Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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)
It's a light crew tonight, Tom Harden here alongside Andrew Hazlett and this is another episode of Echo from the Buttes. the big news around Tempe this week, with the loss in the Big 12 champion here in the Big 12 tournament, Bobby Hurley is officially out as head coach of men's basketball. This comes as a little surprise to anyone here around the Valley. It's long been rumored that Hurley was going to be...
out after the season in the final year of his contract and that announcement was made official following ⁓ following Wednesday's loss to Iowa State. He will be placed on paid administrative leave through the end of his contract in June, but the coaching search is beginning in earnest. So Bobby watch 2026 did not last very long at all. Andrew, what's your take on on how quickly athletic director Graham Racine pulled the trigger?
Andrew Hayslett (01:01)
I think the quicker the better to be honest. It's just you don't want to have the cloud looming for the longer you get. And by firing him early, or at least earlier than later after a possible NIT or the Crown Tournament appearance is that...
You ripped the bandaid off. can start looking now. Your focus is 100 % on finding that new coach now instead of, all right, we got this tournament to play. I would imagine the Sun Devils, I don't know if they are going to accept it either in invitation to either tournament. I would kind of doubt it since...
The team is kind of in this limbo state without a coach and it's probably going to be without a coach for at least a little bit. So is there really a point in playing in a tournament without a coach? No, at least not for me. ⁓ So I know that I know the players like to play the tournament because players like playing ball. That's the way it is, but.
At this point for me, it's good that you, if you're gonna fire, you fire early. That simple as that.
Tom Hardon (02:24)
I agree and I've kind of been talking myself into the fact of well maybe depending on how the tournament goes, on how these games go, maybe he could earn an extra year but after Wednesday's historic defeat and we'll get into some of the numbers on that coming up here, I think that the imperative was for Roseni to turn the page and
There's by no means is this ⁓ an indictment on anything that Bobby Hurley has accomplished. He certainly has done some great things for Arizona State basketball in his tenure here. ⁓ We will always have that. What if the pandemic had not forced cancellation of the 2020 tournament? Where would this program be? What Arizona State have had?
an opportunity to build off of multiple years of success instead of a hard stop and restarting. We can speculate about that all we want, but the facts of the here and now is there is a head coaching vacancy and ⁓ going back to Wednesday's defeat, I mentioned it was historical in nature and Austin Bundy for Devils in Detail, he
broke down some of the some of the numbers for just how bad this this defeat was. It ranks as the second worst defeat in program history, both of which unfortunately have have been ⁓ very embarrassing, but it's also the worst defeat in Big 12 tournament history and really just from start to finish, there was no
no sense of anything for the Sun Devils on the court against Iowa State. It seemed like the cyclones had just, it was one of those situations where anything that could go wrong did go wrong. it's, it's a really just, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know about you, Andrew.
Andrew Hayslett (04:45)
I was actually at lacrosse on Wednesday morning, so I was not watching basketball. I was busy there. So I did see the score and yeah, it made me say, yeah, I don't need to watch this game. The scoreboard tells me all I need to know. was an embarrassing loss and not how you want to go out. The positive that you can take away from this tournament is that you did win one game, which
If you asked me at the beginning of the year where this team would end up, they did exceed my expectations. But in a Power 4 program, expectations shouldn't be that way. with what had happened in the past, that's what they were.
Tom Hardon (05:38)
And especially now in the changing landscape of all college athletics with NIL in place and the transfer portal, it's simply just, it's a situation where teams need to be adaptive. And I think the adaptation from, from Bobby Hurley towards the end of this tenure was more reactionary rather than proactive.
Andrew Hayslett (06:04)
Yeah, he was of your main sports. He was a guy who had been along for a while. You look at all these other coaches, Kenny Dillingham, they have it. You're Kenny Dillingham's, you're J.J. Van Niels, you're Willie Blomquist, ⁓ Megan Bartlett's of the world, Molly Miller even. They haven't. ⁓
With their time at Arizona State, they haven't had to change as much as what Hurley has seen with the NIL landscape. Now, in conference realignment and all the pieces of the puzzle that were the same when he started, it's a new puzzle. The pieces don't fit the way they did anymore. it...
at this point you look at coaches from that era and the only one of all the big sports left is Greg Powers from hockey and that just shows that in this new era you have to find the new coach for me at least. Yes you can still have legends like Tom Izzo and for Michigan State for example that can adapt but Bobby Hurley was never Tom Izzo.
Tom Hardon (07:22)
And you're kind of seeing it across the sports landscape no matter where you go. I mean, even the legendary Nick Saban down in Alabama, I think part of this changing landscape, part of this changing picture brought about his retirement. He was certainly a coach that hadn't had the ability to coach until they were going to...
bury him on the sidelines. And I think even he recognized, you know what, this is too much for me. I need to step back. This is not my lane. I'm going to let somebody else who is much more attuned to this, much more ready to embrace this new era, take the reins. So you're really starting to see it just everywhere across college sports. But at the end of the day, that's what Arizona State needs to find in their next head coach for men's basketball and
David Howland put out a handful of names that ⁓ could be potential candidates. And I want to take this to you. Who's your of this list or if there's somebody not even on that list, who would your ⁓ top of your wish list be for the next head coach?
