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The only podcast covering all things Arizona State athletics! We bleed maroon and gold, and love talking about the Sun Devils no matter what sport.
Tom Hardon (00:01)
Welcome one welcome all to another episode of echo from the boots. I am your host Tom Harden standing in for David Hellman with me as always are Andrew Hazlett and Austin Bundy. We're at Colorado week two games left in the regular season. Big 12 championship game hopes still alive, but there is an elephant in the room that we need to address before we get into this week's preview on three reported.
earlier this week that Sam Levitt is doubtful to return to ASU for the 2026 season. ⁓ Looking at NIL offers rumored to be in the neighborhood of $8 million and it's definitely cast a pall over the end of the season for the Sun Devils. Things are trending in the right direction with Jeff Sim standing in for
or love it and you guys does this really is this really something that is going to overshadow the team the rest of the way no matter how the team finishes?
Andrew Hayslett (01:12)
I don't think so.
Austen Bundy (01:14)
I'm with Andrew there. I don't think it's going to really overshadow anything. There might be, it might be talked about a lot on the networks and whatever broadcasts are going to be carrying the ASU games going forward. But I don't think anybody in the locker room is going to be bothered by this too much because they're probably going to be the ones that know really what's going on and they're not going to be too bothered by it. This is just one of those things. I mean, especially with Sam's brother having to come out and say something about like, this is not like
Official or this isn't really like ⁓ what's happening yet. So who knows if on three ran with something that they decided was well, it's going to happen even if he hasn't like said it's going to happen, which is slightly irresponsible in my opinion. ⁓ But whatever the decision ends up being I don't think the football team is out there worried about ⁓ what Sam's going to do next year. Kenny usually has his guys focused on this week this game and
That's what I think all of us as fans should really be expecting them to do.
Andrew Hayslett (02:17)
Yeah, I agree 100%. I don't. With the On3 report, it might become true, but I think at this point it is not true. We'll see if it does become true. That's the question we're all asking here, is just people see what's going to happen. I don't know the answer to that. I think we all wish we all knew the answer to that because that's
having your quarterback stay. No matter what level of college you're in, as if it's group of four, power four down to D3, you want your returning quarterback to stay if you think he's a great quarterback. And I think the ASU staff thinks that.
Tom Hardon (03:08)
Absolutely, you you want to have that continuity, but this day and age in college football with with NIL on the table for for every player, unfortunately, you're not going to get that same level of players staying for three or four seasons before going to the NFL. It's it's turning into almost like free agency in professional sports. Whoever can.
Pony up the most donor dollars to bring what they feel is the best talent in. That's really the name of the game right now. There's certainly a lot more that needs to be fleshed out to make this a very equitable situation for both the institutions and the players.
I do have a little bit of a little bit of added insight that lends some credibility to the on three report. The athletic has corroborated this report and for me personally, whenever I see anything that does come up on the athletic, I'm taking that to be largely in truth. Now again, there's no confirmation from any side that.
Sam is going to be leaving, but here's a little background for for Sam and how he actually got to ASU. This is all courtesy of Ralph Ames in Spaces. I do want to give Ralph a huge shout out for his long form breakdown that I will attempt to paraphrase. But when Sam was in high school, he attended four different high schools playing one season at each school. So there already was that ingrained lack of
continuity playing for any one team. Then when he's getting recruited out of Westland, Oregon, completely passed over by Oregon State, which leads him to Michigan State. When Michigan State hired Oregon State's head coach that.
threw up some red flags for Sam thinking, I don't want to play for the coach that passed me over. I want to go to somewhere where I'm going to be appreciated. he comes to Arizona State and being a very, again, this is in Ralph's words, a very alpha personality. The question was, how is he going to fit in with the team? We all know how that worked out last year going to the Big 12 championship and the Peach Bowl and starting out this
year where I see that you know where my gut tells me that he would not be leaving is simply coming off of an injury there's no upside to either Sam or whatever school does bring him in for whatever the whatever the final offer amount is if it's in that neighborhood of eight million dollars that is a lot of money
to dole out to a player who's coming off of Lisbon surgery and the timetable for return. You're not even sure if he's going to be ready for spring ball at that point. Again, that's just my gut instinct, but only Sam knows what Sam is going to do. what we saw from his brother, Dallin, who is his agent representative, was not an outright denial of
any of the reporting by on three. We don't know what the what the text message thread that he posted on his Instagram story said further up. We don't know what you know what everything has been going on behind the scenes. All we know is that he's denying what is being said in the moment in that Sam does not.
has not made his mind up about anything. So until I'm of the mentality that until further notice, Sam is still going to be returning for 2026. I have come to be a little bit more at peace with the fact that maybe he will be moving on. And if so, all the best to him. He's going to do what is in his best interest at the end of the day. I don't.
fault any player for leaving the program as long as there's really no bad blood as he's leaving.
