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)
Welcome one, welcome all. It's been a while, but we are back here with another episode of Echo from the Buttes. I'm your host, Tom Harden. With me, as always, are Andrew Hazlett and Austin Bundy. And baseball season is in full swing, if I may use a poorly crafted pun. Sun Devils just wrapped up a midweek matchup against San Diego State last night. Andrew, you were there at the ballpark and
I've been there on and off throughout the season. I've gotten to see a lot of the same things that you have, but I think we've got to really start this with Landon Harrison. mean, it's night and day difference what we're seeing out of him to open his sophomore season than what he brought as a freshman, which was still nothing to be disappointed at.
Andrew Hayslett (00:55)
Yeah, he had a good freshman season, but the one Hole in his game was he wasn't a real powerful bat only had four home runs Took him a long time to get get his first home run. It was in the Cincinnati series that came in middle of April last year and This this the season as you said Tom night and day difference already in double digits of home runs I Want to say the number 17. I don't have it in front of me
Tom Hardon (01:23)
It is
17. I was just looking at that this morning.
Andrew Hayslett (01:27)
He is emerged as a real talent, gonna be an All-American, I would have to assume at this point. One of the best college baseball players right now, if not the best. He leads the team in just about every stat offensively that you can think of besides really triples and hit by pitches. He even leads the team in stolen bases too. I really don't think of him as a speed guy, but he can do everything.
He's his defense has improved from what it was last year because he broke on as a DH and then Keon Vu the right fielder he got injured and Hairston played a lot of right field. That's what got him a lot of running time and then they moved him to left field when Vu came back because Brandon Compton like Landon Hairston wasn't the best defensive guy at that point. So they wanted to swap him out Hairston's improved his defense and
Austen Bundy (02:26)
Cheers.
Andrew Hayslett (02:27)
Now he's making some good plays out there in left field as well as his offense and just hitting home run after home run after home run. It's a lot. I've been tweeting it out. ⁓ Harrison with another home run. That's I think 14 in his last 16 I want to say. just something incredible like that. number is, this is a streak for so long that it's incredible.
Tom Hardon (02:57)
And he's starting to draw comparisons to another all-time great Sun Devil in very bonds. And you have to start to wonder how often, know, how long will it be until teams start to regularly pitch around him and just give him the automatic walk.
Andrew Hayslett (03:14)
You start to see it in a little bit. ⁓ Virginia on Sunday, I believe, intentionally walked him. You start to see, and Hurston's admitted in his post-game press conference Monday, yeah, teams are starting to pitch around the edges more, but if they want to get him out, they're going to have to throw good pitches down the middle, and that's what he's been hitting for home runs.
He, he, he, like I said, he leads the team in just about every statistic that's include walks. He has 18 this year and you see him. He's taken pitches that aren't in the zone. those, those borderline pictures, he isn't taken those.
Tom Hardon (04:02)
Austin, I want to kick this to you. A hitter of Harrison's stature, power hitter, he's hitting over 400. The traditional school of thought would have a hitter like him batting in the heart of the order in the three, four spot, but he's doing this out of the leadoff spot. Call it the changing game of baseball, changing analytics.
Do you think that he is in the leadoff spot to stay or do you think you would see him get moved down into the heart of the order to have that more traditional look to it?
Austen Bundy (04:39)
See, I wouldn't be surprised if later in the season he ends up in the heart of the order, but I kind of like what they're doing. kind of like putting him out there first because especially when a pitcher's throwing those first few, first dozen or so pitches, they're still trying to get used to the game speed. They're still trying to get used to who they're looking at, especially first time through the order.
If you've got your best guy out there, somebody who's going to hit those balls that are gonna be sweet spot in the strike zone form, especially when a pitcher is trying to figure out where those strikes zone is to begin with, ⁓ I think you're taking advantage of the fact that he like, he can locate these balls, he can hit these things far, and he's gonna take advantage of pitchers getting used to the game. Now.
If we're gonna talk about changing the game of baseball and the analytics, I mean, you can look to the majors right now. The Washington Nationals, their best hitter is batting ninth in the order, which might as well be lead off once you've gone through the order ⁓ once already. It's an unusual spot to see somebody who's made it on base 10 out of 10 times ⁓ in their at bats bat ninth in an order like that, but it's been getting them wins.
So I feel like ASU, if they're gonna take advantage of the fact that an unorthodox approach to the lineup with your best hitter is yielding the right results, I mean, don't fix what's not broke, right?
Tom Hardon (05:59)
The example I was also thinking of was this fellow for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Some folks might have heard of him called Shohei Otani. He's made his home at the top of the lineup without a doubt. He's the best hitter not only on the Dodgers, but certainly one of the best hitters in all of baseball. Same kind of just shock and awe when you see him at the top of the lineup. And he's that immediate power threat right there.
I for one like to see Harrison at the top of the order. Andrew, you touched on it as well. He is up there with stolen bases. And if you've got a guy who can do it all from the top of the lineup, why not put him in there?
Andrew Hayslett (06:46)
Yeah, that's the thing. think conventional wisdom would say you have Harrison as your two or three hitter and throw maybe a PJ Moots or Rytus or an Austin Roelig at the top of guys that aren't necessarily power bats but have good on base rates. ⁓ But in this new era of baseball, you see your Shohei Otani's, Katel Marte's even batting leadoff.
for teams and I think this is the new way to go. Am I on board with it at this point as a baseball theory? No, but if it's working for the Sun Devils, don't try to change it. You're getting your best hitter as many at bats as you possibly can, which I think at the end of the day isn't the worst thing in the world.
