ARIZONA STATE BASKETBALL
UPDATED: MARCH 12, 2023 AT 5:23 PM
Desmond Cambridge Jr. #4 of the Arizona State Sun Devils and Reese Dixon-Waters #2 of the USC Trojans react after the Trojans turned the ball over within the second half of a quarterfinal sport of the Pac-12 basketball event at T-Mobile Arena on March 09, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Arizona State Sun Devils are NCAA Tournament sure for a 3rd time beneath head coach Bobby Hurley.
The Sun Devils will play within the First Four towards Nevada for the No. 11 seed within the West Region after going 22-12 general this season.
The sport is ready for Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. in Dayton, the place the Sun Devils performed in First Four matchups in 2018 and 2019.
TCU is the No. 6 seed and can face the winner of ASU vs. Nevada.
No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 14 Grand Canyon spherical out the block, and Kansas is the highest seed within the area.
Hurley and ASU completed the common season and Pac-12 Tournament with three wins in six video games, two of these over NCAA event groups in Arizona and USC (each Quad 1 victories).
ASU picked up wins over Michigan, VCU, Arizona, USC and Creighton, rating the Sun Devils at No. 66 in NET ranking, a lot to Hurley’s dismay.
“I don’t think for whatever reason we are (given our due), and that’s beyond our control,” Hurley advised Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta in February after ASU’s win over Arizona.
“We went to Brooklyn, across-country to play a top-20 team in Michigan and more than handled our business,” the top coach added. “Then you figure you’re scheduling Creighton, a top-10 team, so you feel like you’re doing your part in terms of building a schedule. I guess we should have had a Big 12 (team) on our schedule. That’s my bad.”
Hurley advised the media after studying the information that he felt ASU was greater than worthy of the choice.
He felt that ASU was taking part in for its season ever since its Northern California highway journey after falling to Oregon on Feb. 4. Arizona State received 4 of its subsequent 5 video games after the defeat.
The Sun Devils completed the season 133rd in KenPom’s adjusted offense and No. 197 in scoring at 70.5 factors per sport. ASU was twenty eighth in KenPom’s adjusted protection.
ASU anxiously awaited on Sunday as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology confirmed the squad because the final group within the Big Dance getting into Selection Sunday. Hurley stated there was chaos at his home when the area was introduced.
“Really excited for the kids, they wanted it badly,” Hurley stated. “I think we put together the type of season that was more than deserving of this opportunity and it was just a lot of joy and happiness in my house today. It was great to see the guys get to celebrate all the work they put in.”
Nevada went 22-10 this season however dropped its last three video games getting into the Big Dance, together with an extra time defeat to San Jose State within the Mountain West quarterfinals.
Its lead scorer this season has been guard Jarod Lucas, who received the convention’s greatest newcomer award, at 17.3 factors per sport. He has expertise towards ASU having performed three years with Oregon State.
ASU starters Desmond Cambridge Jr. and Warren Washington performed two seasons every at Nevada earlier than transferring to the Valley.
Arizona State fell to Syracuse within the First Four in 2018 earlier than getting previous Dayton the next yr towards St. Johns.
