Blogging with the Devils

The 6-foot-3 Brandon Jennings was rated as the No. 1 guard in the country, but the Arizona recruit has hired a lawyer to explore overseas options if test scores prevent him from going to Tucson.  

Some actual news going on in the college basketball world in late June.

The 2008 Anaheim Classic field has been locked up. Arizona State knew it was a part of this back in April, and the Sun Devils will be joined by the likes of Baylor and St. Mary’s (NCAA tournament teams), Cal State Fullerton, Providence, Charlotte and Wake Forest.

Matchups haven’t been determined yet for the three-day tournament, but it’s a solid non-conference tournament. The schedule will be followed by matchups against San Diego State (No. 82 in final RPI), Pepperdine (No. 204 in a down year), BYU (No. 25) and Nebraska (No. 96), plus a few also-rans.

Remember, though, the Maui Invitational last year had a group featuring Duke and Marquette, but ASU wound up with Illinois and Louisiana State, which didn’t do the Sun Devils favors in strength of schedule.

But the big tidbit for the moment comes from Tucson, where Andy Katz of ESPN.com says Brandon Jennings is looking at playing overseas if Arizona doesn’t pan out. Jennings is the All-American prized recruit of the Wildcats, and while he plans to play at UA and is qualified, red flags went up after he took two standardized tests with widely varied results, so he’ll take a third test and learn its results next week.

Jennings also said he’d likely have gone pro if not for the NBA requirement of either playing one year in college or being 19 years old within the draft’s calendar year.

He’s likely to be this year’s Jerryd Bayless anyway, especially since Chase Budinger will also likely go pro next summer. Still, Arizona believes he’ll qualify and everything will be fine, and though it could set an interesting benchmark of American kids going from high school to Europe to the NBA, my money says he’ll be a Wildcat this fall.

Speaking of age requirements, the National Association of College Basketball Coaches wants to put the collective foot down when it comes to recruiting. USC coach Tim Floyd has been a key figure in this (though hardly the only one), since he’s offered scholarships to at least two 15-year-olds in the past three years. One, Ryan Boatright, chose USC before he knew what high school he’d attend.

This all makes sense for obvious maturation, development and academic reasons. The question is whether coaches will ultimately heed their own preaching.

Kevin O’Neill has found a new home under former Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni in Memphis. Nice to see he found a job (though that wasn’t going to be too tough and he’s always wanted to return to the pros), we’ll see how well he holds up in NBA purgatory.

Russ Pennell is part of Lute Olson’s overhauled staff in Tucson, which meant giving up his Arizona Premier Basketball Academy business and radio gig alongside Tim Healey at ASU. 

Reports of Tucson’s demise have been overexaggerated.

So says Russ Pennell, as I caught up with the affable Arizona assistant and former Arizona State assistant and radio analyst.

He sold his home in Gilbert within 24 hours of putting it on the market, found a place to live in northwest Tucson three days later, and is still working with his children on adjusting to this new phase of life. 

“My daughter says she can’t root for Arizona, that she’s a Sun Devil,” he said. “I told her she’s going to have to learn to change that, because they’re signing dad’s paycheck.”

Contrary to his previous hopes and sentiments, he will be hitting the recruiting roads hard for most of July. His experience and connections through his former business (the Arizona Premier Basketball Academy, now run by his father) shouldn’t go to waste.

“That was wishful thinking,” he said of staying home.

The bridging of trust continues between Lute Olson, his new assistants and his players, as longtime assistant Jim Rosborough, Josh Pastner and Miles Simon have been replaced by former Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap, Pennell and Reggie Geary.

The coaching staff fully expects McDonald’s All-American Brandon Jennings to qualify academically, and in doing so, would give Arizona one of the best starting lineups in the Pac-10, with Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill returning.

He’s seen the Sun Devils’ Ty Abbott and Jeff Pendergraph a couple times this summer, and remains close friends with ASU assistant Dedrique Taylor, so while he’s now engaged on the other side of this bitter feud, he hopes it’s only on the court.

“My relationship with those guys will never change,” Pennell said. “Doesn’t mean we can’t compete against them and try to win, but as people and friends, that will continue.”

Monday was the deadline for college basketball underclassmen who hadn’t signed with an agent to withdraw from the NBA draft and return to school.

As expected, the Pac-10 was hit hard. Such is the price to be paid when you’re a top-three conference in the country with a handful of phenomenal freshmen.

Four of the five first-teamers from last season’s All Pac-10 crew are gone: O.J. Mayo (Southern California), Kevin Love (UCLA), Brook Lopez (Stanford) and Ryan Anderson (California).