Tom Hardon (07:40)
And that's the point right there, too. You want to have your best hitters get as many at-bats when you're starting in the leadoff spot. 999 times out of 1,000, you're going to get four at-bats in a game. To me, it's just common sense. Not only, obviously, is it working, don't tweak it around, but...
I just want to see Harrison get as many trips to the plate as possible, get those guaranteed for a bats a game, unless it's a complete blowout and you start to work in the underclassmen into the lineup to get them their reps.
Other than that, we.
Andrew Hayslett (08:22)
Yeah,
I don't see any change coming.
Tom Hardon (08:25)
No, certainly not. And certainly with a big series on tap this weekend down the road in Tucson, don't want to throw too many wrenches into that. I'm of course talking about the ⁓ annual conference portion of the Territorial Cup series taking place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday due to the Easter holiday.
And when you talk about teams that are on different trajectory paths to what was expected at the start of the season, I don't think you can get much more of a stark contrast than the series coming up. Of course, Arizona was highly tattered to be towards the top of the Big 12. Arizona State in the upper middle according to the media and the preseason poll, but
Now this is a series that, obviously you don't take anything for granted against your in-state rival. And I'm not gonna go as far as to even call this a critical series, but looking at the conference standings with Arizona State sitting in a logjam at five and four in conference playing.
You would like to see a weekend sweep to be able to break some of that up.
Andrew Hayslett (09:51)
Yeah, after kind of a disappointing 1-2 series against West Virginia, only taking one game at home, especially after the Friday night run rule victory, you'd figure you'd be able to win at least one more. It didn't, which I know it stinks for the Sun Devils baseball team. So they need to get on the right path here and break out of the logjam, like you said, at Tom at 5-4. This is one where...
Series where you kind of just chuck the records out the window because this means more than ⁓ who's good Who's not it's you want to beat your rival and beat him as much as you can
Tom Hardon (10:35)
This is a series that could produce an 18 inning game just as likely as it could produce a 20 run victory. Andrew, you put out earlier today the starting rotation for this weekend. Why don't you go ahead and run through that for us and see where this pitching staff racks up.
Andrew Hayslett (10:59)
Yeah, it's been interesting because I want to put this in context a little bit. Last week ⁓ you had two midweek games UNLV and New Mexico State and then you had the three game weekend series as usual against West Virginia and now this week then like yesterday you had Monday for the midweek game so everything's kind of of whack right now. So this is so
Going into the Thursday, Friday, Saturday series instead of the typical Friday, Saturday, Sunday series, it potentially allows for a shakeup in the rotation and that's what you're going to see. Taylor Penn is starting on Thursday. ⁓ Penn has started one game this season, I believe it was the second midweek at ⁓ Oklahoma. Western Kentucky last year, he was used as a midweek starter on occasion.
He's been pitching well this year. I think this is the right guy to go with at this point ⁓ Bloomquist, this is this is all tentative and could change though there so take it with a Possibility that it might change ⁓ Cole Carlone starting Friday. They wanted to leave Carlone and the fighter will keep everything the same from first year started They don't want to tinker by moving them up a day
and then moving them back at this point. Which I get it, it makes sense, that's not something I was expecting, but it's logical, I get it. Then they move Cole Klecker up to Saturday, and Cole Klecker has been the number two guy in terms of results this season, been doing better than Alex Overbay's of the world right now. yeah, it makes sense, I think that's...
something similar to what I would have done. And then it will be interesting moving forward. Is Taylor Penn your Sunday guy now? Because I would imagine it's going to be Cole Klecker on Saturdays moving forward. Is Penn going to be your Sunday guy now? he going to be your starter? Are you going to move Easton Barrett or Colin Linder into that?
Sunday roll or are they going to stay midweek? Where's Alex Overbay gonna fall? Is he gonna be the guy that backs up Cole Carleone, which he was doing very impressive to start the year only allowed one run and I think three times he did that. So it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out after this series, but regardless, think this is the, I think it's how I would draw it up or close to it.
So I like the movie.
Tom Hardon (13:52)
Austin, the midweek game earlier in March between these two teams produced a ⁓ very decisive victory for Arizona State. Do you see, much from a distance, from what you've seen out of this team, do you see the potential for more like that to happen this weekend or being down in the hostile environment in ⁓ Tucson? ⁓ What do you expect to see out of this weekend's series?
Austen Bundy (14:22)
I think the territorial cup series is always so unpredictable that you can never take the previous body of work for either team and directly apply it to what you think is going to happen in those games. It's a different environment. ⁓ Guys step up differently in a rivalry game. Some pitchers may have some new heat to them that could go in their favor. It could go against them if they're a ⁓ little too amped up maybe. ⁓
I think ASU has a better chance than not to see more of what they've been giving us just because when you're hot, you're hot. Though in baseball, mean, we all know that can just come to a screeching halt whenever. My biggest question for them going into this series, I think, is to not let it bring them to a screeching halt because it's a completely different atmosphere. It's a completely different mindset going into a rivalry series as opposed to just another conference series.
⁓ I don't want them to get caught up in that moment and have it bring them down or have them play outside of the level outside of the groove that they're in because clearly they're playing winning baseball. Clearly they're playing the right kind of style that has got them stacking up W's and if they go in and treat it. I don't want them to not treat it like a rivalry game. I don't want them to not go in there with any kind of.
head of steam or anything, but I don't want them to go in there, play a different type of game just because it's U of A. And then that ends up affecting the rest of the season down the road. ⁓ But then again, you also have to ask, is the style of play they have sustainable? Is everything, all the runs they're scoring, is it sustainable? Are they going to be able to keep that up? And I think this weekend is going to be that first test, especially because they may have to change up the mindset. They may change up how they approach.
