NIT Tip-Off Tournament field announced

ASU is one of four regional hosts for the NIT pre-season tournament. Full bracket (PDF) here. Would be nice to see the hoops team at Madison Square Garden for Thanksgiving.

Clearing the archives -- hoops edition

As we continue to retire the archives, today's selection features a recap of the roller-coaster ride that was ASU hoops from the mid '90s to the mid '00s.

The Bill Frieder era was a black mark in our program's history. I would gladly have traded the sweet sixteen appearance for some integrity. I have long argued that one of the most overlooked heroes in recent ASU history is Don Newman. We forget just how bad things were at the start of the 1997-98 history. The Sun Devils were expected to be awful on the court that year, and no one would have been very surprised had some additional scandals arisen off the court. Instead Newman led the team to an 18 win season, and NIT tournament berth, and (far more importantly) restored discipline and respect to the program. John Dougherty's article, The Stopgap Coach, published in March 1998 recaps Newman's season and the decision not to hire him as the permanent Head Coach. Others will disagree, but I said at the time, and I continue to believe that Kevin White should have had the guts to stick with him -- he earned it. I'm glad that things worked out well for him, and he has been an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for several years now.

Kevin White's "splashy" hire was, in retrospect, a mistake. Rob Evans was the classic example of a great guy who could not, for whatever reason, take the program to the next level. At least he continued to improve the school's reputation in the national media, as evidenced by articles like this one from 1999 and another in 2001.

The Evans era peaked in 2003 with the NCAA tournament selection, as captured beautifully in Paul Rubin's essay Winning Season: Devils go dancing for the first time in years.

After eight years, Lisa Love fired Rob Evans and surprised pretty much everyone with her hiring of Herb Sendek. So far, so good.

Streak's over

The Sun Devils ended their 15-game losing streak by beating No. 22 USC at home in front of a raucous student crowd, who stayed after the game to chant the players' and coaches' names.

It's Herb Sendek's first ever Pac-10 win and ASU's first win over a ranked opponent since it beat Memphis in the NCAA tournament in March 2003.

And ASU will not become the first basketball team in Pac-10 history to go winless in conference play.

In other news, reports that Sendek is attempting to schedule all future home games on Sunday are not true.

ASU gaining momentum in support

While the effort was great and the outcome disappointing in last night's 67-61 loss to UCLA, I was more impressed with the 8,000 plus that turned out to support a team without a conference win.

My fear was ASU would have this type of season considering the short-handed personnel, and our notoriously fickle fan base would abandon the program. But either the gutsy effort of the team or Sendek's recruiting pub or a combination of a lot of things have stabilized the gate.

That's encouraging, because things should be getting better in a hurry. The addition of James Harden, Jamelle McMillan, Kraidon Woods, and Rihards Kuksiks should provide immediate help to ASU's flagging field goal percentage. More importantly, they will allow the coaching staff to better utilize young talent like Christian Polk. If Eric Boateng can provide minutes at center, it may free-up Jeff Pendergraph to fulfill more of a go-to role at power forward. It also means strong effort kids like PG Twi Anthuahene can provide support without having to do more than perhaps they're capable of.

So if 8,000 can tolerate disappointments like last night, perhaps we can find another 4,000 to 5,000 who will come and watch a potentially deeper and more efficient team win a few more games next year. That would have to qualify as a major success for this program that was considered better left for dead before Sendek's arrival.

Wanted: Basketball fans in Tempe

Sometime next year, going to an ASU basketball game may become the hip new place to be.

Until then, it would be nice of people who claim an unwavering allegiance to ASU and an interest in basketball to buy a few cheap tickets to fill the seats for a group of kids who work their butts off every game.

It's no fun when your team is winless in the conference. Yes, the offense is ugly, shooting an eye-sore 45 percent from the field. There are but two real shooters on the team, and the offense requires a fleet of shooters to work.

But suffering with your team in the hard times makes the good times that much more enjoyable. There's very little going on if you're not a Suns fan, and you could always Tivo their games. Make it out to Ned Wulk Court sometime soon. You owe it to yourself and your school.