The oddball college kid left? Arizona State’s James Harden.

Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless could have been on the first team as well, and he’s gone, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Russell Westbrook left UCLA early.

Chase Budinger stayed a Wildcat. Projected as a late first-round pick with UA coach Lute Olson in his other ear every other day recruiting him to come back, Budinger probably made the right decision. He has a little toughness and consistency to prove in the college game, and the Wildcats have a quality starting lineup returning with Budinger, a healthy point guard Nic Wise, incoming high school All-American guard Brandon Jennings and junior-to-be Jordan Hill in the middle.

After those four … ouch.

Among those who pulled out of the NBA draft and will return to school is Brigham Young guard and and co-Mountain West Conference player of the year Lee Cummard.

Lee Cummard withdrew from the NBA draft last weekend, which means the BYU senior and Mesa native gets a homecoming (sort of) on Dec. 20, when the Cougars and Sun Devils square off at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The former Mesa High star led the Cougars in setting a school-record 27 regular-season wins and a MWC-record 14 league victories.

Lee, a senior-to-be, was the only player in the conference to rank in the top 10 in nine different statistical categories.

He led the Jackrabbits to a state championship in 2004.

As part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Sun Devils’ rematch with Nebraska will be Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo Arena. The tip-off time won’t be determined until late fall.

The basketball team posted a 3.13 grade-point average for the spring semester. Derek Glasser (3.67), Rihards Kuksiks (3.25), Jeff Pendergraph (3.0) and Harden (3.0) led the way.

Former ASU star Eddie House went from forgotten to front-page fodder after Thursday night. This Associated Press photo became a popular choice among Internet sites and sports section covers across the country Friday morning.

Did you turn the channel after the first hour (heck, even 30 minutes) of Thursday night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals?

Hope you turned it back.

The Boston Celtics pulled off an unbelievable 21-point comeback against the Los Angeles Lakers to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history since the organization starting keeping the NBA’s statistics in 1970.

In the middle of it all was Arizona State product and NBA journeyman Eddie House.

It’s been an unremarkable postseason for House. He barely played in the early series against Atlanta and Cleveland, mostly because of Sam Cassell.

That changed Thursday night with 11 points, including a couple of crucial jumpers in the fourth quarter, on a night when the rest of the Celtics launched duds from outside.

House nudged his way back into the picture, and his Thursday exploits became an instant topic during the lull between Games 4 and 5.

Despite the five “DNP — coach’s decision” designations this postseason, 19 total minutes in five games against Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals, and a pair of zeros in the first two games of the NBA Finals, House bided his time, in-part because he’d been there before.

In his 1999-2000 senior season at ASU, House shot 0-for-16 against Brigham Young, and the Sun Devils lost, 78-67.

Following an 11-day holiday break, House scored 37 points in the first half against San Diego State (he finished with 48 points).

Three weeks later came the 61-point night against California in double overtime, part of a stretch in which he averaged 36 points per game for seven games.

A week after the Cal game, he was “held” to 25 points against Washington State. He scored 12 points in the first three minutes before the Cougars used a triangle-and-two defense, in which the “and two” jobs were to guard House.

I’d bet the House he’ll see more playing time on Father’s Day for Game 5. An NBA championship makes for a great gift, one not even his three children can offer.

It’s sounding more and more like it.

The Tucson Citizen covered the gamut in a Q&A with Arizona coach Lute Olson on Thursday. Plenty more, uh, interesting things came out of the most important mouth from down south.

To summarize, he threw former commitments to the wolves and blamed the administration for most of his staff upheavel this spring (since someone of Lute’s clout at the university would have no say in personnel matters. Yeah, right).

His honesty — outside of cutting down current and former coworkers and his boss — is almost refreshing in this generation of cliches and sensitivity to the point of being paranoid.  

Then again, good luck finding a coach who isn’t.

Is he a breath of fresh air? Or losing his grip on reality and accountability?

Doesn’t matter when the inmate runs the asylum. 

Derek Glasser update: The ASU junior-to-be point guard underwent knee surgery last month in an attempt to repair what’s been misaligned since last fall. His father, Michael, said everything is on the up-and-up during this six- to eight-week recovery, and Derek hopes to be off crutches this weekend.

With Josh returning to UCLA for his senior season, the brothers Shipp will meet two more times next season. Jerren (right) is an 0-fer against his older brother, but that could change next winter.

Josh Shipp (older brother of ASU’s Jerren Shipp) will return for his senior season at UCLA. Shipp gives the Bruins three upcoming seniors from the Final Four teams (Shipp, point guard Darren Collison and center Alfred Aboya).