⁓ each game. But I would like to see them continue the type of baseball they've been playing. mean, they've been winning and if they can replicate it going into Tucson, all the better for the program.
Tom Hardon (16:31)
Absolutely. This is really the series to start to make some noise in the big 12 standings. Still ranked in the top 25, holding on to that number 25 spot according to d1baseball.com. really just time to take care of business. But all three games will be.
will be televised. You can watch Thursday and Friday both on ESPN plus and Saturday will be available on ESPN to moving over to the.
Andrew Hayslett (17:06)
I
do hold quickly, I do want to give you one note, if I can find it here. By my math, ⁓ with a sweep, Willy Bloomquist gets to 150 career wins as an ASU head coach.
Tom Hardon (17:25)
That is quite the milestone and we'll all be hoping that he is able to get that this weekend. It would be all the more sweeter against Arizona as well, at least in my opinion.
Moving over to the other diamond sport in play right now, Arizona State softball is off to a 28 and nine start on the season, but struggling a little bit in Big 12 play. ⁓ Currently on a five game winning streak. The ladies are playing incredibly well at Farrington, 21 and seven record, and we're seeing some great performances. Now, Andrew. ⁓
Have you actually been able to make it over to softball for any games this season?
Andrew Hayslett (18:11)
Yes, I have I was able to catch one there oak the extra inning game against Oklahoma State on March 13th but from what I've seen Tom is to two to three series they've had a ranked series so Yes, it's concerning to see them be Then what was the number you said it's three and six in conference play But
I that number is going to prove that that sweep against Utah at home is really concerning to me, but seeing them take two and at home against Oklahoma State and then seeing them dominate one of the three games against U of A and almost take a second one that would have been really huge for the Sun Devils as well.
It's a little concerning, but it's not too concerning.
Tom Hardon (19:13)
do want to give a shout out to Ashley Mejia, a big eight RBI game with two grand slams just a few days ago. ⁓ Big offensive outbursts like that, no matter whether it's baseball, softball, ⁓ individual performances like that are really what would drive the buzz for this team.
Andrew Hayslett (19:36)
Yeah, she's been performing well, leads the team in hits. Certainly, certainly been one of those names for Coach Bartlett where you just write it in every day and write her name in right field and pretty easily. Like there's no thought into that. There's other positions on the team where you kind of say, okay, all right, who am I playing today? But Mejia and Kaylee Pond, the center fielder, haven't been those.
players this season. They've been where you can just write it and forget it.
Tom Hardon (20:11)
Speaking of Kaylee Pond, Mahia, Kaylee Pond and Katie Chester create a very dynamic trio of power hitters all throughout the Austin, with these three power hitters, ⁓ what's really holding back an offense like this when you have two in double digits and one more approaching double digits?
Austen Bundy (20:40)
I mean, it could be anything across the board. mean, I don't necessarily keep up as close with softball as many others, but you would think that it could be, I don't know, a routine thing. It could just be not seeing the ball well, not seeing... Honestly, it could be a whole variety of things, but...
when it comes to the way that they've been playing lately, they seem like a team that can snap out of a slump if they hit one, you know? So I'm confident that whatever it is they're going to run into later on this season, because the Big 12 is a gauntlet regardless in the sport of softball. So I am not worried that if they do hit anything like that, it's going to impact them for an extended period of time. ⁓
But I give them credit to where they've gotten so far, just because, I mean, they're winning games. They look like a team that can...
make a run if they really need to. Like this is a team that can rattle off the wins if they need to. They have the pitching, they've got the power. It's just gonna come down to seeing pitches well and base running. I don't think people give a lot of credit to base running and softball. So if they can figure that out, I think it's gonna be a better season going forward for them.
Tom Hardon (22:14)
Looking ahead to the schedule ⁓ The Lady Devils will also be on the road traveling to Kansas for this Easter weekend series again Thursday Friday Sunday, sorry Thursday Friday Saturday all those games also on ESPN plus I'm gonna take a little bit of a jog over to some of the sports that we don't normally cover here on our show and I use
The word jog again as a poorly crafted pun to move into the track and field teams. Now looking at the indoor season, which is winding down to a close. 9th place overall in the big 12 in the men's standings and 16th at the on women's side in the indoor championships. But some.
some big 12 titles to shout out Amir Thompson, winning the the 200 meter dash with a school record time of 20.4 seconds, breaking a 21 year old program. Me personally, I couldn't even run, couldn't even run 2000 meters in 20.4 seconds. So I have the utmost respect for sprinters who
We were to knock down those times. Jaden Davis also won the conference indoor title with a season best time of 45.31 seconds in the 400 meter dash. And also shout out to Amir Thompson, first team All-American honors at the NCAA indoor championships. ⁓ All around solid individual season on the indoor side.
getting ready for the outdoor season that's currently in progress. The upcoming dual meet down in Tucson against the University of Arizona. ⁓ Guys, I'm just gonna open, make this kind of open forum for any thoughts that you guys have on the track and field season.
Austen Bundy (24:30)
Winning is good. We like winning.
Tom Hardon (24:32)
Yeah.
Andrew Hayslett (24:33)
Yeah, I echo what Austin said. That's a sport where I don't really know much about besides they run and then they do other stuff besides running too. I hear a lot of good things that sounds like they're doing well. So yeah.
