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The only podcast covering all things Arizona State athletics! We bleed maroon and gold, and love talking about the Sun Devils no matter what sport.
David Howman (00:01)
Welcome one, welcome all to another episode of the Echo from the Views podcast. I am your host David Hellman joined by a full house. We've got everybody on hand for this one. have Aya Abdin, Austin Bundy, Tom Harden and Andrew Hazlett. And we got a lot of people and we got a lot of things to talk about. It's a busy time of the year for Arizona State Athletics. We've got baseball that just came back. We've got... ⁓
major scheduling changes in the football world that we're gonna get into. And then we're winding down towards the end with hockey and basketball and there's plenty of things that are still going on in those sports. It's a busy time. ⁓ And it's, we were talking before the show too, we're all still, we're all busy in our own personal lives too. I was just out of the country on vacation. ⁓
desperately trying to catch up on sleep. So ⁓ if you hear me snoozing and snoring throughout this episode, you can just go ahead and tune that part out. It's not for lack of excitement. ⁓ Tom, you mistakenly assumed I was in my 30s. I'm still a young man. ⁓ But how are you holding up right now at this point in the year? Are you exhausted and are you tired as I am right now?
Tom Hardon (01:15)
Well David as I said off air once you're over 30 like me there's no catching up on sleep you're always perpetually just in that in that grind in that in that hole but Me personally, I'm I'm thriving baseball's back. Like you said hockey's winding down there's still a lot going on in and around Tempe and and abroad as the as the spring sports get up and running and
as we know, football's always looming just around the corner. That fact never escapes us. So it's a lot of exciting times and I'm all in on it.
David Howman (01:56)
Yeah, Andrew and I, you're our two youngins on the show. ⁓ Do Tom's warnings about turning 30, does that scare you or does that make you just feel like I gotta make the most of my young age while I've got it?
Andrew Hayslett (02:13)
I'm always scared, but I'm always embracing what's next. that's... Words don't scare me further than I already actually am, but I'm so excited for what's gonna come over these next 10 years or so until I get to 30. And then 10 more years until I get to 40. That is how math works.
Austen Bundy (02:39)
And then you're a man.
Tom Hardon (02:41)
Ha ha ha ha.
Andrew Hayslett (02:42)
Ha
Austen Bundy (02:43)
Yeah
Aya Abdeen (02:43)
That's crazy to think
about, you know, I, mind you, I just turned 23 yesterday and it still doesn't feel so real.
David Howman (02:51)
Yeah, you're in your Jordan year, so that's the one you gotta really make the most of more than any of the other ones in the 20s.
Aya Abdeen (02:58)
For sure. And I do have some exciting news as well. Almost two weeks ago, I just found out that I'll be covering this year's Women's Final Four for the first time in my career. So I'm so excited for this opportunity. And if Molly Miller and some of the ASU women's basketball players are around, stay tuned for some stories as well. I'm going to be all over the place at this point.
Tom Hardon (03:10)
That's awesome.
Austen Bundy (03:10)
Heck yeah.
David Howman (03:21)
Yeah, it's gonna be, I can't believe we're almost to ⁓ March Madness. Of course, we'll be getting into that a little bit later, but Austin, ⁓ for the people that are listening, not watching, ⁓ describe to us what you're wearing. I feel funny saying, me what you're wearing, but yes, tell us all what you're wearing.
Austen Bundy (03:42)
Hey,
man, we're not we don't judge here. ⁓ mean, I'm repping the red, white and blue instead of the maroon and gold today, obviously, because the the Olympics are on something David doesn't care about that he told us off air ⁓ and the ⁓ US women pulled off a crazy, crazy overtime comeback victory over Canada for the gold medal.
David Howman (03:47)
It's not that kind of show.
in privacy.
Austen Bundy (04:11)
the captain, Hillary Knight, tying things up in the late, late third period goalie poll. She breaks both the ⁓ all time women's Olympic points records and goal scoring records with just a single shot. So that was pretty historic. And then ⁓ we get the overtime winner from Keller with a sick drag around the Canadian defender.
