season.

8. California — Until Olson’s departure, Mike Montgomery going from Stanford to Cal was the biggest preseason story. He replaces the fired Ben Braun (who I’m sad to see gone, having dealt with him many times between the Pac-10 and Mid-American Conference). Lots of veterans return (Harper Kamp, Jamal Boykin, Jordan Wiles, Jerome Randle), but leading scorer and rebounder Ryan Anderson does not.

9. Stanford — No more Lopez twins (Robin and Brook) has the rest of the league happy. Anthony Goods, Lawrence Hill and Mitch Johnson are a solid trio for new coach Johnny Dawkins, but there’s precious little experience behind them.

10. Oregon State — It’s going to be a while before new coach Craig Robinson (presidential candidate Barack Obama’s brother-in-law) has a chance to make an imprint. There is no economic stimulus package that can help in Corvallis this season.

Pac-10 media day is in Los Angeles on Thursday, so if not before then, we’ll check in this space again.