Tom Hardon (24:52)
Run fast, throw things far, win medals. I think that's just about the gist of track and field.
Andrew Hayslett (24:58)
And I think they do jump too.
Tom Hardon (25:01)
⁓ yeah, jump far.
Austen Bundy (25:03)
Jump high and jump far.
Tom Hardon (25:05)
Yes.
Austen Bundy (25:06)
I want to give a shout out to the men's swim and dive team. came in fourth in the NCAA national championships, broke a few NCAA records as well. had a 200 meter freestyle relay were national champions, 400 freestyle relay national champions. Ilya Karun was a first team All-American after finishing, what was it?
⁓ yeah, he won the national championship for the 200 fly as well. He's the second Sun Devil men's swimmer to win multiple national titles in the same event. The only other person to do that was Leon Marchand, who famously won many medals at the Paris Olympics and at the last two NCAAs ago when they won the national title. ⁓
Who else did they have here? ⁓ Johnny Colo, he finished fifth in the 100 free, but he was also named the first team All-American. So all impressive all around for a lot of our swimmers. And the women were big 12 champions back to back years. So that's pretty impressive as well.
Andrew Hayslett (26:25)
I it's interesting to me looking at the final scores here that the former Arizona State head coach Bob Bowman who's now at Texas, he won it with Texas this year.
Tom Hardon (26:39)
I'm glad you bring up
Austen Bundy (26:40)
He's a legend of the sport.
Tom Hardon (26:43)
I'm glad to bring up Swim and Dive and Ilya Karun specifically. With that 200 meter freestyle relay, Ilya just set the pool on fire with a 17.76 split time for his 50. ⁓ As a former swimmer myself, it's just mind boggling seeing some of these times and...
Glad to see that it's happening for the Sun Devils.
Austen Bundy (27:17)
They go blistering speeds. I mean, I'm looking at their 50 free times here too. Ilya Kuru and with an 18.51 in the 50 free, like give me a break, man. Like as a former swimmer myself too, I'm looking at that and I'm like, I'd be lucky to finish the 25 in that right now.
Tom Hardon (27:34)
My exact thought as well. I was never a sprinter. I was always the distance kid.
We'll move on from the pool ⁓ to another sport that has meets. This time is gymnastics. The gym devils are actually getting ready to host the Tempe Regional of the NCAA tournament, ranked number 32 nationally. That regional is getting set to start on April 1st after the semifinals finished fourth overall in the Big 12 Championships.
winning their afternoon session in the championships. Some of the best performers throughout the year, Kimberly Smith as the primary all-arounder. She was named All Big 12 with three titles on Senior Day and top all-arounder in the afternoon session at the Big 12.
Also, Rizkula, second place on the bars at the Big 12 Championships. And lots of solid performances out of freshmen, Kylie Bromley, Safiya El-Maman, both named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
That's it.
Austen Bundy (28:55)
Yeah.
Andrew Hayslett (28:56)
You know what's interesting as I'm looking at this now is that the This first round is with you against Arizona your rival and I wonder across all of your Tournaments how often is it that you face your in conference rival first round?
Tom Hardon (29:24)
I think most tournaments try to avoid an in-conference matchup. I can speak primarily for hockey that at all costs in-conference matchups for the first round are avoided, but I assume it's the same across most every other sport.
Austen Bundy (29:44)
I mean, it's definitely the same in basketball. They're not allowed to do that in March Madness. But ⁓ I'm not entirely sure how it works, but how did the women finish or are currently ranked 32nd in the nation, but they're hosting a regional? is it a bigger meet with other teams, or is this just a one-on-one that they're hosting?
Tom Hardon (30:07)
I believe it might just be a one-on-one.
Andrew Hayslett (30:10)
Yeah, it's a dual meat, so I do believe that is a one on one.
Austen Bundy (30:15)
Okay, yeah, that makes more sense because to me hearing them hearing say like hosting a regional made me think like, like they got to host like four teams for me that I wasn't sure I don't know how gymnastics NCAA tournament or their their championships how that works.
Andrew Hayslett (30:33)
I don't really know either, Learning, try to learn everything while I'm here at Arizona State covering everything.
Tom Hardon (30:44)
We're looking at the, I'm taking a look at the bracket right now. There are only two first round brackets that are taking place starting tomorrow, April 1st. Baton Rouge Regional between Air Force and Nebraska, and then the Tempe Regional between Arizona State and Arizona. Then...
⁓ Then you have a couple more first rounders going tomorrow in Lexington Corvallis. Then there's a second round from Tempe. The sessions are to be determined.
Austen Bundy (31:19)
So does that mean ASU is hosting multiple schools? Because if Baton Rouge is hosting a regional and LSU is not involved in that dual meet, I wonder if these are regionals that are predetermined like March Madness where there's a host school regardless of who makes it.
Tom Hardon (31:35)
That may be the case. I'm confirming what the what all the host sites are because
Austen Bundy (31:42)
Cause that would make a little more sense, but I'm a little surprised
that like Wells Fargo would continually get picked for a regional something or like that because it is rather small. Or have they been doing these at mullet?
Tom Hardon (31:52)
There's been a mix of gymnastics meets at Mullet as well, but I am looking at the second round of the tournament. LSU is a number two overall seed in the tournament. So they are obviously participating in the Baton Rouge regional. ⁓ You have Oregon State that is not ranked but is a host. So we're looking at...
Also, looking at Kentucky, ⁓ the number 16 overall, but number one overall, Oklahoma is also in that same region.