Austen Bundy (07:24)
Yeah, that's fair. like, ⁓ I didn't get a chance to actually like read the full NACOS report from on three. ⁓ But I don't know, I don't remember exactly. You can remind me like who he was sourcing specifically in that. Was he just sourcing somebody inside of Sam's camp or did he go even, even vaguer then?
Andrew Hayslett (07:24)
Yeah.
Tom Hardon (07:45)
I don't know any names that were reported, but there are internal sources to Arizona State that have been cited in that report as well. So it's both in his camp as well as some internal sourcing. ⁓ There's some belief that Arizona State is 100 % in the market to bring in a quarterback out of the portal for 2026.
At this point, I just want to see the rest of the season play out. Worry about 2026 when the calendar rolls to 2026. That's not a 2025 problem right now. What is a 2025 problem is Saturday's game at Colorado, which we had to take care of business game against West Virginia. Business eventually did get taken care of, though not as rapidly as we would have hoped for.
This week is very much in that same vein. and West Virginia present two very similar teams, but where I see the difference, West Virginia was trending up having found success with their freshman quarterback and running back. Colorado is trending downward. You have the starting quarterback in Kayden Salter who
seems to have forgotten how to play football. That's about as bluntly as I can put it. He has been replaced by Julian Lewis, a five star recruit out of Carrollton, Georgia. And he has played well in his first start, which did come against West Virginia. But going up against Arizona State, even with the overall health of the team, it's not the same test.
This is a game that the Sun Devils need to just buckle down, continue to put points on the board and not let up on the gas like we saw last weekend.
Andrew Hayslett (09:43)
Yeah, I agree. It was interesting how the scoring, if you look at last game, it was all kind of clustered into one quarter for the Sun Devils. And I guess they had a few other drives that they didn't score many points on that they probably should have. I believe one vehicle was blocked and one fourth down they didn't, they went for it and were unsuccessful.
But that's something that has been plaguing them since the beginning is having long drives but failing to score. Which, if they want to win at Colorado and especially the Territorial Cup in a week, they're going to have to do that.
Austen Bundy (10:31)
Absolutely. mean, like you guys said, I mean, this is another take care of business game. This is another, I would dare say a must win game just because of the big 12 championship game implications. If you are going to go, mean, going on the road is tough enough, but if you're going on the road and you know the opponent across from you on paper is inferior and your scheme is going to match up well against theirs, that's not something that you go into overconfident about, but you go into realizing like
When we step onto the field, we are the bosses. We are the ones that call all the shots out there. And if you execute, things are going to go your way. And I think that's really all it's going to come down to on Saturday is execution. Can ASU stay out of its own way? Can they avoid any of the stupid offensive penalties? The one thing that ASU fans know very well is that ASU does not play very well on the road in Boulder.
So that is one thing they're going to have to overcome is the road factor here. And I didn't have and check the weather for the weekend yet, but hopefully there it's not going to be too cold. There's not going to be any precipitation or anything, but ⁓ playing on the road in Boulder is tough enough as it is. ASU doesn't have a great history there, but if Kenny has got these guys prepared to just take care of business and execute on their game plan, this.
will hopefully play out like West Virginia, but hopefully with a much larger ⁓ lead for ASU by the time four quarters is up.
Tom Hardon (12:02)
you bring up the weather for for Boulder on Saturday. I'm looking at the forecast right now calling for a high of 56. Looks like it should be about mid to high 40s at takeoff at 6 p.m. Only a 5 % chance of precipitation so it's going to be a cold one but overall the weather should not be too much of a factor. You do mention not playing well on the road at Colorado.
To me, the worry about this game is that it can turn into that unmentionable Oregon town. I hate to invoke the vibes, but it's in that timeline of the season where what we've seen in years past, a ⁓ season backbreaking loss that ends an otherwise promising year.