Andrew Hayslett (08:38)
Yeah, I'm kind of comparing this back to all these other sports. You look at Kenny Dillingham.
a young guy, Molly Miller, she's young for a coach. Willie Bloomquist, he's starting to, he's a little older, but he's not old by any means. I JJ Van Neel's same thing, a relatively younger person. So I would lean toward the younger side, get someone who is 30s, 40s in terms of age, because for me at this point in time,
I want to go young because I think in this new era with this NIL and stuff, you need to be relatable to players and the closer you are in age to players, that makes you a little bit more relatable than being a 60 or 70 or your old because there's just so much difference in age.
A of different things come with that. So a guy that I'm looking at, Tom, is Portland State head coach, Jace Coburn. A guy born and raised in the Valley, ⁓ Mesa. I like what he's doing at Portland State. This year in particular.
And he's a guy in the valley. I like getting people from the valley to, as Kenny Dillingham has said multiple times, activate the valley. You're gonna need someone to get local businesses to invest in this program because money makes the world go around Tom. And the better players you can get...
It's going to be from the more money you can get there. There's a there's somewhat of a correlation there. So I think he's a guy that can do it. And that that's who I'm looking for in the Portland State head coach, Jace Coburn. What about you, Tom?
Tom Hardon (10:51)
You know, I've. In the. In the in the interest of. Being a little bit different, you know I. I've been looking a lot and this is a coach that's going to be really highly sought after in across. All of college basketball, but. Josh shirts from Saint Louis has been ⁓ has been opening my eyes. Saint Louis has been one of those.
One of those teams that always like to pick in my bracket just because one, I'm thinking, what the heck is a Billiken? I just want to hear people keep saying Billikens. But at the same time, they're always that team that I see has the potential to just go on that Cinderella run. And I want somebody who has been able to have that success, but ⁓ doesn't necessarily have.
all the resources available at their current position and be able to take that step, have the backing of a powerful university. And hopefully that pushes both the coach and the program into greater success. And now he is going to be a very highly sought after. believe Syracuse is already ⁓ being linked to him for their opening, but
It's still one of those possibilities that you're kind of thinking, how do we make this happen? I'm also going to throw in a dark horse, and this one is also courtesy of David Hellman yesterday. Derek Glasser could be a ⁓ potential option. has that connection back here to Arizona State, and it's...
It's one of those one of those what ifs. He played with James Harden, I believe back in the late 2000s. So why not bring him back home?
Andrew Hayslett (13:00)
It's kind of the similar vibe I was mentioning with the Portland State head coach, get guys to activate the valiing. And with people who played at ASU, you can do that.
Tom Hardon (13:15)
Well, no matter who the no matter who the new head coach is or how the search goes, we will have all the news for you. Our basketball expert, I have Dean will be on the ground as as everything is rumored and announced and bringing us the latest and greatest. we will go to the basketball program that is still playing this season, and that is the Arizona State women's basketball team. After losing in the Big 12 tournament to West Virginia, the Lady Devils are
Still sitting on the bubble right now according to ESPN's bracketology showing as one of the last four teams in would set up a potential matchup in the first four round against Virginia and Do you think that is That's the right spot. Do you think the ladies should be firmly in the field of 64 without needing to play their way in?
Andrew Hayslett (14:12)
I think that's accurate in terms of what will happen, but what should happen is the question I'm going to take here is I think 24 wins is a lot. I know you've heard me say it in football, winning matters. At the day, 24 wins with a powerful schedule, that means something. I would...
I don't know every single team in women's basketball. I'm not gonna pretend to but There hasn't I do know that 24 wins For a power core team has gotten in every time. I believe I believe I saw that stat you can fact-check me Tom I don't know about that for sure but
Tom Hardon (14:56)
I believe that I've seen
that same stat.
Andrew Hayslett (15:01)
So that means something putting this team in a first four. I'm not a huge fan of it. I'm not a huge fan of the first four games in general. I think we can ask some, but that's a story for another time. But I wouldn't put it much higher than a first four team, 11, 10.
and nine seed, I think that's about the right spot. One of those lower power four teams that get in without having to play first four teams is the way I would look at it.
Tom Hardon (15:38)
Regardless of where the women end up selection Sunday is coming up on March 15th Yes, that is March 15th. I had to fact-check my own calendar there, but we will have where the Sun Devils go and Who their first opponent will be what round what seed they will be all the latest? Throughout the tournament as long as the Devils are still playing Kicking it over to baseball here. It's it was a very ⁓
How should we say this? Very exciting weekend taking on Loyola Marymount this past weekend from Phoenix Municipal Stadium. It was exactly the kind of bounce back weekend that the Sun Devil was needed after going to Arlington and not coming away with the win. We saw some very, very lopsided scores. 12 to 4 on Friday, 9 to 1 on Saturday, and in a very surprising no run rule game, a 29 to 4 final on Sunday.
It was put quite simply a dismantling of 50 to nine run margin over loyal Marymount and great opportunity again to see a lot of the depth for Sandoval baseball before Big 12 play gets started here. Andrew, know you were off with some NASCAR action going on this weekend, but from a distance, what was your takeaway from the weekend?
Andrew Hayslett (17:10)
The bats were coming in hot, to put it lightly. As you mentioned, Tom, a lot of runs. It seemed like the Sun Devils wanted to shake off whatever happened last week on a four-game losing streak. They wanted to turn the ship around, and they ride the ship indeed. Just taking care of business, not losing to a team you shouldn't.
With with the non-conference schedule last season You lost twice to Minnesota. You lost to Oral Roberts. You lost to Ohio State once You probably should do a little bit better than what you did And again with those last those teams last year this year was the opposite you had a much harder schedule in the non-conference
with those SEC teams, you only went one and four against them, which is a little bit concerning, but they did take care of business against these non-Power Four teams and these lower Power Four teams, which is something you have to do.