Austen Bundy (32:28)
Okay, so this must be predetermined as opposed to like you host based on what your seeding is, you know?
Tom Hardon (32:34)
There are a total of nine teams that are participating in each regional. Arizona and Arizona State are playing in to fill out the field of eight for the region. Other teams that are making up the region are number six overall Georgia, number 11 overall Michigan State, number three overall Florida, number 14 overall California, and then BYU, Southern Utah, and Penn State.
Austen Bundy (33:03)
So ASU is having to play into their own regional here, sounds like. Is that how you're describing it?
Tom Hardon (33:08)
That's what it's appearing to me.
Austen Bundy (33:11)
Wow. Crazy how that works out.
Tom Hardon (33:16)
The more you know, right?
But that region kicks off tomorrow on April 1st. If you're in the Phoenix area and are able to get down to Desert Financial Arena, definitely check it out. Otherwise, the meet will be aired on ESPN+.
I'm gonna kick it back outside, looking at beach volleyball now. We've indoor volleyball pretty extensively this season and only fair to give the love to the ladies out on the beach. 13 and six overall record. I believe reached the top 10 ranking. I'm not sure what the current ranking is, but.
Hard to ignore a 10-0 start for the best start and the longest start in program, or longest winning streak in program history.
Austen Bundy (34:10)
Yeah, that's impressive. I mean, I don't watch much beach volleyball, but to go 10 and 0 to start off your season, get up that high and still, I mean, 13 and 6, that's nothing to stick your nose up at. But clearly, there was a bit of a slip up going here. So hopefully, they can snap out of it and get back on the positive end of ⁓ this next stretch of games they've got.
Andrew Hayslett (34:33)
They've been playing a lot of ⁓ ranked teams as of what I'm looking here on the calendar. The last three, six, the last six games that they've played were all ranked and then the previous, and then that's...
10 out the last 11 games were ranked. So it's been a tough ⁓ schedule as of late, but they have won, let's see, three games in that stretch. So, decent. And then before that, they played a total of five ranked games and won those five. So, I lost count in the ranked games total, but I think that's...
7 in like 6 against ranked teams this season if my math's right.
Austen Bundy (35:30)
Yep, that's not bad. mean, they went 10 and 0 to start, or 3 and 6 since then.
Tom Hardon (35:36)
On the signature win for sure, so far this season was an upset of defending national champion and then number five ranked TCU. But it's certainly a great trajectory on the season. Ava Kurenchuk and Samaya Morin are the top pairing for.
for the team, both redshirt seniors, 15 and seven on the year. Named big 12 pair of the week earlier in March, coming off of that 10-0 start. And then you've got the transfer duo of McKenna Flaherty and Kristen Gilmore starting 9-0 on the season. And they got the only win during the East meets West Invitational against Cal, who was number 10 at the time. lots of good things going on for
for the beach beach volleyball side the they will be home this weekend for the sparky invitational April 3rd and 4th before the big 12 championships start down in Tucson which are At the end of April. I'm sure there's other matches in between there. I don't have the full schedule right up in front of me
Andrew Hayslett (36:49)
Looking at college beach volleyball.
Rankings updated as of yesterday, Arizona State sits 11th.
as high as eight out.
Top school in Arizona, I might add too.
Austen Bundy (37:07)
Solid.
Tom Hardon (37:10)
That's what you love
to see.
Andrew Hayslett (37:14)
GC right behind him in 12th.
Tom Hardon (37:20)
that I learned that JCU has a beach volleyball team.
Austen Bundy (37:23)
We got all the sand out here. I mean, might as well use it, right?
Tom Hardon (37:27)
Exactly.
Andrew Hayslett (37:29)
And then Arizona is down there a little bit. 23rd.
Austen Bundy (37:36)
There's no Oklahoma Coastal. I thought they'd be up there.
Andrew Hayslett (37:40)
not that I could see ⁓ right now.
Tom Hardon (37:44)
Powerhouse school like them I would expect them to be towards the top
Andrew Hayslett (37:54)
I guess the coast there doesn't bring up much, much beaches.
Tom Hardon (38:00)
More of a muddy coast there, I would imagine.
We'll pivot over to another sport that involves sand, one that, Andrew, believe you played in high school and I play badly recreationally, that is, of course, golf. And the men's team is very highly ranked this season, as they tend to be year over year. Currently ranked in the top 10 with three team titles on the season and
Probably the biggest win I would say for the season. A 20-stroke win at the Desimone Invitational. Definitely the high point of the season. ⁓ Looking to charge their way to another national championship team appearance over in, I believe it's in Carlsbad. I attended the tournament last year, but this team is definitely right on the way to getting back over there.
Andrew Hayslett (39:05)
Yeah, they've got a couple guys that are doing well. I want to FIFA.
Lao Pak Di, I believe that's how it's pronounced. ⁓ Tai Yawfer, he won the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship last year. That gets him an invite to the Masters and British Open this year as well. So he's definitely got some big things coming for him. He's clearly the team's number one guy from what I've seen.
Austen Bundy (39:41)
that how John Rahm started? He won the amateur at the Masters.
Andrew Hayslett (39:45)
⁓
You're testing me this on the... Austin, don't know off the top of my head, I do want to say he had a good showing there.
Austen Bundy (39:58)
I know he won some amateur at a major. I could have swore he won an amateur title at a major before he went big.
Andrew Hayslett (40:03)
You
⁓
He was the low amateur at the US Open in 2016.
