Editor’s note: This article is part of the Star’s 2018-19 college basketball guide, which ran in Sunday’s paper.
How do you follow up a season that saw you almost get to the highest peak on the mountain, only to tumble back down to the base?
Easy. You focus on the highs and the lows.
The highs for Arizona State last year were high, very high, No. 3-in-all-of-college-basketball high. Nonconference wins at Kansas and over Xavier in the Las Vegas Invitational and over San Diego State at home, that’ll do it.
And then there were the lows, a soul-crushing loss at Arizona to open conference play followed soon by an overtime loss at Colorado. Home losses to Oregon and Utah by a total of seven points. Falling at Washington on Feb. 1, which precipitated a drop from the AP poll, and a home loss to Arizona on Feb. 15, right when the team had crept back in at No. 25. Then the worst of it: a road sweep at Oregon and lowly Oregon State, which finished 10th in the conference.
The high of an NCAA Tournament appearance, the first in five years. The low of a placement in the First Four.
The end: a loss to Jim Boeheim and Syracuse in that First Four matchup.
“They got a taste of success, and definitely some adversity,” Hurley said.
“To go on that rollercoaster ride, they gained a lot of experience. The enjoyment of getting to play in the NCAA Tournament, to experience that, the returning players are focused on that.”
That experience, that yo-yo that Hurley described, it left an imprint on the returning players.
“It means the world,” said senior forward Zylan Cheatham, who sat out last year after transferring from San Diego State. He is expected to make an instant impact this season.
“We have a lot of our nucleus back from winning at Kansas, winning at Vegas, beating Xavier — we have that experience of winning at a high level. We know the amount of work it takes. It was surreal to me. … It was unbelievable to see the shift in culture.”
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley lets an official have an earful during the first half of last year’s game in Tempe. Hurley, a Duke product, has brought some much-needed intensity to the rivalry but has never beaten the UA at Wells Fargo Arena.
How’s this for a stat: If they get there, it’ll be the first time ASU is in March Madness in back-to-back years since 1980-81.
To get there, Hurley is going to count on Cheatham and fellow transfer Rob Edwards, who played at Cleveland State before redshirting, and the continued maturation of guard Remy Martin, who shined in practice and on the floor.
“Coaches did such a good job keeping us engaged,” Cheatham said. “Our practices became wars. From the moment we touched down, it was the starters versus the reserves. We went at them every day. We held them accountable. We gave them good looks.”
Hurley’s team has ample size, so much so that the coach will change his offensive scheme to capitalize on it.
The entire frontcourt returns, as the Sun Devils bring back Romello White and spot starters Vitaliy Shibel and Mickey Mitchell, while adding Cheatham and freshmen Taeshon Cherry — a 6-foot-8-inchfour-star prospect out of San Diego’s Foothills Christian High — and 7-1 Serbian Uros Plavsic.
Those two are just half of the team’s most star-studded class in years, as they also add Luguentz Dort, their top-rated prospect since James Harden, and Finnish finisher Elias Valtonen, who is 6-foot-6.
What the team loses in star 6-1 guards Tra Holder and Shannon Evans, as well as 6-5 scorer Kodi Justice, it gains in inches.
“Our roster is different,” Hurley said. “The way we’ll play will change some. I think we’ll be better defensively. I don’t think we’re going to rely on 3-point shooting as much as we did last year. There are other ways we’ll score the basketball than we did last year.”
Cheatham, who excelled on the scout team last year as he redshirted, said the team has meshed together well in the preseason.
“I’m not giving anybody any warning,” he said.
“They’ll see when we hit the floor. But we have some no-brainers — we have a lot more size, an inside-outside presence, bigger guards. I think we’re going to get in transition a lot. I think our defense will be better. We’re going to cause havoc. We have bench, guys who will come in with no drop-off. We’ve got something special brewing here in Tempe.”
Special enough to get back to the NCAA Tournament?
They hope.
“We kind of set the standard moving forward,” Hurley said.
“It’s a reference point for us, something we can build on. Having players achieve that level of success; a number of guys are back, and you never quite feel like you made it, you’re still very hungry, I know I am, to continue to elevate the program. I’m not satisfied. But I feel good about the steps we took.”