Tom Hardon (18:27)
And it's worth noting that of games that have seen a team score 25 or more runs this season, Arizona State's win on Sunday was the only game that came against an opponent ranked in the top 150 in the RPI. It's it just it lends a little bit more credence to just how meaningful that win was, especially when you see when you see a New Mexico State team turn around and put 39 runs up.
on, I believe, a Division II school. But you're looking at the... looking at this game in a nutshell, and it was just that game that everything that could go right was going right, and even the bullpen was doing their part. There were no noticeable lapses from anybody that I could see from the stands, and it's...
It really just put the bow on what was the get-right weekend for baseball. And that moved into... Sorry, go ahead.
Andrew Hayslett (19:35)
Yeah, I did want to mention, even with all those ones scored, all the starters pretty much were taken out of the game. I think there was only two left at the end of game when PJ Moutsiraitis and the catcher Cohen Nicolay. And you saw those freshmen, the Jackson Dursts of the world, your Ryan Daras.
They were doing damage too. Your Cooper Klausers, your, I don't know if I said him, but Jackson Durst. All those guys doing damage. Finn Leach as well. That impressed me. Because normally when you see these games, they might go a combined one for four, two for five. Decent showing, but everyone was hitting.
everyone in that game reached base. That's saying something.
Tom Hardon (20:32)
Yeah,
we saw a couple of first career hits from those depth guys and whatever drum was beating, just kept beating all game long and kept beating into Tuesday as well for the first of the five game territorial cup series. Now, Tuesday's game being ⁓ the midweek game.
did not count for the big 12 conference standings. The conference play officially kicks off this weekend, but that didn't mean that this game had any less meaning for, for Uli Blomquist and the rest of the team, as you always want to take down, take down your rival, no matter what's on the line. And let's just say they, they took care of business once again with a 10 to four final on Tuesday, behind a
behind an opening performance from. I get my notes up here, an opening performance on the mound from. Linger and three innings from Taylor Penn. And. I want to give full full full credit and probably who in my mind would have gotten the win. Sean Fitzpatrick. A career long three innings out of the bullpen. Only one hit allowed.
Andrew Hayslett (21:36)
Column Linder.
Tom Hardon (21:56)
and still has yet to give up and run this season. ⁓ What more can you say about having a guy in your bullpen that Louis Wumpquist can trust to give the ball in seemingly any situation?
Andrew Hayslett (22:11)
F. Fitzpatrick, he's the guy that's impressed me a lot this season. He was the guy who regressed last year. He won the best pitchers in the Penn in the 2024 season and then was...
worse in 2025. I'm like, that's concerning. and then with at least to start the year, only the two lefties in the pen, one of them being Fitzpatrick. I'm like, Ooh, this, this could be rough, but Fitzpatrick's had a career resurgence ⁓ so far this season and he, he, he deserves it. God, from all accounts of everyone I've talked to, he, he's a great guy. He's one of the team captains.
This is a guy who deserves it and to see him pitching this well gives ASU a great lefty out of the pen and they need it a lot.
Tom Hardon (23:13)
Absolutely and we we said we saw the saw the power keep coming for for the Sun Devils as well Dean Toygo and Landon Harrison each hit a home run bringing their total of six to tie down McLongo for the team lead in home runs but it was a it was another game where the offense just you know the drum you know the beat rolled on and wasn't you know
wasn't a game where the Sun Devils were satisfied to to take the pedal off. As we've seen happen in the past, this was a game where they just kept pressing and kept, you know, kept working at the situational hitting. were there was two, three innings where, yeah, they only pushed across a single run, but it was the fact that it was done by small ball. You're not they're not relying on
the on the home run. They're not relying on on extra base hits all the time. It's getting its working counts, getting walks, stealing bases and smart base running. And that's really what I saw a lot of for almost everything in that game. In post game comments, Coach Bloomquist did say that he would own sending ⁓ sending Garrett Michelle on a steel attempt where he got picked off.
first and thrown out at second, but aside from that, the situational base running stood out to me as one of the brighter spots in the game as well.
Andrew Hayslett (24:54)
I can go back to last year's team. They were a base stealing team as well. You had guys like Kyle Walker who could steal when he wanted to. Keon Vu, well, he had his injury and wasn't stealing bases when he came back from it, but at least right away, but then he was stealing bases whenever he wanted to. when you lose those two guys in particular, you wonder how are they going to rebuild the base running side? But Harry
Kirsten stole a ton of basses. This is your new contratus even though he's gonna be out for some time it sounds like. He's stolen basses. Up and down the lap. Anyone can steal.
but not everyone will steal. You've seen Kai McGarry a bit as a pinch runner this year. He's really fast. He is a base stealing machine, and that's it. He's a guy you kind of look and see that they might try to get him more playing time just to get his speed on the bases more, just to create some more chaos.
And I look forward to how just seeing if the Sun Devil team can keep stealing bases the way they have.
Tom Hardon (26:09)
If this team can keep creating chaos that will hopefully be a sign of better things to come when Big 12 play opens and it's it's a very very big test coming up this weekend hosting the Preseason favorite to win the Big 12 conference the TCU Horned Frogs It'll be a fun a fun full circle moment of sorts for Cole clicker having just transferred in from TCU this season, but
Andrew, what's your take on TCU so far this season and what kind of challenges do they pose to Arizona State this weekend?