That's a thought that's creeping around the back of my mind. I'm sincerely hoping that we don't get that, but it's something that typically, yeah, 12, week 13, it was always right towards the end of the season, either a week or two before the Territorial Cup.
Austen Bundy (13:06)
That was a week 13 too, wasn't it?
Tom Hardon (13:21)
But very much a take care of business game. just got to go out there, execute, put points up, consistently keep the offense going, and force Julian Lewis into mistakes. He is a freshman. He's bound to make mistakes. It's not out of the question. It's, know.
Just got to stick to the game plan and make it happen. As far as the overall health of the team, Rodney Bemich headlines the injury report after last week's game. Everybody saw the hit where he was down on the field. Emotionalist, did eventually get up under his own power, but he has been listed out. So that's a...
a major blow to the defense, but we do have a questionable report for Jordan Tyson. The first time he has not been listed as out for a game since Texas Tech and going up against his former school at Colorado. I'm hoping that he makes a return, wants to show up his former team and
really make a return to the field.
Andrew Hayslett (14:49)
Yeah, Jordan Tyson practiced this week.
He wasn't running full speed on some plays, which is obviously coming back for an injury this first week. He's been practicing, so that's a good sign, but...
Just because a player is practicing doesn't mean he's gonna return. I know this was the week that he was target He was wanting to return that's what Dillingham's been saying is he might be back for Colorado now. It's Colorado time ⁓ We'll see if he plays I wouldn't I think it's Possible. This is the best chance I would have given him compared to any other week so far so
I'm also not a doctor so I don't know if he's ready for this week or not.
Austen Bundy (15:42)
Is there any concern that he potentially... I don't think he would do this, but is there any concern that they reach a point where with his injury, if they think it's better for him to just heal up for the NFL combine at this point?
Tom Hardon (15:43)
Dr. Andrew Haislip.
Andrew Hayslett (15:59)
I don't think that's a thought right now, but it didn't rule anything out. I'm like I said, I'm not a doctor. I think he's close to returning anyway from what I've seen, which take it with a grain of salt. You can see everything on Twitter. I'm not, I'm just an armchair doctor here. So like he looks like he's close. What they're saying, he's close.
to me what I'm hearing Dillingham say and what Arroyo said as well on Wednesday. I think if he's not going to return this week, I think he's going to return next week. I'm 95 % confident in saying that, but I could be wrong.
Tom Hardon (16:50)
And ⁓ me thinking if I were in his shoes, bear in mind I'm still of the mind where there's no transfer portal, you're with your team for the duration of your college career. I'm thinking if I was in that situation, I'm definitely wanting to return against my former school. And if I can't do that, then I want to return for my rivalry game.
In all likelihood, he is going to be declaring for the draft. I don't think there's really much doubt of that. I, know, me personally, I would think that he wants one more crack at Tucson before leaving ASU. That's, again, that's my gut. That's what I would be doing in his shoes.
Andrew Hayslett (17:37)
Yeah.
Tom Hardon (17:43)
I'm not Jordan Tyson. I've never come close to being on a football field to have this kind of decision to make. So I call it maroon tinted glasses. Call it what you will. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Andrew Hayslett (17:58)
Keep in mind Jordan Tyson missed the final portion of the game last year due to an entry that kept him out of the postseason. take of that for what you will. I'm not saying that he will return. I'm not saying that he won't return. It's possible either way.
Tom Hardon (18:20)
The fact that he is practicing at report about 85 percent that does seem promising. We will wait to see what the final injury reports show. But as of right now, he does remain questionable and comparing that to NFL reports, you're kind of holding your breath, waiting to see. So that's what we will continue to do here.
A bit of exciting news dropped today with the ⁓ uniform combination that the Sun Devils will be wearing at Folsom Field for the first time ever.
The Spark and the Running Sparky logo will be worn on a white shell and it's safe to say that this broke the internet in a very good way. The reception so far to ⁓ Cole Streeper, shout out ASU Uniformity, when he posted that this evening was overwhelmingly positive. It's something that I don't, you know.
I'm sure there's been lot of chatter from fans hypothesizing, can we see him on a white shell or different color shells than just the classic gold? But when I saw it, it's one of those things that...