Austen Bundy (40:17)
US Open, okay. I knew it was a major, but I couldn't remember which one. But he does have a green jacket, so.
Tom Hardon (40:23)
But it does.
Andrew Hayslett (40:26)
and the US Open Championship.
Tom Hardon (40:26)
I remember watching that tournament
too.
I also want to call out ⁓ senior Michael Myasith. I believe that's how you pronounce his name, also up there with ⁓ Fifa Lopakti. ⁓ He's, I believe, ranked number 14th in the Clipped rankings. So definitely a very, very strong duo leading the charge for the men's golf team.
Andrew Hayslett (40:57)
might see them on the professional tours in a few years or so.
Tom Hardon (41:04)
More time that was on the tour is a okay by me.
Austen Bundy (41:08)
just as long as it's not live.
Tom Hardon (41:10)
Only a matter time before Liv and PGA come back together, I think.
Austen Bundy (41:11)
But I digress.
Geez I mean it'll be all it'll be all the better with Having players like Ron back on the on on the tour But I'm not sure if I want to see what compromises they make by bringing live into into PGA
Andrew Hayslett (41:33)
There's a bill.
Tom Hardon (41:35)
That's a whole conversation for another show, but strong seasons all around for the spring sports in action. can catch most any ASU athletic events on ESPN +, or head on out to some of these other lesser...
Austen Bundy (41:37)
You
Tom Hardon (41:55)
lesser promoted sports. I think I'm definitely going to make a point to check out some beach volleyball this weekend. I've never actually been to a beach volleyball match and I think it's time to cross that off of my list.
Andrew Hayslett (42:09)
I will not be at beach volleyball this weekend. I will be in Tucson on Saturday. For baseball.
Tom Hardon (42:09)
The.
Ooh,
there you go.
Austen Bundy (42:20)
Good luck.
Andrew Hayslett (42:22)
Thank you.
Tom Hardon (42:25)
course, the off-season headline that's been carrying a lot of weight for the Sun Devils is the hiring of Randy Bennett. Unfortunately, his introductory conference has been postponed due to health concerns. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to his introduction as soon as it is able to happen. But what we do want to talk about is the coaching staff that he's filling out. And this staff is looking to be...
very, very positive movements for the basketball program. Rick Croy and Joe Rehan both hired on as associate head coaches. Austin, I want to kick this over to you. What's your first impression of the staff so far?
Austen Bundy (43:14)
mean, it's experienced. I like what he's bringing in. ⁓
I am hopeful in the fact that he's bringing in guys who were going to, for me, the first priority for me is bringing in guys who are going to know the transfer portal, who are going to know where to go out on the recruitment trail and to be able to find those diamonds in the rough. I mean, I'm not expecting him to go out there and necessarily do what Hurley did, which was find some of those.
Five-star guys and entice them in and I mean we all know what happened in the Hurley era bringing those five stars doesn't necessarily translate to wins doesn't actually translate to team chemistry ⁓ But I mean it's impressive to bring in a guy from Cal Baptist when Cal Baptist has had a pretty impressive run over the last few years They were in the tournament this past this most recent season ⁓
That tells me that he knows how to identify talent. He knows rather than bringing in familiar faces, bringing in guys that he already knows he can work with. He's looking for game changers. He's looking for guys who can take that next step on his staff, guys who can potentially take over for him if it ends up that this is his final stint in college basketball. So I am hoping that a lot of these hires are have some foresight to them.
rather than just thinking about what can they do for me right now at Arizona State, but also what can they do for the program in the future? So it's overall positive, overall impressive, and it's got me hopeful moving forward that they're going to bring in some decent talent and they're going to get the program back on track.
Tom Hardon (45:00)
And you mentioned, you know, mentioned guys that know the transfer portal. Both these guys actually have experience coaching under, coaching under Bennett. Croy was under under Bennett at St. Mary's from 2010 to 2013 before taking the job at Cal Baptist. Rayon started his coaching career as graduate assistant and has now followed Bennett over to Arizona State. But Andrew, is this?
It's a mix of familiarity in that ⁓ these coaches have both been under him, but also unfamiliarity coming from relative, coming from unfamiliar ⁓ prior destinations. Is this the coaching dream team, would you think? As Austin mentioned, this setting up for coaches who could assume the mantle?
if the time does come.
Andrew Hayslett (46:03)
Yeah, I know I don't know as much about basketballs. You guys do, but the Rick Croix hire to me is outstanding. And a guy who took Cal Baptist to a tournament last...
I don't know how you want to look at it because the season's over for Arizona State and Cal Baptist, but it's technically still ongoing. it's this year or last year, that doesn't really matter. But he took Cal Baptist to the tournament as a ⁓ pretty high seed for ⁓ a smaller school of that size. To get him away from a head coaching role, to be an assistant coach, to me,
says something that...
Bennett is a good hire because I don't know about you guys. I think it's pretty hard to pry a guy who's coaching at a school who's fairly successful at least to say, hey, you want to be an assistant here. Doesn't seem like a lot of people would make that move, but that shows me something that Randy Bennett is probably a good hire if he can do that.
And we'll see if ⁓ Croy will be the next guy in line when Bennett decides to call it, could be as short as maybe three years, could be 10, 12 years down the road. You never know.