Andrew Hayslett (26:52)
I'll have more later on a preview for Devils in detail on so that you can find out there to see who, what you can find from this TCU team. But the big takeaway from them, really both sides of the ball is injuries to key players that are gonna be out. And like I mentioned, New Contreras, ASU's arguably best player this season. He's gonna be missing time for a bit. And for TCU, the preseason pitcher,
year the guy was really excited to see play Tommy Lapore he's out he was a really great pitcher for TCU last year their Friday night guy shut down guy really high energy guy could have gone and maybe the first round this year if he stayed healthy he's dealing with I believe it's a flexor strain that that's keeping him out
So that's something that TCU doesn't have is starting pitching. You can look at the stats on that in my article when it comes out. And offensively, they've lost another guy, Noah Franco, who is a two-way guy, but he's more of an offensive guy than a pitcher.
He's gonna be out for a shorter term, expected to be out for this year the series as well He was a guy who was on that Big 12 preseason team which TCU has a few other guys still that are healthy and can definitely do some damage
on that roster. Sawyer, Straus, Niders, one of those guys I'm looking at in particular, is he can put, this TCU team can strike any time. But I do want to mention last year, the Saturday game was 26 to nine in favor of the Sun Devils, and will be one year to the day of that game on Sunday.
We saw last Sunday the Sun Devils put up a performance like that against LMU. Could we see the same thing a year later? And I've got some more interesting details about that in my article that's gonna come out on Devils in Detail, I would assume, Friday, when this comes out.
Tom Hardon (29:00)
Thank
I'll look forward to seeing that breakdown. My key point of interest for this weekend, Mason Brasfield for TCU has kind of morphed into their Friday starter. And he was touted as being one of the arms they were looking to lean on for the season. And he's come away with a three-and-one record, but it's not been very impressive.
three and one record. is this a situation where this potent Sun Devils offense, can they keep rolling and set the tone for the weekend against a pitcher who really has struggled against some really not top tier competition?
Andrew Hayslett (30:08)
Yeah, the Sun Devils they should get all three TCU starters out really early as I'm not gonna get too deep into this because I mentioned in my article TCU doesn't have the starting pitching that knocks your socks off. It's not particularly needle moving. So ⁓
I think if the Sun Devils win these games, they're going to have to knock out the TCU starters by the of the fourth inning. I think that's what they're going have to do because there are some good arms in the TCU bullpen. Like Luis Rodriguez comes to mind as a guy who's solid. I'm not so... The ASU bats can score off anyone, so I'm not really concerned, but...
If you don't score off these starting arms, I'm very concerned all of sudden because these arms aren't particularly anything special.
Tom Hardon (31:14)
Agreed and we'll find out more when your preview article does go up. For those who are looking to watch or attend this weekend's series, it is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Friday and Saturday starting at 6.30 PM, Sunday matinee at 1 PM. All games streaming on ESPN+. We're going to flip over to hockey here for a little bit and it is awards season for the NCHC and despite the subpar season for Centerville Hockey,
Two awards have been announced so far for the Sun Devils with one still to be announced. ⁓ We'll start off with the all conference teams. Cruz Luchas was named to first team all in CHC with Bennett Shimik right behind him being the top forward on second team in CHC. the two guys, not only did they go point for point with each other throughout the season, but went point for point.
with each other in the media voting for all conference team selections. Cruz just barely edging Bennett 56 to 55 points, both players earning at least six first team votes. In my mind, a no-brainer for one of, if not both, to have been on the first team. But Andrew, any surprises for you there?
Andrew Hayslett (32:43)
You know, I thought Cruz was the slightly better player than Schimek over the course of the season. I say slightly, meaning it was like this close.
both players played out of their minds at points this season. Them alongside Colin Potter was the only reason this team won games at the start of the year. They carried this team on their back. It felt like more often than not. And if they were clicking, the Sun Devil offense was clicking. And if they weren't clicking, the Sun Devil offense was almost nowhere to be found. And they're gonna
Tom Hardon (33:01)
And.
Andrew Hayslett (33:26)
impact the next level I would imagine right away because their talent is up the highest level at the end of the day.
Tom Hardon (33:39)
Well, as I mentioned, those two awards are already known. The one award that's still to be announced, Cruz Lucius is a finalist for NCHC Forward of the Year. Individual awards started getting announced by the NCHC on Wednesday and will be announced one award daily from now until March 19th. I have not been able to find any
Schedule on when those awards will be announced, but as soon as we know if Cruz is a winner or not You are listeners and followers will know as well We'll keep it here with hockey for a little bit want to talk about the Sun Devils who have been signed to Some pro contracts so far. We've already talked about Tucker Ness signing with the Tahoe Night Monsters, but just this week
Noah Powell signed his entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers following in the footsteps of Ty Mercheson. He will be assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after signing that three-year entry-level deal. And Senior Bennett Shimick signed his professional tryout with the Abbotsford Canucks, the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks. ⁓ Andrew, I'm, I was surprised to see Noah Powell get signed by Philadelphia after his sophomore season.
⁓ No discredit to Powell's performance. I thought he came on great in the second half of the season, especially after Potter and Beck went down with their injuries, stepped up well in their absence, really helped to anchor down the third line with Sam Alfano and Logan Morell. But I was thinking that the Sun Devils would have another season of him to give him a little bit more time to develop. What were your thoughts on that?