I never knew I wanted it this much. The look is incredibly clean. For those who haven't seen it yet, it is the white shell, white jersey, maroon pants, white shoes. This just screams business. And I am excited to see the product on the field at least as much as I can while I'm watching on my phone at hockey. We'll get more into hockey in a little bit, but. ⁓
This combination is fire, as the kids say.
Austen Bundy (20:00)
Yeah, I think I love the sparky on the white dome. That's a home run. I will say my only critique of the entire uniform is having the white helmet with a white jersey. I don't know if that's just me, but just I feel like when you have a white helmet, you need it to contrast with something and have it just be a white helmet, white uniform. It took just a little bit of the hype away from me. It's still a great like they're still going to look great out there on the field.
Andrew Hayslett (20:00)
Yeah.
Austen Bundy (20:30)
⁓ But I feel like sometime next year if they want to bring that white helmet back, it's going to look really good ⁓ with the maroon jersey or with even the black jersey, I think would really contrast with that well. ⁓ That gave me the idea of potentially if you wanted to take sparky rather than the full on like sparky that we know with the color eyes and everything, if you just took a transparent
Sparky where it's only gold outlines, but you put it on a black dome. That's something I feel like they should experiment with next
Tom Hardon (21:03)
That is something that I immediately thought of for a potential blackout for next year. Do the same stencil design that they did with the pitchfork, put it on the matte black with the black tops, black pants. That would be a dynamic combination. Something for the powers that be to consider for next year. Hopefully they're listening and take our suggestions to heart.
Andrew Hayslett (21:26)
I have no suggestions except your turn to the copper uniforms. I like those. That's my two cents.
Tom Hardon (21:34)
Can we get the anthracite uniforms as well from the Nike era if Adidas can buy out the Nike design and bring those back?
Andrew Hayslett (21:37)
Hmm.
Austen Bundy (21:43)
It's a shame that we lost Desert Ice and Desert Hammer to that dreaded loss, that dreaded year. That was Berkovich's final year, senior year.
Tom Hardon (21:55)
was a 20 from 2014. I think it was the first time the the the desert hammer came out 15
Austen Bundy (22:00)
15, because
we went to Adidas in 15, and that's when we got Desert Ice against Texas A and then Desert Hammer was against ⁓ Oregon, I believe, with the copper dome.
Tom Hardon (22:11)
That's right.
All I can say is, these looks have been very, you know, very dynamite for the most part. And Austin, to your point about the offsetting shell, I think if it was, you know, I don't think this white sparky helmet would work if it was a full whiteout jersey. You know, that's where the stenciling logo would work better if you want to bring in, you know, bring in sparky to that. But I think
With the maroon pants, think the white shell works on top of the white jersey. It would just look a little bit too bland if it was all white with the white pants. would look like almost a Walmart combo jersey if I can be so crass.
Austen Bundy (23:03)
Yeah, I'm with you there. I see it. It's a great combo. I don't have anything against what they're doing with it right now. I just think my personal preference would have liked to see Sparky and a white dome clash more or contrast more with whatever was on the body, but it still works.
Tom Hardon (23:18)
This opens up possibilities for next year. So we'll see what they bring for sure. Moving on a little bit from football, we do have hockey in action this weekend.
Andrew, I don't know about you, but this is my favorite series of the schedule. The Denver Pioneers coming to town. This is the 18th time that the Sun Devils and the Pioneers have met in program history. It's a series that always seems to bring out the best in Arizona State. Something about the Pioneers, whether it's coming down here to Tempe or going up to Denver,
It unlocks a whole new gear in this team. And I can't quite put my finger on what that gear is or why it's only against Denver. But if we can only play this way against one team, I want it to be Denver.
Andrew Hayslett (24:22)
Yeah, I agree. mean, Alaska is off the calendar yearly now being an NCHC team. That was a rivalry that I got to see the end of, kind of the end of and liked. But I guess Denver is Arizona State's...
ain't hockey rival now, I would say. And I'm looking forward to this series like you said last year, ASU got three of the four victories on that schedule, with the other one being an overtime loss. These two teams know how to push each other. And I know Denver's got a younger core as well, brought in a bunch of freshmen.
with the losses of Jack Devine who's making his Florida Panthers debut tonight. now, well tonight when we're recording this, that would be yesterday for all of the people listening Friday and Zeve Bouillam now in the NHL as well. A couple of those key pieces from Denver on to new places and similar things for ASU that we've covered fairly well. I'm excited to see.
the battle of these, I guess, younger teams in the NCHC on what we could see these cores grow and develop for the next two, three, four years.