That's one of those moments that like every kid, matter what is, is dreaming of and playing in their head, ⁓ playing street hockey or whatever with the Olympic gold medal on the line, toe drag around a defender score that, mean, that was just, you can't write it any better than that. And so that was, it's a, it's a pretty, pretty cool moment. And I'm feeling confident that eventually we're going to have some sun devils out on Olympic ice. that's.
Maybe even Don's kid. Like why not? could make his way onto an Olympic team. was on a, you played in juniors for the US, didn't he, Tom?
Tom Hardon (05:16)
⁓ He was on the World Championship gold medal winning team last year.
Austen Bundy (05:20)
That's right, yep.
Tom Hardon (05:24)
along with Joey DeCord.
David Howman (05:24)
Yeah, so you'd know that
if you were an Olympics fan like me. But yes, it's Olympic season and we're all very excited about it. We're all equally excited about it. And it's the best time of the year. It's also the best time of the year because as Tom mentioned, ASU baseball is back. ⁓ Can I say they kicked off their season? Can I use that phrase when it's baseball? I feel funny doing that, but.
Austen Bundy (05:50)
Lead off.
David Howman (05:51)
Yeah, yeah, they had the season had its lead off. There we go. ⁓ And they started off with a series against Omaha. They were able to sweep them and then they were on Tuesday, they absolutely blasted UConn 17-7. So they're 4-0 off to a good start. They look pretty much the same that they've looked the last few years with.
really explosive offense. Pitching has some good bright spots, some areas that you say kind of, are we going back down the same path or is it just, you know, start of the season jitters? ⁓ Andrew, I know that you, on the last show, you talked a lot about how that's kind of the main focus is where's this pitching staff going to be? What did you see in these first four games? What was your main takeaway?
Andrew Hayslett (06:40)
I saw lot of mixed bag results from the Sun Devils. I don't know if I mentioned it last show, but Bloomquist going into this season, said that his strategy at least out to start off is to have a starter and then have a guy stretched out to go like three, four innings so you can potentially finish off the game or get to your back end of your bullpen. And we saw that work a few times over the weekend, namely on
Friday with Alex Overbay backing up Cole Carlone. Three innings of one run ball from him, only one inning from Schaeffer at the end. They all pitch really good Friday. ⁓ Sunday, Jay Nawa did phenomenal and relief after Easton Barrett was walking just about anyone with a pulse it seemed like, which is something I think he'll get figured out by next start against.
of St. John's. So that's something I saw. Saturday was more of a mixed bag. I described it on my article on Devils in Detail, which you can find all of our work on there. As a bit of a roller coaster, you had some great performances and some performances where, however, yeah, he didn't allow a run, but
David Howman (07:56)
to remove.
Andrew Hayslett (08:09)
He didn't look like he was throwing his best stuff out there. it's it's It's hard to say after four games. this pitching staffs really great. It's really not I don't know Time will tell I liked what I saw from Colin Linder the Saturday starter Cole Klecker had a nice game on Tuesday. I know Tom you were there for that Just a lot of things that I can say. yeah, I like but you're also let's let's not forget you're playing Omaha and Yukon
two teams that are not power for Omaha in particular was not a top 100 team last year. UConn was one of those teams that was a borderline tournament team, but it's still UConn in a midweek. Midweeks are always madness. I don't care if you're West Eastern University or Oklahoma Coast College or Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. You're going to, they're always gonna be chaotic. Things are gonna happen that
don't normally happen so you take mid-week results with a grain of salt so that's kind of what I see from that as you look at the team down south they didn't beat Omaha they lost to them on Tuesday and now they're going to take on Yukon in a four game stretch to see it'll be good comparison to see where they are compared to ASU
Obviously take everything with a grain of salt because non-conference still are at the season things can change a lot with everything so that's kind of my Wrap up from what I saw
Tom Hardon (09:45)
of being on my isn't for everybody as as we saw on tuesday but andrew and what they bring up cold water and he was he was one of the guys that i had circle as a player to watch for myself i know that uh... come close has been saying that he's been one of the one the stronger pictures spring camp getting ready for season he had justin absolutely
dynamic start 65 pitches over five innings struck out seven only gave up one run on two hits I mean it was about as perfect of a start as you could ask for and I'm really interested to see how he continues to develop if if Blomquist keeps him in that midweek starter role or as has been hinted the possibility of moving him into a weekend role he's certainly shown that he
is ready to dominate the mound on any given night. Granted, this is only one start, so we will have to kind of stretch that evaluation out a little bit as the season goes along here in the open, but...