Andrew Hayslett (35:32)
Yeah, me too. I know he... I believe he... You can correct me if I'm wrong here, but his ⁓ ability to sign would have ran out after his junior season. Like, Philly would not have been able to sign him after the senior season. Is that correct?
Tom Hardon (35:47)
Yeah, that is correct.
Andrew Hayslett (35:50)
Yeah, so I would have thought like you Tom that it would have been after his junior season, give him another year in college to develop.
But I guess they saw something that they like. Maybe I'm not really as familiar with what Philadelphia, the Flyers need in terms of where they're at with their program and their AHL team. Maybe they needed that, a player that fits Powell. That's an easy way to get one, I guess, by signing your... ⁓
a guy who you have rights to. Yeah, I was like, huh, that's strange. I was trying to make sense of it in my head and I couldn't. I don't know about you, Tom.
Tom Hardon (36:44)
He's shown some great development over the second half of season. His speed and creativity up and down the ice. ⁓ The play that will always stick out to me is that highlight reel goal in the season family against Denver when he picks up the puck in the neutral zone, splits the defenseman to beat Johnny Hicks on, I believe it was on his glove side as well, but you're...
It's a tough loss for the Sun Devils, but I wish Noah all the best in his professional career. As with Benachimich, he was a graduating senior. We already knew that he would not be returning to Arizona State. It was only a matter of time before he got signed on a professional trial contract somewhere. And I'd seen multiple sources saying that he was one of the top available Fords in
in North America for undrafted free agents. And to me, I was checking all the wires daily, practically hourly, trying to see, okay, where's Bennett's name? Where's he signing? He's going to sign on somewhere. And a couple days go by, I'm thinking, why is he not signing? What are they waiting for? He's a great talent. then Abbotsford picks him up. I think he's going to be a great fit in their system. think, you know, give him
Give him some time to develop. is a little bit on the undersized end of what you want to see for a forward but again great vision on the ice and he's not afraid to to rip the puck that's what you want to see out of your forwards and I think it won't be too long before you know given maybe Give him maybe a season and I think we could be seeing him come up for his NHL debut
Andrew Hayslett (38:39)
Yeah, he's just a guy. He seems one of the most well-rounded pieces the Sun Devils have had in a while. There's nothing to his game for me that is super flashy, but he just does everything right. I don't see anything that makes me go, ⁓ Bennett Shimmock, I'm not so sure about...
Shot or whatever. I don't have that about shimmy. He's a guy that his his game is solid all around I think he does everything right I Think he I like you said Tom, especially on a struggling Canucks team right now where I know if they're one the worst teams in the league They need talent and just about any way they can get it and she makes a talent that's gonna help them in some way
Tom Hardon (39:34)
I look forward to hearing the day when he gets his NHL debut and look forward to watching that just as I did with with Tim Murchison's debut for Philadelphia earlier this season. I do want to finish off on this last note. You put together a potential lineup for next season's hockey team. is, now I want to, you know, everybody bear in mind that the transfer portal does not open until next month.
and will only be open for 15 days, unlike prior seasons where there's been a 60 day portal. ⁓ So we don't know if any of the current team will be entering the portal, if anybody else is going to sign, or if anybody's going to be coming in. This also does not factor in incoming freshmen, but take us through your roster that you put together solely based on the players that still remain on the roster from this past season.
Andrew Hayslett (40:34)
Yeah, I'll start off here. We'll start off forwards. My top line, at least for now, is going to be Colin Potter at left wing, Logan Morell at center, Ben Keeven at right wing. And if on first glance you might say, Andrew, that's strange. Yes, Ben Keeven struggled a little bit this year, but I like him being paired with Colin Potter.
Logan Morrell he was a guy who didn't play much on the first line this year, but he was a guy who was Incredible at faceoffs this year, right really solid on in the middle Six when he played there, so I think he's going to get a promotion this year
or next season into the top six forwards. And I think he could be a guy that you can anchor around as your first line center, potentially maybe a second line center of how things shake out. I moved Potter over to left wing, not a lot of true left-handed shots on this team. And at least for me, his face-offs left a lot to be desired and not a great winning percentage. ⁓
the
wing give him some space I think he can develop if he can develop his shot more in particular I think he could become lethal there Tom I just just just from my point of view I don't know about you what do you what do you think of that first line
Tom Hardon (42:05)
You know, I love that you put Potter and Keevan on the same line. These guys during the under 18 World Championships last year played on the same line and they were just electric together. that was something that I was hoping we would see a lot more of throughout this year. And unfortunately, like you said, Keevan did struggle throughout the year. He was up and down the lineup. And then with Potter's injury, we never...
never got to see the full potential of what that duo could be. with Logan Morrell in between them, absolutely dynamic at the face off circle. And then this top line is something that will cause a lot of headaches for teams next season.
Andrew Hayslett (42:56)
My second line I have Kyle Smolin at center.
and continuing to work with him, Carmelo Crandall at the right wing. Crandall, those two worked together well. I thought when Crandall was playing at his best, he was playing alongside Kyle Smollin, a veteran and a young guy. On the left wing, I'm bringing in Jack Beck, Jack Beck, and in the games he played, he was very good for the Sun Devils last season. I liked what I saw of him, a left shot. I don't like him better than Potter. No disrespect on Jack Beck.