Tom Hardon (25:49)
To me, Denver has been the standard to which Arizona State is striving to attain since joining the NCHC. Obviously, they are the national leader in national championships with 10, two in the last ⁓ four seasons under head coach David Carl. And what you see out of the pioneers year over year is
a very static roster. You do not see Denver going to the transfer portal as much as other teams. What you do see is
very high quality recruiting and high quality retention. You see a lot of guys stay for their extended careers. Where you might have seen a guy leave for the NHL after a season if he is a high caliber player, you're seeing teams trust the David Carroll process and allow them to...
continue to develop these guys and make, know, build them into better hockey players. You you bring up Jack Devine, who was a dynamic scorer for the Pioneers last year, put up 57 points, which...
⁓ in a 40 game schedule, especially at the college age, that's an NHL ready kid right there, even as a senior. And just getting that extra time in David Carl's system only prepared him all the better. My biggest question mark when it came to Denver was how were they going to replace Matt Davis at Goaltender?
after he moved on to the NHL and I think that answer has been very well answered with the play of Quentin Miller. He's, you're talking about a young court, Quentin Miller's a freshman. In 10 games, all he's done is put up an 8-2 record with a sub-2 goals against average and better than a 94 % save percentage. It's uncanny how David Carl
just finds these guys, gets their commitment and develops them into the high quality team that we've known to expect from coming out of Denver.
Austen Bundy (28:10)
Yeah, and I'm glad that ASU's got this type of high quality opposition, especially this time of year when you want to see them go on a heater. ⁓ Having paid attention to ASU hockey since before they joined the NCHC, but even just knowing that they've got this budding rivalry with Denver, especially because it kind of bloomed between social media admins early on. ⁓ I like this rivalry. I'm glad that we have it.
Andrew Hayslett (28:10)
Yeah.
Austen Bundy (28:40)
And it's something that I think is only going to be one of those like iron sharpens iron type of situations. And it's only going to make the ASU program better in the long run, especially when you're going to have these types of matchups be critical for the recruiting trail for somebody like powers to go out and point to potential upsets. Like we saw last year to say,
this week we've got what it takes to play with the best of the best. We're in one of the best conferences and to be able to be like you want to be a part of this. You want to be a part of this story and a part of this rivalry and choose Arizona State.
Andrew Hayslett (29:15)
Arizona State also comparing this team to last year's team has the same record as this year to last year. This team needs to go on a run at some point if they want to make the NCAA tournament. The easiest way to do it is win the conference championship, but you have to show that you can contend with other teams to win the conference championship.
To be brutally honest, I haven't seen that yet. Yes, you did collect a shootout win over Colorado College, which you were down 3-0 in, which is, something, and I'll give it that. But I don't think the North Dakota win is as big as it is because...
North Dakota started in my opinion what is their second best goalie at the moment Obviously that could change and we saw that level of play in Gibson Homer for North Dakota allowing four goals on 15 shot or Three goals. I think it was on 15 shots which is just not good to put it bluntly and I think
That's not the North Dakota that you'll see come in these late games at the end of the year. So ASU has to make a statement against Denver this weekend, in my opinion, if they want to be taken, not nothing, they're not going to be taken seriously by any, every other team. That's what you do when you're playing sports. You take every other team seriously, but you, if you're looking at
and CHC contenders at the end of the year, you have to win these games early. And this is the perfect opportunity for Arizona State to collect four points and say, hey, don't forget about us, which is what they have.
Austen Bundy (31:18)
Yeah, exactly.
with this type of conference, you have three different tiers. You've got your contenders, your pretenders, and then the basement. ASU is not a basement team, but they certainly don't want to be stuck in that pretender category. Winning a couple of these games, like you said, beating North Dakota one out of two, getting the shootout win over Colorado College, but ultimately splitting a lot of these series when you really should be taking all four points in these to be considered a contender.
Tom Hardon (31:43)
There's actually six points on the table in conference play. It's three points for a win, two points for an overtime win. regardless, the rule of thumb for these series is sweep at home, split on the road. Arizona State accomplished that going up to Grand Forks last weekend, got the split on the road. Now it's time to take care of business against Denver.
Andrew Hayslett (31:58)
Thank you.
