Greg Hansen: Answering questions about Bobby Hurley's job, UA's place in history and the Pac-12's TV troubles

Readers (bless ‘em) write:

Why isn’t Bobby Hurley on the proverbial hot seat? — Wally Parson

The only Pac-12 coach whose job security has drawn much speculation this season is Stanford’s Jarrod Haase. Or perhaps that all changed after ASU’s meltdown in the final ticks of Wednesday’s 71-70 Pac-12 Tournament loss to Stanford.

Strange, but Haase’s his body of work is almost exact to that of Hurley at ASU. Their overall winning percentages are both roughly 53%. Both numbers are equally unimpressive.

Haase, six years: 98-87 overall, 52-59 in conference. NCAA Tournament wins: 0.

Hurley, seven years: 118-100 overall; 60-69 in conference. NCAA Tournament wins: 1.

So why is no one talking about Hurley’s job? The best guess is because of his Duke pedigree and identity within college basketball. For the first time since Bill Frieder left ASU in 1995, the Sun Devils have a “name” coach.

There’s also this: ASU was second in the Pac-12 in average home attendance this season, drawing an average of 7,973 per game. Part of that ranking is because Utah has imploded, Oregon had a clunker of a season and UCLA dealt with COVID-19 audience limits much of the season.

But Hurley has no doubt increased interest in ASU basketball. The school’s two largest season attendance averages came on Hurley’s watch: 10.603 in 2017-18 and 10,538 a year later.

But after Wednesday’s collapse, ASU’s 14-17 season will all but make next season win-or-else.

When is the last time (if ever) a team dominated the Pac-12 awards like this? — John Aldrich

Three Arizona players — Benedict Mathurin, Azoulas Tubelis and Christian Koloko — were chosen to the official All-Pac-12 team. Mathruin was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, and Tommy Llloyd was selected as Coach of the Year. It was the fifth time in conference history, dating to 1978, that one team dominated the awards that also included coach of the year and player of the year awards. The others:

Oregon State, 1981: Steve Johnson (POY), Mark Radford, Ray Blume, coach Ralph Miller.

Arizona, 1988: Sean Elliott (POY), Steve Kerr, Anthony Cook, coach Lute Olson.

Arizona, 1998: Miles Simon, Mike Bibby (POY), Michael Dickerson, coach Lute Olson.

Arizona, 2014: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Nick Johnson (POY), Aaron Gordon, coach Sean Miller.

Only four other teams have placed three on the all-conference first-team:

UCLA, 1996: Charles O’Bannon, Toby Bailey, J.R. Henderson.

Stanford, 2001: Jason Collins, Jarron Collins, Casey Jacobsen.

UCLA, 2011: Tyler Honeycutt, Malcolm Lee, Reeves Nelson.

UCLA, 2022: Tyger Campbell, Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez.

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I think you should write an article titled ‘You better attend the Pac-12 Tourney because you likely can’t watch it.’ What gives? — Robert Guthrie

Sad but true: only two of the 10 Pac-12 Tournament games will be telecast on anything other than the Pac-12 Networks. Friday’s late semifinal game (Arizona would play Friday’s early semifinal) will be on Fox Sports 1 and Saturday’s championship game will be on Fox.

ESPN will spend Wednesday through Friday televising the ACC, Big 12, AAC, MAAC and Big West on its many platforms. The SEC Network and Big Ten Network — both ESPN-supplied affiliates — will be busy with their conference telecasts.

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is scheduled to speak to reporters late Thursday afternoon. The one question sure to be asked is: Are you working on expanding the Pac-12 Networks’ reach to more than its current nationwide estimate of 17 million homes? ESPN has a reach estimated close to 80 million homes.

My advice: find a bar near you with Dish.

The Sun Devils scare me. Do you think they could spoil our season? – Ann Duncan

Well, not any longer. It’s almost a shame the Sun Devils didn’t get a crack at playing Arizona on Thursday; it would’ve been an opportunity for one of the three greatest victories in ASU history.

Here’s how I rank them to date:

ASU defeated No. 1 Oregon State, 26-0, in the final game of the 1980-81 regular season. It was not just a random win; it gave ASU a 24-3 record and moved it to No. 3 in the AP poll.

ASU defeated UCLA in the 1963 equivalent of the Sweet 16, 93-79, to move to 26-2 for the season. It was a John Wooden team with famous names like Hazzard, Goodrich and Slaughter. It was a year before the Bruins went 30-0 and won the first off many national championships. ASU lost in the Elite Eight to Oregon State two days later.

ASU defeated No. 1 Kansas in a late-December 2018 game in Tempe. Alas, it led to little. The Sun Devils lost their next game, against Princeton and finished the season unranked.

Wait til next year, right?

How would you rate Coach Floyd for after game interviews as well as other press interactions you have performing your job as a writer — Chris Dunlap

I have received several emails referring to Tommy Lloyd as Tommy Floyd. I don’t think he would mind a bit. The only thing he says is to not call him Tom. “Only my mother calls me Tom,” he said.

It reminds me of Lute Olson’s early years. He was often referred to as Luke Olson. But that usually changes with time. Or not. To this day, I hear people refer to Dick Tomey as “Toomey.”

As for Lloyd in press conferences, he’s a natural. He’s a communicator. In my years in Tucson the most coaches who were most engaging, informative and upstanding during Q&A sessions have been Tomey, Mike Candrea, Adia Barnes, Jerry Kindall, Andy Lopez, Dave Murray, Frank Busch, Larry Smith and Dave Rubio. Lloyd fits with all.

Have you ever considered referring to Lloyd’s style as Gonzona? — An old softball buddy

Why not? Gonzaga is 26-3 and has been outscoring opponents by an average of 87-65 this season. Arizona is 28-3 and outscores foes 85-66.

If Gonzona doesn’t catch on, how about <&underline>Arizaga</&underline>?