I think Potter's just he's a guy who's gonna be playing in the NHL someday and in Jack Beck as a second line left wing you're very happy with that I Don't think the Sun Devils if they move Potter over to left wing. They're not gonna be needing a top-end left wing whatsoever and The second line on their Knights they could do a lot of damage as well
Tom Hardon (43:55)
And when you think about it, know, way that these, know, Carmelo Crandall played himself into a situation where he could have cracked into the top line at the end of the season. If you're shuffling some spots around, I loved how he just came on in the last third of the season. Even though results didn't go the Sun Devils' he personally developed in front of my eyes and it was a great thing to see.
Kyle Smallen mentoring him as the second line center. That's something that Smallen's been doing even since he was a sophomore. You saw that leadership quality out of him in his sophomore season. That's why you saw him wearing the C alongside Bennett Schimek this season. He should be retaining the C next season as well. I see no reason why Coach Powers would change up at least that part of the leadership. We will see all new alternate captains, but
I think the captain's position is safe with Kyle Smolin and putting him at that second line center with Carmelo Crandall under his wing I think is absolutely the right move. then, like you said with Jack Beck, could easily be top line left winger, but you want to have that kind of balance where you can shuffle guys around as needed. it's no, it wouldn't be unheard of.
to see it happen, even though you do want to see lines stay as static as possible, having two legitimate top line wingers in your top six are at the same position in your top six is a very enviable position to have.
Andrew Hayslett (45:42)
My third line at this point is Ty Nash, Sean McGurn, Sam Alphana.
Nash and Alfano played together along with Logan Morell at the start of the year. I thought that line was really dynamic. I liked what I saw of Nash a lot. If the Sun Devils do get his center or they move Potter over to center, I want Morell to play with these guys, but at this point, that Morell is going to stay up front. Sean McGurn is a guy I like as a third line center, was doing really well until his injury kind of bets
him back with his play a little bit and Sam Alphano he's a guy who was just as soon as Sun Devils started to lose he got better he was he took steps forward and I think he's a guy that you can pencil into to your third line and say yeah you're happy with that if he can continue playing at the level he was.
Tom Hardon (46:44)
And
that big physical presence of his on the third line is something that's going to be needed as well. Six foot four frame, big shot, he's the kind of guy that you need to have on that grind line. And he can still be developing his offensive game, but he's going to be, know, some of us are going to need him to be that little bit of a physical presence to beef up the bottom six.
Andrew Hayslett (47:14)
And Ty Nash, he's a guy that's kind of a grinder too. I feel like even though he doesn't have a size, he plays like he has size. And those two together on opposite wings, I think could be something. Moving into my fourth line, this is start where my...
Question marks come in right now. The only player I've listed as a fourth line ⁓ Liner right now is Braxton Whitehead. I even though he didn't score I did like what I see saw out of him I think he can be a guy moving forward that you can Lean on but this is where your transfers your freshmen are gonna come in somewhere as well. I I Do have Tony Achille being at one of your healthy scratches at this point ⁓
He didn't play much until the latter half of the year when they had to use him. So I think he's going to be a healthy scratch if he remains to stay on this team. I do think they're going to get another depth center as well as a healthy scratch as well, at least for the forwards, just to have versatility in that position.
Tom Hardon (48:22)
on it was if we're talking about incoming players incoming freshmen as well it was just announced today that North Dakota had a decommitment from one of their from one of their wingers it was Andrew O'Neill he was a prospect that was coming out of Edmonton of the Western Hockey League could be an opportunity for coach powers to swoop in and grab him after ⁓ after
after O'Neill left his, pulled back his commitment to North Dakota.
Andrew Hayslett (48:58)
Yeah, defensively, I think you're going to keep your same first pair, same Brazen Bozer, Joel Schellberg, ⁓ even though they were...
Tom Hardon (49:07)
Absolutely no arguments there.
Andrew Hayslett (49:09)
Yeah, even though they were kind of underwhelming at points this season, another year to grow, you can get better. Schellberg scored, it was a presence on offense, same with Brazen-Boser. Hopefully you can get that to take a little step forward this next year, get their defense to improve a little, and then you have a first pair of defense that I'm really confident about.
Tom Hardon (49:35)
You know, even though the situational awareness and the defense was a little bit lacking, and this is across the board, I'm not just picking on these two guys because we're talking about them. ⁓ What I was impressed by was just simply their shot blocking, both ranking in the top five in the NCHC in blocked shots, not afraid to give up the body and disrupt the shooting lanes for the opposition. It was just simply...
Lack of awareness and this is up and down the defensive unit letting letting Fords get in behind and clean shots on goal that needs to be shored up by all the all the return fence and plus any newcomers.
Andrew Hayslett (50:18)
Most definitely. When I talk about the defense, I'm going to emphasize improvement. That's one thing that the Sun Devils have always been good at is blocking shots. remember a few years ago, Ty Mercheson led the whole NCAA in block shots. something that the staff has been preaching, I think, and it's been working. think you just need a little bit more overall awareness, like you said, Tom.
But moving into my next pair is Justin Kipke and Sam Court. Two more offensive guys, so I'm not sure how much I like this, but I kind of like it now at this point. Justin Kipke, a guy who I think could be your power play defenseman moving forward in the next season.
I think a guy offensively that you can bet that he was the Sun Devils best offensive defenseman last season simply put His defensive side in particular He was a guy that I think needs to improve defensively if he wants to earn that top spot pass brazen Bowser and in the pairs, but
I think moving forward he's shown why that the Coyotes and Wild have selected him and on the other side Sam Court I thought he was a guy who was a guy that you forgot existed at points for the Sun Devils and that's what you need in my opinion for a defenseman. you look at the box score and say yeah Sam Court played I forgot he was on the ice. You like that because
your defensive guys aren't gonna be the offensive presence you need, but you just need them to not make any lapses and they'll be fine. And I thought, at least for me, Sam Court was a guy who was that.