Thank
Tom Hardon (32:08)
You gotta get at least five points. You gotta take one win in regulation, one win in overtime at the minimum. That's what I'm looking for out of this team to really break out of the...
break out of the early season funk and you know, Andrew to your point of having not really seen anything out of this team so far to be completely fair, we didn't see much out of the same team last year before going up to Denver. There was no, there was nothing that instilled any confidence that
We could have expected the performance that we saw last year. When I was on the plane flying up to Denver for that series, I was frankly hoping that Arizona State could find a way to steal even just two points. You had an overtime win. Even if you lose the other game, at least have two points in the back pocket that you can say, we went up to Denver. We got some points. wasn't a series win, but it wasn't a series loss either.
We know exactly what happened, swept the full six points, 3-2 win on Friday night, 5-2 win on the Saturday, very convincing fashion. this team is, this should be the wake up series for this team to jump into high gear and start the run for the rest of the year. Because right after Denver is an Ohio State team that.
is middling around 500 but does have the benefit of playing in the big 10 and you know that strength of schedule they are also going to be a top 20 team when they come into Tempe so the schedule doesn't get any easier and even looking beyond that you have you have a Dartmouth team that is to date undefeated this this is a gauntlet for the Sun Devils it's a stretch of the schedule going into the holiday break that
need to take home as many wins as possible and set themselves up for when the season returns in January for the Desert Hockey Classic.
Andrew Hayslett (34:12)
Yeah, I'm looking at the ratings. I guess that's not what I'm to want to load, I guess. I was trying to pull up the RPI for college hockey right now, but...
that did not want to load on my computer unfortunately for me but I know ASU is somewhere on the 40 mark in the RPI right now which is if you want to make the tournament you've got to be around 15 or higher because I'm not going to assume the Atlantic Hockey America Conference's champion is going to be in the top 15 the way they play so
You gotta be top 15 or higher, top 14 or higher maybe depending on how things shake out. And it's a long way up for ASU right now. I know Denver's in the top 10 I believe, if not just out of it. And then Ohio State, I don't think they'll be as high, but like you said David or Tom, a good strength of schedule by playing in the big 10. You know they're gonna have a very high RPI.
certainly in the top 20.
Tom Hardon (35:23)
And sandwiched into the schedule throughout the holidays. You also have a two game series up in Duluth against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Also a top 10 team in the NPI. if you have four straight series against teams that are either in the tournament picture or on the bubble, it's business time for the Sun Devils. And it's
Andrew Hayslett (35:41)
Thank
Tom Hardon (35:51)
It's time to start the engine, get at least out of the next eight games. I've got to take home at minimum five wins and get set up for the second half of the season on the other side of the holiday break. But don't, don't, go ahead, Andrew.
Andrew Hayslett (36:11)
when I'm.
Yeah, with those games you've got a trip up to Dartmouth who's doing really well this year. And then you've got your tournament at home, the Desert Hockey Classic, which Arizona State has won the last two years. Arizona State always performs well in the tournaments. I think they can continue that, but you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. You've still got Denver this week.
Tom Hardon (36:39)
Yep.
Don't miss any of our coverage of hockey. Andrew and I will both have coverage for Devils in Detail throughout the weekend. Games Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. Don't miss any of our news and notes throughout the weekend.
Going on to other sports, have women's volleyball. Very, ⁓ very dominant performance in Orlando against Central Florida yesterday. I dropped in our team chat that the girls wanted to end the game quickly so that they could see Disney World at night before the park closed for the night. it was, I'm very novice to the, ⁓
to the game of volleyball, but that was about as dominant of a performance as I think you can put out as a team.
Andrew Hayslett (37:32)
Yeah.
Definitely UCF is not one of the better teams in the Big 12. They're down there. And with Kansas losing, I believe they've lost to Utah, Arizona State has clinched at least a share of the Big 12 title in volleyball. So that would be back-to-back champions for coach JJ Van Neel and everyone there on that team and the staff.
Like I've said, he's done such an amazing job with that program. Turning it around from a mid-link team in the Pac-12 to what it is now is a lot. I know he leaves Arizona State's top five in the RPI there in contention of hosting, ⁓ being a one-seat even, depending on how things shake out.
Maybe a two seed, that's where I think they might be at the end of the year. Just they're doing great things and I expect, I would imagine that would continue through the rest of the year and into the postseason.