With hip surgeries a regular occurance after each season, Shipp was wise to stay another season. He was a dangerous scorer and adequate defender, but disappeared from the Bruins too long and too often (Kevin Love’s presence was an obvious factor). His NBA stock wasn’t going to get yield much money.

Basketball may be Johnny Coy’s first love, but there’s a good chance it won’t be his only passion when he comes to ASU, as expected.

Incoming Arizona State freshman Johnny Coy is coming to town this summer to begin July classes. Or so it appears.

In addition to his record-setting feats in basketball at Benton High School in Missouri, the 6-foot-7 Coy is an accomplished baseball product.

He didn’t play summer baseball, but after a high school season in which he hit .655 with 13 home runs, 52 RBI and 19 stolen bases, Coy was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the seventh round (226 overall) of last week’s Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Last year’s 226th pick received a signing bonus of $123,000, and the Phillies will likely have to up that ante significantly to pull Coy away from his ASU commitment.

The odds are Coy will come to college.

But here’s another twist:

Johnny’s older brother, Dickie, said the family received a call from ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy on Monday offering Johnny a spot on the ASU baseball team next season, a decision instigated in-part by basketball coach Herb Sendek.

Obviously, playing time on the diamond is no guarantee, and schedules would still have to be worked out in the winter months when the two sports conflict. But Dickie Coy said it could happen.

“That’s the type of coach we’ve signed with,” Dickie Coy said of Sendek. “I don’t know if Johnny would ever give up basketball, but this way, we could get an opportunity to know exactly how good he could be (at baseball).”

Stay tuned.

According to ASUDevils.com, Alex Stepheson is visiting ASU this week. The North Carolina transfer wants to come back west to be closer to family. He averaged 4.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore, and is a solid defender.

Whether he ends up at ASU, UCLA, Stanford or California, he wouldn’t be eligible until 2009-10.

A point guard and three-year captain at San Diego in the late 1990s, Lamont Smith is house-hunting in the East Valley after two years in St. Louis, six years at St. Mary’s and a year at Santa Clara. 

Lamont Smith sells college basketball programs to high schoolers, not housing.

Smith was pegged by Arizona State coach Herb Sendek after Mark Phelps got his first head coaching job at Drake.

For now, Smith is living out of a hotel near campus while he and his wife, Kim, peruse the Chandler/Tempe real estate market for a home.

“It’s mostly my wife,” he said. “I’m a guy. We’re not too picky.” 

He’s also shuttling back and forth between Phoenix and the Bay Area to tie up loose ends and see friends before the recruiting roads are paved in July. 

Smith was the top assistant at Santa Clara last season, and was at St. Mary’s under Randy Bennett for six years after the two worked together at St. Louis under current Washington coach Lorenzo Romar.

Bennett brought Smith out west in 2001 and took over a Gaels team that was 2-27 with an RPI of 363 the year before.

“Not to mention we walked into a facility with no money and had to be creative to get what we wanted to get accomplished,” Smith said. “It was how to be creative and make things work without resources.”

They did, as four years later the Gaels had a school-record 25 wins and were back in the NCAA tournament.

By then, mutual friends had introduced Smith and Sendek. Smith interviewed at ASU 2 1/2 years ago to be an assistant, a job which eventually went to Dedrique Taylor. Smith stayed in touch and heard Sendek had interest again this spring.

This time, no interview was necessary.

“He wanted to have a well-rounded coach, not just a recruiter or X-and-O guy,” Smith said.

He hasn’t met Eric Boateng and only had phone conversations with incoming freshman Johnny Coy. Since coaches are prohibited from working with players this time of year, Smith hasn’t seen any Sun Devils play, but he knows ASU isn’t St. Mary’s circa 2001.

Tuesday was the official groundbreaking ceremony for Arizona State basketball’s Weatherup Center, which will be located between the soccer stadium and the band’s practice field.

The roughly $20 million facility for both hoops teams will house two practice courts (where both the men and women plan to do the vast majority of practices and shootarounds), locker rooms, video rooms, weight rooms, coaches’ offices, etc.

ASU plans to move lock, stock and barrel into this home in April 2009, and is short approximately $5 million in funding, a remarkably small figure given the school’s historic struggles to raise money for previous projects.

ASU will be the sixth Pac-10 school to have a second hoops facility.

The scheduling strains put on basketball and volleyball practice times (volleyball practice will stay at Wells Fargo Arena) will disappear with this facility, since separate courts and facilites mean Herb Sendek’s and Charli Turner Thorne’s teams can practice any time they want.

Remember two years ago, when the Sun Devils had to practice at the Glendale YMCA?  Try selling that during a recruiting visit.