Tom Hardon (52:20)
You know, I'm glad you brought up power play defenseman because something that we saw coach powers utilized a lot when he had a fully healthy roster was five forwards on the power play and that At first I was I thought okay, know, this is this is pretty solid. We've got you know, got five Five great boards and why not put them on the ice at the same time, but that does start to backfire after a while and
without having a true defenseman out there on the ice, somebody is going to get left out, miss an assignment, miss somebody in transition and leads to an odd man rush short handed the opposite way. I like the idea of Kipty becoming the power play defenseman. Like you said, he's got high offensive upside and with a little bit of fine tuning and adjustment to his defensive play could be, ⁓
the most well-rounded defenseman of the Sun Devil's defensive corps.
Andrew Hayslett (53:25)
And then my final pair is Richard Baron and Lincoln Keane. Baron, he's the only other left shot you've got on the roster at this point, so naturally he's gonna slide in there. And Lincoln Keane, he's a guy who I liked his development throughout the year and just getting better and better. Remember, he's a guy that's underage, was 17 to start the year. considering that makes me more excited what Keane can do moving forward because...
Tom Hardon (53:27)
Thank
Andrew Hayslett (53:55)
in his final home game got his first career goal first career assist. If he can develop more than offensive presence, get better on the defensive side, he could be a guy that becomes your next time merches and I said it points throughout the season. I fully believe he could be that guy at some point.
Tom Hardon (54:19)
and is a draft eligible player this season. He's been consistently listed in in top 100 lists for North American skaters. So it'll be interesting to see who if and who calls his name in June's draft. I think I think we talked about it a couple of weeks ago. Slotting him somewhere around a potential third round third round pick. I think that's I think that's.
just about the right spot for him. does get him is going to get a guy with a lot of upside. I loved his vision on the ice. He just needed the minutes to get comfortable in his own skates, working in the system. And I think we saw that coming as the season came down to an end, like you said, getting his first goal and first assist in the home finale. And I think he's only going to continue to develop upward in his sophomore season.
Andrew Hayslett (55:20)
Finally for me your extra skater is gonna be Anthony Dowd You tend to do defensemen more than a forward and as your extra skater. I I subscribe to that theory a lot I think that's the way to go and at this point Anthony Dowd he's got experience which looking at at this this defensive core I see Three juniors in three sophomores. That's still a young core
So you need some experience and he does bring that. But I've gone into it a little bit. He's a guy that makes some head scratching decisions at times. That's why I have him down here. I don't like his play compared to the other three right shot defensemen that I've listed already.
I also would imagine the Sun Devils get in another left shot defenseman that if one of the top three guys struggle you get someone to cycle in and then is your...
Final healthy scratch I've kind of a mystery guy They might not they might go 25 in case someone leaves or gets injured just have flexibility whether they want to go defensemen or not Just or even still they just might want to get a guy who's a utility could play both like we've seen Tucker Ness do in the past just someone who's versatile because Versatility is always a good thing
Tom Hardon (56:53)
And then for the goaltenders, it's pretty straightforward. You've got Samuel Urban as the top goaltender. He is the incumbent. think there's really no other way you can go off that. Arizona State does have Marco Billich slated to possibly arrive in the fall of 2026. But all that could change depending on how Coach Powers
goes after players in the portal, which does open on April 13th after the national championship game. And as I said, only open for 15 days. So it'll be a very, very rapid fire progression for players going in and out. My for my, for my part, defense has to be a focus in the portal. to get, I think you've got to get at least one defenseman who is, it would be nice to get a senior.
coming on defense and really be a true leader for the guys on the blue line. And then I think ⁓ getting an upper classman goaltender as well would be helpful. think simply it was just an unfavorable situation for both Connor Hasley and Samuel Urbán this season. ⁓ Stopped, had the highest average saves per game.
in the NCHC, but that was simply because of the volume of shots that they were facing on a night-to-night basis. But seeing an upperclassmen goaltender coming in would be high on my list as well. think with the core of Fords plus potential players who could be coming in as freshmen, I don't think that there is a need to address Fords in the transfer portal unless somebody else signs or leaves unexpectedly.
Andrew Hayslett (58:46)
Yeah, I agree. I think you might get one forward. There's a guy that you can maybe buff out the top side a little bit somewhere that you want. Defensively, you gotta get a left shot defenseman. I think that's more than a right shot. I like the top three on the right shot side a lot. I don't want to shake that up. Power's might.
But if I'm based off of what I see, I think the left side's the weaker side at this point. Get someone to help that side. But who knows who leaves that might just jumble everything up. This conversation might not mean anything anymore because if Joel Schellberg wants to leave, for example, you need a right shot defenseman all of a sudden to replace Joel Schellberg.
and probably left side one too. So who knows? I don't yet. But that 15 day period is very important. Greg Powers is going to be in his office all hours of the day, maybe all hours of the night, just trying to get the right guys in the portal because they're...
It's only 15 days trying to do math to figure out how many hours that is. I can't do it that quickly. think it's like...
250 hours or so? My math is right. What?
Tom Hardon (1:00:22)
360.
360 hours.
Andrew Hayslett (1:00:28)
I was off by a lot. This is why I'm not a math major. 360 hours, that's still half of what it was last season. So time is money and you gotta make it count.
Tom Hardon (1:00:40)
Not even half.