Austen Bundy (38:42)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's their year. Just at how dominant they've been and just like the momentum is with them. I think like you said, there's no big 12 tournament, so they're going to win the conference here. I think they're going to enter into the tournament in that tier of serious contender, but overlooked by a lot of the pundits focusing in on those one seeds, focusing on those blue blood programs.
Cuz ASU is gonna be a great story. They're gonna be one of those programs that are like, look out for ASU. You can't take them, you can't underestimate them or anything. But I don't think anybody's going to take them seriously enough to reach a national championship game. And I think that's where ASU is gonna have to have that type of chip on their shoulder, realizing that, we've dominated all year. But now when you make it to the national stage, when you make it to where a national championship is on the line, nobody's gonna take us seriously. Nobody's going to-
take this program as the actual contender that we know and we believe we are. So I think that if there's anything the coach is going to do to motivate them to get through that bracket as dominant as they did in the regular season, it's the fact that they need to go in there thinking they are the underdog every time, that everything they do is just not going to be good enough for whoever's covering them or whoever's going to be talking about the bracket at this point.
Andrew Hayslett (39:56)
I'm not as optimistic as you Austin, which is weird to say because I know you're the resident pessimist here, I guess. But then Tom's the resident optimist. But yeah, I do think they're going to go. I would imagine sweet 16 or lead eight would be my guess, but we obviously don't know what's going to happen these final few games, how the seeding is going to come out. We don't know that picture. That's just me throwing darts at the wall.
board that I don't know where the board is so your guess is as good as mine at this point because I don't know how we don't know one knows how everything's gonna shake out
Tom Hardon (40:37)
It's exciting seeing another sport.
driving up the image of Arizona State. does have three matches remaining. One more on the road coming up Friday night at Houston before returning to Desert Financial Arena for the final two of the season, hosting Cincinnati and West Virginia. Those matches on November 26th and the 29th respectively, before the tournament selection show on the 30th and first and second rounds beginning on December
So keep your eyes out for volleyball action. And if you haven't been to a volleyball match, I've not been to one yet this season, but I did make it to a couple last year. It is an electric atmosphere and it's been some of the most packed crowds that you get at Desert Financial. I believe the last two matches have set attendance records for ASU volleyball. it's...
Andrew Hayslett (41:36)
This side
of the of of 2000 there's historically if you go past 2000 a long ways back ASU set the old the record a long time ago, but that was when Newspapers were prevalent and that is that it was is that really a record? I don't know
Tom Hardon (42:00)
Oh, since 2000, we'll say that, but I believe the last crowd was 7,800 fans, something around there. We're going to be keeping an eye on the volleyball team going the rest of the way.
Andrew Hayslett (42:08)
Hmm, something like that.
Tom Hardon (42:19)
Last stop in for the night for us. We will take a look in at basketball. ⁓ Men's basketball is coming off of a win against Georgia State following the game against Gonzaga, which, depending on how deeply invested you are in basketball, maybe that just didn't happen for you. But is, you ⁓
What do you guys make out of out of basketball so far this season? What what are you seeing that is? Positive for the season to date.
Andrew Hayslett (42:54)
They're winning the games that they're supposed to win so far. You look at some of these teams, ⁓ what their expectations were that they weren't really just expecting anything. I know Arizona State played Georgia State closer than they probably should have, but at the end of the day, wins are wins. And I don't want to detract from that at all, which is...
It poses it as an interesting question and really just you can put it across any sport How much value does a win? like a two-point win versus a 20-point win have at the end of the day I don't I don't know if there's a right answer to that question at all because it's it's Depending on who you ask get a different answer and I know get different answers across every sport to
So I don't know if you guys want to weigh in on that.
Austen Bundy (43:55)
I think it comes down to like a win is a win but you do need to kind of pay attention to how you win sometimes because if there's a pattern of playing teams closer than you were supposed to and I'm talking about the type where you were supposed to pull away from a team late in the second half but you didn't ⁓ and you're playing more of those inferior teams closer than you really should then I think it comes down to how sustainable
is your pattern of play? you playing a type of offense or a type of defense that is not going to be sustainable in the long run in which when you go and play teams that you should be or teams that are going to be more evenly matched, that type of play is not going to be enough and they're going to start taking advantage of it. So I think that's where you're going to have to look at the next few games for ASU and how Bobby Hurley has these guys playing.