I loved what I saw of him, mixing his pitches really well. In posting comments, he was saying that his slider was really working well for him, getting a lot of guys to swing and miss. And what I liked is he was not afraid to pitch in the zone. He didn't try and be too fancy with anything, didn't try and nibble around the corners. He was pitching the contact, letting his guys behind him do the work, and letting the Connecticut batters make mistakes too.
you saw a lot of the time when these guys were getting them working themselves into unfavorable counts down 0212 and really putting the putting the in control of that at that and saw time and time again across this five minutes.
Austen Bundy (11:42)
Somebody remind me to add Oklahoma Coast to my dynasty this weekend.
Andrew Hayslett (11:42)
Yeah, I think it'll...
I did want to add on to Tom's point is that
think you'll see Klecker next Tuesday at Oklahoma as a midweek starter because as I mentioned Oklahoma, well I didn't mention this, Oklahoma and UConn are both two tougher opponents in the midweek than the previous weekends, St. John's and Omaha. So you do want to have a guy that you can feel more confident in than maybe your Sunday starter in Easton Barrett at this point, but I think there's a chance ⁓ if...
If Barrett plays well then on Saturday and Klecker kind of lays an egg against Omaha, we might see Barrett out there for that final game in the Arlington series a week and a few days from now at this point. ⁓ So that's interesting to see for me is who's going to be that third starter in that particular game. Will it still be Barrett or will Klecker still be a midweek guy? I don't know at this point, but that's something to watch out for.
David Howman (12:53)
Yeah, and I think I'm really interested to see how Barrett responds after that first game too, because a year ago, it was kind of similar, not necessarily as bad as he was this weekend, but how he played at the start of the year was not, it was night and day different from how he was playing at the end of the year. And he got much, much better as the season went on to where I felt.
very comfortable and obviously Willie Bloomquist felt comfortable with him being the Sunday guy. So you have to expect that he will have a better effort this next time around. But it's an interesting dynamic to monitor, especially because there is so much hype around Cole Clacker and he already looked so good in that first game.
But if, I mean, if they end up coming to a point where Easton Barrett bounces back and Klecker still looks like he did on Tuesday, that's a really good problem to have too, where you've got four different pitchers that you feel good about and only three weekend days to figure out who's playing in them. That would be completely different from what ASU's had the last few years of.
having to pick between, you know, reliable starters versus, oh shoot, who's taken Sunday when we've already split the first two games. So I'm excited to see that. I'm of course excited for the Sun Devils to come out to Oklahoma. I tried to buy tickets to that one because y'all know I'm out in that area. I accidentally bought tickets for the Oklahoma Coast game instead of the OU game, so I could have used Andrew's guidance on that one.
Andrew, as you mentioned, they do play St. John's this upcoming week weekend. So that's that's next on the docket for them. And other news for baseball is the contract extension for Willie Bloomquist was officially approved on Thursday when the Arizona Board of Readings met. ⁓ And so I know that's already been announced. We already knew some of the details, but he's he's wrapped up for a little bit longer, got a little bit of a raise, too. And that's that's a nice little I think morale boost at the
start of the season. You know, start out 4-0, you know for a fact that your coach is now locked down for the foreseeable future.