It's a quarter of, maybe a third. I think the portal was 45 days last year and it's cut down to 15 days. We will be tracking all of the portal action for players coming in, going from Tempe for Devils in Detail. Well, since you brought up La Crosse, Andrew, I want to hear what you saw at Centerville La Crosse Stadium this weekend.
Andrew Hayslett (1:01:10)
Yeah, was yesterday, Wednesday. Sun Devils got a win in La Crosse. It was a dominating win over Akron. It felt like the Sun Devils had control of the game for the majority of it. Had a bunch of different goal scores up and down the lineup. So far this season, I kind of want to just give everyone a brief...
where they are five and three on a three game win streak against Niagara Bucknell and Akron at home they just wrapped up a seven game home stand which is kind of unfortunate of the the nine home games you get this season seven of them are in a row that's unfortunate and how the schedule shook up
You had some decent losses in there to Denver, who's always good, and USC, another power conference team. ⁓ An overtime loss to Oregon in Oregon. So there's some good things to take. Got a tough game at Navy after you play Mercer on Saturday. Then Stanford, a former Pac-12, fell before.
Big 12 play comes around at the end of the March. Couple players I do want to shout out that were doing really well is Tegan Ng, 28 goals on the season. She had a few. This one of forwards. Lydia Oldenow as well, again, 28 goals on the season.
Those are two really good players from what I've seen in the little lacrosse I've seen over the three years I've been here. I do want to mention Anna Viglione 115 draw controls this season. I know you're a hockey guy so Tom, put this in hockey terms, that's face-offs. She is really good at that as well.
I want to move over to the goal-tending, the goal-keeping side is that it appears that the Sun Devils have found that the goalie they're going to use for the rest of the year is Regan Spitcher, I think it's how it's pronounced, Spitchker. I probably butchered that, but two wins, she played the full.
game yesterday she played ⁓ the majority of the game on the previous game against Bucknell so if you can get your goaltender down they've rotated the three so far this year
If you your goaltender down moving forward, that's going to be key. If you have certainty in who's stopping the net, no matter what sport it is. We've seen it in hockey. It's the same thing in soccer. It's the same thing in lacrosse. Same thing in water polo. I don't think there's any other sports that have a goaltender of any sorts at ASU that I'm forgetting. But if there were, the same thing would apply.
Tom Hardon (1:04:26)
Thank
I know hockey and lacrosse don't fall too far from each other. Different in an overall play, but still still similar enough. So I do know some of that terminology, but you mentioned Big 12 play opening up and it is weird to see Florida as a Big 12 conference member. I know they are an affiliate member of the Big 12 for women's lacrosse, but that will be the next home game for some double women's lacrosse. So if you haven't gotten out to see
to see a game. ⁓ I know I want to get out for a game and maybe this will be in the time that I get my first lacrosse game for the Sun Devils ever. So looking forward to seeing how the lacrosse season continues. I want to shout out Softball as well, carrying a 20 and 6 record to open the season. ⁓
got a tough matchup against Oklahoma State coming up this weekend at Farrington and I haven't had a chance to watch too too much of the softball season but looks like another strong start for the team and Andrew what have you seen so far?
Andrew Hayslett (1:05:59)
Yeah, like you Tom, I haven't been able to catch much softball this year. I'll be there Friday for softball. It's going to be a tough series against Oklahoma State. You did win a midweek at UTEP, which is a random midweek for the Sun Devils when you're playing at home against Utah the previous week and then playing at home against Oklahoma State the next week. But you did pummel UTEP, which is what you're supposed
do but looking at Utah series they got swept lost ⁓ an extra inning game five to nine lost a five inning game on Saturday and then lost a six inning game on Saturday and Sunday with the run rules coming into the fact that the final two games
You gotta at least get one win in this Oklahoma State Series because you don't want to start the season 0-6 in conference play. That's not good. Something that's been surprising to me, Tom, is I'm looking at the pitching.
staff is all three pictures are similar and how all three main pitchers are similar and how they performed this year and Ayesa Silva, Mika Lupe and Kenzie Brown. Kenzie Brown I thought was going to be can have another all-american type season like she did last year just hasn't clicked this year only appeared in 10 games so far I think she's been dealing with an injury I'm not not certain about that but
If any are a 3.3 just not what you want to see See there the other two pitchers they've been serviceable, but that's Not what you want compared to what you expect with Kenzie Brown But it's kind of similar to sorry what baseball has been past the bats Have been there. They've got they've got a formidable
line up up and for me at least you've you've you've got players that are are tough outs which is something you need in softball.
Tom Hardon (1:08:17)
Looking forward to your coverage from Farrington on Friday for the start of the Oklahoma State Series. I want to close out at least for me with swim and dive. 24 Sun Devils were selected to compete at the national championships this season. ⁓ Three women were selected for multiple events. Alvain Kachal, I think I pronounced that right.
Denise Ertan and Julia Ullman all qualify for multiple events and over on the men's side Adam Chaney, Remy Fabiani, Andy Dobranski and Ilya Karun all competing in multiple events. Good luck to the Sun Devils men and women's teams at the Nationals.
All right, that's everything I had.
Andrew Hayslett (1:09:09)
Yeah, they...
Tom Hardon (1:09:11)
Go ahead.
Andrew Hayslett (1:09:12)
That's
everything for me too.
Tom Hardon (1:09:14)
Alright, well, for Andrew Hazlett and for everybody else at Devils in Detail, I'm Tom Harden, signing off, and as always, give them hell devils.