Austen Bundy (47:45)
I think you make a good point there, Andrew, especially because he was an associate head coach at Cal Baptist where he could have been heir apparent to whoever's there right now. I Cal Baptist 25 and nine, their best record since turning D1. That's already a path to taking over a program like that or launching yourself into a head coaching gig elsewhere. ⁓ To trust Randy Bennett to go and be his assistant, I mean, to me, that kind of smells like a succession plan right there.
mean, it's a great hire for a succession plan. Home run hitter right there. So I think ASU fans should feel comfortable in the fact that if Randy Bennett is not ⁓ destined to be ASU's head coach longer than whatever his contract is right now, then the program I think should be in good hands if it passes off to Croy.
Tom Hardon (48:40)
And I'll close my thought with this. It speaks well to the culture that Randy Bennett brings. When you have coaches that are, Andrea, you hit it right on the head, coaches that are willing to move away from a head coaching position to come back as an associate head coach. That speaks volumes to when you piece together that coach under him previously, gone off and established his own.
his own reputation as a head coach, but now he's coming back into the fold. ⁓ I like that continuity that comes with coming out of the the Randy Bennett coaching tree, as it were.
And what would a show be without some football talk? Austin, you brought up this ⁓ topic earlier today. ⁓ What's this we hear about some flag football starting to be sponsored?
Austen Bundy (49:40)
Yeah, Big 12 announced earlier this week that they're going to explore ⁓ sponsoring, at least have some of their schools sponsor women's flag football as soon as the 2027 season or the 2028 season. ⁓ I would like to see Arizona State be one of those initial schools. I think when it comes to ASU being number one in innovation, how much more innovative can you get than literally creating a brand new sport for the university to sponsor? And I think there would be.
a decent turnout, if not a great turnout ⁓ in recruiting and bringing in ⁓ even walk on students to student athletes to play flag football for ASU. ⁓ I think it's a great opportunity. ⁓ I know there's going to be conversations about doing financial and ⁓ I don't even know what another term would be for, but.
this type of gymnastics you would need in order to navigate Title IX requirements. I don't know off the top of my head if ASU has wiggle room on Title IX or if there's going to be another program potentially that has to get cut in order for it to be sponsored officially. ⁓ We'll find out. But I do think this is a great opportunity for ASU. Michael Crow likes to jump in on brand new ideas like this. He likes to jump in ground level on
experimental projects. I would not be surprised to see him or to see Graham or Cine view this as a really good opportunity to expand ASU's brands, get in on something that could potentially blow up into ⁓ a hot sport with it being introduced at the 2028 ⁓ Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The NFL is heavily involved in it already. We already know at least from
that flag football challenge, the fanatics flag football challenge that NFL players are not going to be dominating flag football teams going forward. There is room for flag football devoted athletes to make their own path and to be able to establish, ⁓ establish their own niche in the growing sport. So I think ASU would be a great, a great landing spot for one of these sponsored programs. ⁓ If the big 12 follows through on this.
Andrew Hayslett (52:03)
Yeah, what you mentioned, Dawson, is potentially cutting programs. Yeah, I like the idea of introducing things, but I just don't like the idea of cutting programs to introduce things. We saw Iowa State cut their gymnastics program, which I kind of followed a little bit as I just find schools cutting programs interesting.
not necessarily good but just the thought of that ⁓ there isn't a Big 12 sponsored sport that Arizona State at least on the men's side doesn't have there's a few women's you guess
You could, if ASU wanted to, could pick up like a ⁓ men's lacrosse or a men's soccer or men's volleyball, which a couple other schools do. I don't think they'd pick up men's skiing ⁓ just because there's no snow in Phoenix or Tempe. ⁓ And then rifle is a, I believe a...
co-ed sports, so I'm not quite sure the rules of that, that just possibilities of that's what ASU might have to add if they have to add another program to add a women's flag football, which I think would be cool to add. So I think the more sports that school has, the better.
Tom Hardon (53:32)
more opportunity for championships and you know, seeing his, I've always been a little bit skeptical of, you know, of these playground sports like flight football, dodge ball, you know, it's more of a more of a fun thing when you see ESPN run their, run their Ocho periodically, but now seeing it start to start to take off at the intercollegiate level, if, if that's what does ultimately end up happening, you know, if it's, if there's a path forward to, to
sponsor it without having to cut programs. I'm all for it and I'm intrigued by the opportunity that this presents. ⁓
Austen Bundy (54:11)
Andrew, nobody thought
Arizona State was going to become a hockey powerhouse. There's not much ice in the desert, so why can't they become a skiing powerhouse?
Andrew Hayslett (54:19)
That means they had to manufacture some snow and that's harder to do than a nice rink.
Tom Hardon (54:25)
You could build an indoor ski area. VR ski.
Andrew Hayslett (54:28)
You could, but...
Austen Bundy (54:32)
We got a car vending machine in Tempe, we can build an indoor skiing facility.
Andrew Hayslett (54:37)
So it'll be what the car find or skiing this? Which kind of are you just going to take a portion of a mountain and just put it there then? I don't. I'll be innovative, I guess.
Austen Bundy (54:40)
You
Tom Hardon (54:42)
Sponsored by Carvana.
Hey, why not?
Austen Bundy (54:54)
There's room on that west side where the old silo is.
Tom Hardon (54:59)
I say what are we waiting for?
I always want to add a new ski area to my list of skied venues. So let's do it.
We have one more one more football topic. Little little fun development coming out of spring practice is defensive end Clayton Smith has been seeing some reps at wide receiver. Could this be a development into him becoming a two way player? Austin, since you brought this one up to us, give us your take on it.
