When Oregon State upset Oregon on Saturday in Eugene, the Ducks had just returned from a week-long COVID-19-related pause and were still without two starters.
Just nine days before that, Arizona crushed the Beavers 98-64 after OSU had just two days to prepare after returning from their own week-long pause.
Then there’s Utah, which lost four straight games after returning from a December pause, with a postponement in the middle thrown because of the same Oregon State pause.
If that’s not enough of a trend showing the significant impact COVID pauses are having on the Pac-12 basketball race, then it might be worth also considering ASU, which has successfully sandwiched a number of non-COVID issues around its own pause over New Year’s weekend.
Certainly, Arizona’s coaches would like the Wildcats to consider ASU’s situation, so that they might not complacent after beating the Sun Devils 84-82 on Thursday in Tempe.
“I don’t think you can judge them by what they’ve done so far,” said UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who has been scouting the Sun Devils this season. “I mean, they haven’t had their guys.”
They haven’t had a lot of guys, for a long time now.
The bad breaks started way back in late November — an eternity in COVID-19 times – when starting guard Alonzo Verge missed the first of two games because of contact tracing. On Dec. 2, the Sun Devils found out the night before facing Cal that one of their staff members tested positive, leading to the loss of four staff members, including associate head coach Rashon Burno, while Verge remained out for the Cal game.
Ira Lee, left, elbows his way through Arizona State’s Kimani Lawrence last week. UA will be looking for its second win over ASU in five days.
While the Sun Devils managed to beat the Bears 70-62, starting forward Marcus Bagley suffered a lower left leg injury that kept him out against San Diego State, Grand Canyon and UTEP. The Sun Devils went 1-2 over that span, only escaping GCU with a 71-70 win.
After that, their Dec. 22 home game with Utah was postponed because of the Utes’ shutdown, and then the Sun Devils ran into their own COVID-19 pause, skipping a trip to play at Washington State and Washington over New Year’s.
When they were reactivated, the Sun Devils lost to UCLA and USC without standout guard Remy Martin (grandfather’s funeral and COVID-19 protocols), plus starting center Jalen Graham (mono) while COVID protocols also sidelined reserves Jaelen House and Taeshon Cherry.
Then, when Martin returned from what was a personal streak of 31 days without playing in a game, he went 0 for 8 from 3 in the Beavers’ 80-79 win. (Graham was also out for that game, and Cherry has since been out for personal reasons).
“I didn’t even realize he hadn’t played a game in a month,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “That’s how crazy things have been here. You’re just dealing with so many things on a day-to-day basis you don’t even realize, ‘Hey, this guy hasn’t been out here in a month.’ “
Considering that reserve forward Kimani Lawrence missed the first two games of the season after knee surgery in the preseason, ASU has not been with its entire roster available at all this season.
So to recap, that’s four different starters missing games — only one of which was because of COVID-19 — three other guys out plus one week-long pause for the entire team.
Meanwhile ... ASU hasn’t won a game since escaping GCU by a point back on Dec. 13.
“I do feel like we’ve got to be in one of the tiers that have gotten the worst of it,” Hurley said last week, when asked about the big picture he’s faced this season. “I don’t know what other schools you can throw into that because there’s so much happening nationally, with teams going into pauses and they’re losing players. But it started at Cal for us… and then the pause.”
Of course, as Hurley indicated, every team can make some sort of excuses this season.
The difference is that the Sun Devils don’t really have to. UA coach Sean Miller did that for them.
“You know, the team that we played tonight was at their full allotment, or as close to it, as they’ve had,” Miller said after UA’s win Thursday. “They’ve really dealt with COVID and injuries and a lot of situations that aren’t going to allow them to be successful. But now that they have Remy Martin back and Graham, you just kind of look at their team, and they have the ability to really play well.”
But will they? And is it too late even if they do?
At 4-7 in midseason, with no telling how many of their four postponed league games they will be able to make up, time is not on ASU’s side if the Sun Devils are to somehow live up to expectations that placed them second in the Pac-12’s preseason media poll.
Those expectations were based largely off the fact that Martin and Verge withdrew from the NBA Draft while the Sun Devils also pulled in well-regarded freshmen Christopher and Bagley.
Now, for a change, ASU has had all four of them back and playing with Graham for a week now. Now, maybe things change. Maybe they finally start becoming the team they were supposed to be.
“ASU is very good,” Murphy said. “They’ve struggled with COVID, like all of us have at different times and it’s affected their lineup. When your top rotation players are out, it’s going to impact your record at times.
“But when they have everybody, are they one of the best teams in the league? Yes, I believe that.”
