With another Arizona Basketball destruction of ASU in it’s rearview it’s time to examine why there is such a huge gap between both programs.
Observe Arizona Coach Tommy Lloyd. You’ll witness cool, calm and a man who appears to have a master plan.
Look at Arizona State Coach Bobby Hurley. You’ll see desperation and a lack of vision.
When looking at the inherent attributes surrounding the Arizona and Arizona State basketball programs, there is no reason that Arizona State shouldn’t be, at the least, a bit more competitive.
The city of Phoenix has historically produced much better basketball players. Granted, generally the good Phoenix natives choose to play in Tucson.
The names are among the best in UA history. (Bibby, Jefferson Frye, Bayless etc.)
And with the proliferation of the Phoenix prep hoops scene, many of the best players in the country now reside in Phoenix.
To boot, ASU has arguably produced better high level pros and certainly one that resonates more with the youth like James Harden.
But, in sports it’s generally about the coach. And from 1984-2007 Arizona had one of the top 15 coaches in college basketball history in Lute Olson.
But unlike schools like UNLV or Georgetown, programs that were essentially a one coach school, the hire of Sean Miller and now Tommy Lloyd has made Arizona a program.
Say what you want about Sean Miller but for a five year stretch under his guidance Arizona was a national power at the highest level. And Tommy Lloyd, albeit one season in, has Arizona ranked fourth in the country.
ASU has experienced success in basketball, highlighted by the Ned Wulk teams of the mid 1970’s and early 80’s.
Wulk was a disciplinarian with a strong basketball acumen who knew how to put a staff together that could relate to and help him recruit players.
And that is exactly what happened in Tempe in 1982 with an ASU team that finished the season 24-4 and ranked third in the nation.
ASU hoops swag returned a bit in the mid-1990’s with a fun style led by Bill Frieder. Quirky, but armed with a flamboyance, Frieder developed a powerhouse at the University of Michigan before tripping to the Desert.
And while a point shaving scandal involving two of his best players derailed everything, Freider showed that he could bring in talent like Stevin “Hedake” Smith, Mario Bennett, Ron Riley and Jeremy Veal to town.
These were ASU teams that even vintage Olson-era teams had to take very seriously. And if they didn’t take the Sun Devils seriously they would lose.
Since the Frieder era, the Sun Devils, under Rob Evans and Herb Sendek brought in the likes of all Americans like big man Ike Diogo and wing James Harden but those teams were wasted by stale coaching and non competitive surrounding rosters.
Certainly a stark contrast from the current Hurley regime, which has brought in talent but has wasted it with little coaching or structure.
ASU basketball will never approach the status that is Arizona Basketball. But there is no reason that a program with the built in advantages that ASU possesses shouldn’t at least be a consistent NCAA tournament team.
But first the program must hire a coach befitting such expectations. The guess here is, unlike the current Arizona administration,this ASU administration isn’t up the task.