If they can't pull away from some of these opponents that they're supposed to be beating by seven points at least or more, then as soon as we hit big 12 play, you're going to have to start seeing whether or not if they keep pulling those out, then it's one of those like this team just has what it takes to win. You find ways to win. But if you're not able to beat these teams handily like you're supposed to, you're going to enter conference play and you're going to have a stretch of
games where you're getting tossed around because that type of play may work with a mid-major, but it's not going to fly when you're playing a power ⁓ conference team. And I mean, we can chalk up Gonzaga as a power conference quality opponent, despite them being in a mid-major conference. ⁓ So again, a win is a win, but if ASU is going to continue to show a pattern of playing games where they're only beating
the smaller mid-major schools by three, four points and potentially having to get down to that last minute where you're having to play the timeout game a little bit and go to the free throw line less often than you should be, then you might have a problem.
Andrew Hayslett (46:04)
Yeah, you don't want to be on Jon Rothstein's The Epitome of Brutality tweets.
Austen Bundy (46:08)
The epitome of brutality,
Tom Hardon (46:12)
I'm one thing I was impressed with the with the play of Mo Odom when I was at the opener against against Southern Utah. He does have the look of a solid floor general to seeing the way he directs the offense off the floor and then. I can't I can hardly go a day without mentioning Masama Diop and just how dominant he is down on the low post and even seeing him shooting from from beyond the arc against. ⁓
I guess it was, who was it in the second game, it Utah Tech. You don't expect to see a big guy shooting three-pointers like that, much less making them. So, I think those are a couple of solid pieces, but I'm just apprehensive about how those pieces will continue to mesh together and if Bobby Hurley can get these guys to...
play consistently and like you guys have been saying, win games against the teams that you need to win against and win them handily. Looking ahead at...
at Arizona State's immediate schedule as we're recording tonight. The Sun Devils are getting ready to tip off at Hawaii. That game will be at 10 p.m. Arizona time. So as you're listening tomorrow, hopefully you're reading a positive recap of the game. And then the Maui Invitational starts on November 24th. Arizona State will be playing Texas and then following that on the 25th,
will
play either Washington State or Cheminade with a third round game to be announced on the 26th. Lots of action coming up for Sun Devil basketball. And we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about women's basketball and Molly Miller getting her 300th career win.
That's a monumental achievement, matter who it is. I believe Molly Miller is now the third all-time winningest coach in women's basketball history behind just Gina Oriyama. And the name's slipping me for who second place is.
Andrew Hayslett (48:27)
believe it's the LSU coach if memory serves me right. I think that's current coaches and winning percentage if memory serves me right.
Tom Hardon (48:30)
Yes, I think you're right. ⁓
Current coaches,
yeah. Sorry. Austin, you're on mute.
Austen Bundy (48:42)
I'm sorry. I was gonna say Pat Summits not on that list. I feel like Molly Miller has not passed Pat Summits yet.
Tom Hardon (48:47)
I'm still a novice to basketball. I make a little faux pas here and there. But the third active winningest coach, there we go. But it's still a very monumental achievement. It's great to see her get that milestone as an ASU coach. And I think the trajectory for women's basketball is looking very solid in the early days of the Molly Miller.
Austen Bundy (49:14)
⁓ They go on a run here, we can all credit it to the Armandello. I saw they brought an Armandello in post, was it post practice that they brought that in for?
Andrew Hayslett (49:14)
I agree.
They brought in a few other animals too. think they brought in a Burmese python. Some sort of snake. I'm not a snake expert. ⁓ I'm not many things. I just do is write about sports. That's something I can do, some sort of animal. I know they brought some other creature in there too. Something cool.
Tom Hardon (49:24)
Yes.
You know, whatever gets the mojo going in the locker room, I'm all for it. I'm not the biggest snake guy. I don't have a fear of them. I saw that picture and I'm thinking, OK, that's a choice. But hey, if it works, it works. I'm not going to knock what gets the winning vibes flowing.
We've got a very, very exciting period of ⁓ athletics coming up. Lots of action to keep your eye out for across all sports this weekend. We will have you covered on all fronts on Devils in Detail throughout the weekend. For Austin Bundy, for Andrew Hazlett, I'm Tom Harden signing off for another episode. And as always, give them hell devils.