Blogging with the Devils

This little corner of cyberspace was born on June 13, 2007,  the result of Arizona State’s impeding appearance in the College World Series. It has been a year of fun and, on many occasions, frivolity.

We tracked the ever-changing hairstyles of football player Rudy Burgess. We were there when men’s basketball coach Herb Sendek got in touch with his inner cool dude. We ranked the Pac-10 football stadiums, in a list that was lambasted here and on the Web sites it was linked to.

We gave a eulogy for a squirrel during Camp Tontozona. We made a case for vintage football uniforms to honor the 50th birthday of Sun Devil Stadium. We marveled at the quickly-changing Pac-10 men’s basketball landscape. We joined in the ridicule choir after Arizona’s football coach opened his mouth and inserted his foot on signing day.

And we paid homage to a dear, departed friend.

It has all added up to a what, on many weeks, ranks as the second-most visited blog on the Tribune’s Web site, behind Cop Shop. There is no way Mark Heller and I could have made this happen by ourselves.

Thanks to the ASU athletes and coaches whose exploits are so, uh, bloggable.

Thanks to these guys for inspiring the name:

And most of all, thanks, dear readers, to you.

In the very first entry on this blog, I wrote: “In the two years that I’ve been on the ASU beat, I’ve found that no fans, with the possible exception of hardcore baseball seamheads, soak up information as eagerly as college sports followers. I’d be privileged if the blog became part of your daily ASU sports reading routine.”

A year later, the sentiments are the same.

The Arizona State football team getting down to the 85 scholarship players allowed by the NCAA before the start of the 2008 season has been a hot topic since December. Here is a look at how the issue has evolved:

A check of the roster after the Holiday Bowl revealed 64 scholarship players with eligibility remaining. One of those 64 was defensive lineman Tranell Morant, who at that time was expected to petition the NCAA for a sixth season of eligibility. He did not, reducing the number to 63.

Twenty-seven players were signed in February, and another recruit, junior college tight end Stanley Malamala, came in later. Wide receiver Jarrell Barbour is not going to qualify academically, keeping the incoming number at 27, for 90 total.

Three reserves — wide receiver Rodney Glass, defensive lineman Zach Niusulu and linebacker Antone Saulsberry — have since left the program. And on Thursday, it was learned that backup tight end Lance Evbuomwan is departing.

As a result, the Sun Devils are believed to be at 86 scholarship players, barring any other academic casualties among the current roster and recruits scheduled to arrive in the fall.

If a player has to catch up during summer school, his eligibility status might not be known until after ASU begins fall practice on Aug. 4. Summer classes end on Aug. 8, with final grades due four days later.

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.

Arizona State’s two best hitters — good friends who plan to go on vacation together sometime after the season — were involved in a scuffle as the Sun Devils were on the field before Game 3 of the Tempe Super Regional on Monday.

The incident between third baseman Brett Wallace and first baseman Ike Davis, however, was a joke.

The two sold it, as they jawed and pointed to one another while being separated by their teammates, some of whom ended up on the ground in a ruckus that was caught by ESPN cameras.

“We wanted to do it to loosen up the team a little bit and maybe get the other team to think about other things,” Davis said after the game. “It didn’t work, but it was fun.”

The Sun Devils did the same thing – Travis Buck and Jeff Larish were the “combatants” then — before a tournament game against Coastal Carolina in 2005.

The Tempe Super Regional comes down to one game on Monday at Packard Stadium, with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., for a first-round date with Rice, likely on Sunday.

Here are the lineups:

FRESNO STATE (41-29): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, RF Steve Detwiler, 3B Tommy Mendonca, DH Jake Johnson, C Danny Grubb

Right-hander Justin Miller (6-3, 4.62 ERA), who worked 1 2/3 innings of relief on Saturday, is the starting pitcher.

ARIZONA STATE (49-12): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, P/DH Matt Newman, RF Mike Leake, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Newman (1-0, 4.60 ERA) will throw the first ball, but it figures to be pitching-by-committee for both teams.

ANALYSIS: The P/DH designation for Newman enables the Sun Devils to remove him from the game and still keep the designated hitter active. Leake is in the outfield instead of Michael Jones, probably because his hitting numbers are better (a .341 average to Jones’ .172). And you can bet that Leake — who threw 118 pitches on Saturday — will be called on to work an inning or two if needed.

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.

Here are the lineups for Game 2 of the Tempe Super Regional on Sunday at Packard Stadium. If Arizona State wins, its next game would be at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series.

ARIZONA STATE (49-11): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, DH Kiel Roling, C Petey Paramore, RF Matt Newman, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Left-hander Josh Satow (9-3, 4.58 ERA) is aiming for a fourth straight postseason-advancing victory for the Sun Devils. In 2007, he was the winner in the regional clincher against Nebraska and Game 2 of the super regional against Mississippi. Last week, he got the decision in ASU’s 12-0 win against Oklahoma that ended the Tempe Regional.

FRESNO STATE (40-29): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, RF Steve Detwiler, 3B Tommy Mendonca, DH Jake Johnson, C Danny Grubb

Right-hander Clayton Allison (3-5, 3.74 ERA) has the Bulldogs’ season in his hands.

ANALYSIS: No surprises in the Sun Devil lineup, but Roling batting in the No. 5 spot in front of Paramore is a change.

Who is hitting where for the first game of the Tempe Super Regional on Saturday at Packard Stadium:

FRESNO STATE (40-28): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, 3B Tommy Mendonca, C Ryan Overland, RF Steve Detwiler, DH Jordan Ribera

Left-hander Justin Wilson (7-4, 4.17 ERA) is the starting pitcher.

ARIZONA STATE (48-11): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, DH Kiel Roling, CF Michael Jones, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Right-hander Mike Leake (10-2, 3.12 ERA) takes the mound.

ANALYSIS: With a southpaw pitching for Fresno State, left-handed-hitting Matt Newman is benched in favor of Jones, who went 2-for-4 with a home run in the final two games of the Tempe Regional.

Three Arizona State football players — wide receiver Rodney Glass, defensive lineman Zach Niusulu and linebacker Antone Saulsberry — are no longer with the program.

Glass, a converted running back, was sidelined for spring drills due to academics, Niusulu was low on the depth chart at defensive tackle and Saulsberry never found a position home after being recruited as a linebacker, switching to running back, then moving back to LB.

Saulsberry has one year of eligibility remaining, Glass and Niusulu three.

More departures are likely to come, as the Sun Devils must be down to the NCAA limit of 85 scholarship players in the fall.

There are several jersey number changes. Most notably, quarterback Samson Szakacsy is switching to No. 10 so incoming QB Jack Elway can wear the No. 7 that his father, John, donned at Stanford and in the NFL.

Cornerback Omar Bolden goes from No. 32 to No. 3, defensive end Luis Vasquez from No. 97 to No. 49, and receiver Brandon Smith resumes wearing No. 2 after donning No. 9 fro two seasons. In 2006, Smith switched numbers with Sam Keller because the quarterback wanted to honor ASU signee and former high school teammate Angelo Richardson, who was paralyzed in a random shooting the previous spring.