(Last season was an improvement: The Student Recreation Center on campus).

No, there won’t be individual plasma-screen TVs at every locker. Sendek and Turner Thorne had a lot of input in this building, but those tricked-out extras aren’t their style. 

Speaking of scheduling, before the ceremony, Sendek held a casual luncheon with some East Valley media, and among the array of topics and small-talk was his nonconference schedule.

None of this (outside perhaps the Anaheim Classic to begin the season) is set in stone, but here are a few likely nonconference opponents:

The Anaheim tournament currently has ASU, Wake Forest, Texas-El Paso, Baylor, Providence, Cal State Fullerton and UNC-Charlotte on the docket (Arkansas has been wishy-washy on a commitment).

The Sun Devils will play Brigham Young in Glendale as part of the Stadium Shootout on Dec. 20 (Louisville and Minnesota will play the other game). It’s basically a rehearsal showcase in preparation for the 2009 NCAA Tournament regional which will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium.

(By the way, how about the 6 million webs you can weave between Sendek, Louisville coach Rick Pitino and former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, now at Minnesota). 

If the regional goes smoothly, ASU will have basically made its case to host a Final Four in Glendale, as soon as 2012.

The Sun Devils also host Nebraska, face Pepperdine and start a two-year series with San Diego State.

How Sendek fills in the remaining few spots remains to be seen, but it won’t be easy.

It’s almost time. College basketball players not graduating have until April 27 to declare for the NBA draft, but those who don’t sign with an agent have until 10 days before this summer’s draft to withdraw and return to school.

This won’t affect Arizona State directly since James Harden is returning and Jeff Pendergraph said Monday he’s returning to ASU for his senior season, a wise decision.

What could help most is the league’s attrition. Take a look at this season’s all-Pac 10 teams and their status (as of Tuesday evening):

First Team: Ryan Anderson, California (declared without agent), Harden (returning to school), Brook Lopez, Stanford (signed with an agent), Kevin Love, UCLA (declared and about to sign an agent), O.J. Mayo, Southern California (signed with an agent).

Second Team: Jerryd Bayless, Arizona (signed with an agent), Jon Brockman, Washington (returning to school), Darren Collison, UCLA (undecided), Maarty Leunen, Oregon (graduated), Kyle Weaver, Washington State (graduated).

Third Team: Chase Budinger, Arizona (declared without agent), Taj Gibson, USC (returning to school), Derrick Low, Washington State (graduated), Pendergraph (returning to school), Russell Westbrook (declared without agent).

The Pac-10 may not be quite as remarkable next season, but that list has ASU looking good.

In the bigger picture, for every Harden and Pendergraph, however, are a lot more guys on the other side: Mayo, Love, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, etc. They’re (more) ready for the NBA and have every right to take advantage of the payday coming.

Here’s a recent column by Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com, and while it’s nothing that hasn’t been spouted off about for years and years, it’s that time of year to get back on the pulpit.

Seems as though Arizona State basketball assistants keep getting plucked for other jobs, and that’s not a bad thing.

Archie Miller left after one season with ASU for Ohio State, and today it’s longtime assistant Mark Phelps, who’s headed to Drake.

Here’s Sean Keeler’s take from today’s Des Moines (Iowa) Register, and it’s impressive, in this day and age, that there was no rumor mill or message board mongering in either Tempe or Des Moines. Not a whisper of Phelps’ name was mentioned as a candidate in the past week.

Basically, Phelps’ hiring to replace the departed Keno Davis was pretty shocking in both time zones. The ASU connection helped (Drake athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb was a former associate AD in Tempe), but Phelps sealed this job with two terrific interviews, one via phone and the other in person.

Introduced as the new Drake basketball coach on Monday, former Arizona State assistant Mark Phelps called it a “precious opportunity,” but it was a long time coming for the 12-year assistant to Herb Sendek. (Des Moines Register photo) 

Phelps’ departure means ASU coach Herb Sendek has a spot to fill on his staff for a second consecutive summer.

Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson has already mentioned ASU radio analyst Russ Pennell as a possible Lute Olson assistant once Kevin O’Neill officially departs, and no doubt Sendek’s thought the same at ASU.

Pennell was a former assistant under Rob Evans, an AAU coach who knows the high school and AAU scene as well as anyone. He has an excellent relationship with Sendek (Ty Abbott, anyone?) and, given a better opportunity, can coach.

Friendship and high-pressure coaching don’t always mix, so one question is whether Sendek and Pennell would take the chance on mixing the two.

Whether he’s coaching or doing radio, Pennell’s one the Sun Devils don’t want to lose.