Austen Bundy (55:36)
I don't know if I believe it's a pathway to him being a two-way player, but I would not be shocked if this is some sort of conditioning drilling or potentially setting him up to be used on specific packages. ⁓ I mean, he's a big dude. So I would love to see him. I mean, who knows? Like the way I look at him, just like he's got, I mean, he's an edge rusher. He's got the build for pass rusher.
But if you're going to look at him and juxtapose him to other offensive players, mean, who's to say he can't act in a Shaman Matey or type of role in making the big blocks, but also being able to catch something on a key third down, maybe in a deep red zone package. I mean, you never know. if you're going to if you're going to give him reps at wide receiver in practice, I mean, heck, why not bring back the Sparky package and make it and feature him in there? I'm sure he would bust over a few defensive linemen trying to get into the end zone.
Tom Hardon (56:34)
You you took the name right out of my mouth. I was immediately drawing the comparison to Shaman Mateyar. Very similar build, ⁓ within an inch of each other's heights and probably within a couple pounds of each other's weight. you know, Andrew, have you seen that at spring practice so far when you've been?
Andrew Hayslett (56:53)
I haven't been as often as I'd like to be. Yeah, that's something I have seen as Clayton Smith playing offense. There was ⁓ a play last year, and I think it was spring ball, remember. Maybe it was either that or way early in the fall ball where there was a
was a one on one where they'd flip offensive guys to defense and defensive guys to offense and they have Sam Levitt throw them the ball. Levitt threw a lob pass to Smith. Smith went up and got mossed whoever it was on defense. I forgot who it was. And the whole team went nuts. Everyone was watching.
And as soon as Smith caught that ball, the whole team was, my goodness, did you just see that? That type of stuff with a lot more colorful language than what I said. the point is clear, Smith could be something, this could be just something that you forget about by week three.
You never know. There's so many weapons, or at least potential weapons on offense, that it's hard to see where he's gonna fit in. You have so many transfers.
guys like Jarrett and Hamilton, Derek Eusebio that are returning in the wide receiver room as well. You have tight ends like AJ Ia and Kamari Anderson who you like. The running backs I think are all pretty good. So it'll be interesting to see how who takes the lead on these offensive roles, wide receiver roles, running back roles.
I don't know. It's still way too early to give anything away at this point.
Austen Bundy (58:58)
He wears number 10. Who else wears number 10 on offense?
He's the only one on the team that wears number 10.
Tom Hardon (59:05)
The former number 10 was one Sam Lovett.
Andrew Hayslett (59:06)
for the
Yep.
Austen Bundy (59:09)
that's right. So nobody on offense wears 10 now.
Andrew Hayslett (59:13)
Well, it's Clayton Smith now. He's the only one on the team that wears that.
Austen Bundy (59:17)
Wow, okay, so the first thing I thought
of was this has to be trick, like to me this has to be trick play practicing. So do you, I didn't know if there was anybody on offense that also wore number 10 that you potentially throw him out there in order to throw a defense off or I don't know, like there's gotta be, this is a specific package that they're designing him for to throw him out there as a blocker or just to sneak somewhere where if someone recognizes like, this guy plays defense, I'm not gonna.
take him seriously. He's just ⁓ a decoy out here. I mean, like you said, this could be something we forget about by week three, but I've got a feeling we're going to be talking about this at some point in the season where they break out this package to get sneaky, get creative. Maybe they're down a couple touchdowns in the third quarter, fourth quarter, and they got to break this out in the red zone. I don't know. But I feel like we're going to be talking about this at some point later down the road.
Andrew Hayslett (1:00:14)
After seeing that play last year, I thought we'd be seeing Clayton Smith on offense and one of those, number 10 is now wearing number 41 type things. I thought that would happen at least once this season. didn't. So that was something I'm surprised that they didn't practice and now are using, potentially using, we don't know. It's this season.
Tom Hardon (1:00:40)
Yeah, so now I'm with you. like to see this develop into some ⁓ more specialized packages, maybe not roll out consistently on offense, but throw a little surprise in there, throw a little razzle-dazzle, keep something in the back pocket. But as ⁓ spring practice is still ongoing, obviously, and there is the upcoming
⁓ upcoming football fan fest set for April 17th. I believe is that the same day as the spring game, Andrew?
Andrew Hayslett (1:01:19)
yes, the spring game is the FanFest.
Tom Hardon (1:01:22)
There we go.
So.
Austen Bundy (1:01:23)
Nobody does spring games
anymore, it's sad. We used to be a proper country.
Tom Hardon (1:01:27)
Spring game FanFest April 17th great opportunity to for fans to get their first look at the 2026 Sun Devil football team I Want to close that always my myself out on this on the last note coming up here Pat's run the 22nd annual pets run is coming up on Not this Saturday, but next Saturday April 11th. I am for those of you watching on YouTube
I am repping this year's edition of the race shirt. will be not running in it in Tempe this year. I will be taking part remotely from Las Vegas during the NCAA hockey tournament, but thrilled as ever to take part in this event and honor the legacy that is Pat Tillman. ⁓ You can still sign up to run either in person or remotely. for those of you who are outside of the...
Outside of the Phoenix area, check your local alumni chapters for various honor runs that take place throughout the month.
Austen Bundy (1:02:35)
always able to make it to the official chapter runs but I always get 4.2 miles in every year on the the day.
Tom Hardon (1:02:42)
Walk, run, do a little bit of both, but no matter what, it's always honoring Pat and carrying on his legacy. That's it for me, guys. Any other walk-in topics before we sign off here?
For Austin Bundy, for Andrew Hazlett, and for everybody else at Devils in Detail, I'm Tom Harden. As always, give them hell devils.