And of course, there was other news that came out, ⁓ not with baseball, but with other ASU sports on Thursday as well. They unveiled a rendering of their new indoor practice facility that they're going to be building. ⁓ the price actually went up. had some, Racini was talking on local sports radio and said that someone who will remain nameless until the unveiling of the naming rights of this practice field.
stepped up and ponied up money and more than doubled the cost of what it was going to be and so now it's going to be even nicer, even more bougie than it was before and I don't know how many of y'all saw the actual pictures and everything but it looks very very nice. Yeah.
Tom Hardon (16:03)
It looks NFL quality, to be honest.
Coach Dillingham finally got his big time donor to step up after he's been appealing to the community at large for almost his entire tenure. And it's great to see the community step up. Whoever that donor is, I'm sure we will find out in due course. But collectively, huge thank you for dropping that money.
Aya Abdeen (16:29)
I second that.
Andrew Hayslett (16:29)
I'm
hearing that this donor is a graduate of Oklahoma Coast College.
Austen Bundy (16:35)
Thank
Aya Abdeen (16:37)
That's funny enough lol. ⁓
Tom Hardon (16:40)
Which coast are we talking about though, the
coast of the Red River?
Andrew Hayslett (16:44)
Yeah.
David Howman (16:45)
Yeah.
Aya Abdeen (16:46)
I do have to add in as well, since Kenny Dillingham has arrived on campus almost three years ago, he has transformed the football program to one, I mean, one of the best, like as of lately. And I'm just really impressed to see how the Sun Devil's football program has come a long way. From the Herm Edwards, a lot of drama going on to where they are.
What are y'all hitting? That's a huge turnaround.
David Howman (17:19)
That's definitely the most polite way to describe the Herb Edwards airings. A lot of drama going on. I like it. I like it. The pauses.
Aya Abdeen (17:26)
I was just like you
Austen Bundy (17:28)
Yeah, we actually
Aya Abdeen (17:29)
I
Austen Bundy (17:29)
don't say that name around here.
Aya Abdeen (17:30)
was just a sophomore at Arizona State and it was really wild and I didn't start reporting football until just last year or something like Actually almost two years ago when I was whatever only one story for Crockett News, which was pretty fascinating to say the least
David Howman (17:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, it's been remarkable just how much things have changed. because like, know, Arizona State we all know has had some successful years in the past, but no other coach has really capitalized on it the way that Kenny Dillingham already is when you think about the extension that he just got and the raise in like the salary pool and things like that and commitments to NIL. now with this, the way that it's... ⁓
benefiting the practice facility that's gonna be built. And it's also gonna be right next door to the stadium, which ripped to those parking lots. That's not gonna be great on game day. But...
Tom Hardon (18:26)
Crafty
Devils will be looking for a new tailgating location.
David Howman (18:30)
Right, yeah, no, it's gonna change things, but some sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. And it's really, it's an indication in my mind that this program is continuing to stay on the rise. And so much so on the rise that SEC schools are quaking in their boots. ⁓ As we heard ⁓ Texas,
is backing out of their game with Arizona State because they are just terrified of the Sun Devils.
Andrew Hayslett (19:05)
It just means more.
Aya Abdeen (19:05)
⁓ boy, it's spicy out here.
David Howman (19:06)
next.
Aya Abdeen (19:07)
⁓
Tom Hardon (19:08)
I don't want that rematch smoke.
David Howman (19:11)
Yeah, yeah, I heard that they were ⁓ they were targeting a different team.
Austen Bundy (19:20)
Yeah, ASU should give ⁓ Oklahoma Coast a call. that spot.
David Howman (19:25)
Well, and ASU, it was funny, like a couple hours before that news broke is they agreed to a home at home with Stanford for what year is it? Is it 2029? 3031. Yeah, Andrew, Andrew, you'll almost be in your 30s by then.
Austen Bundy (19:40)
30 and 31.
Tom Hardon (19:41)
I think it's.
Andrew Hayslett (19:41)
31 and 32. 31.
Aya Abdeen (19:46)
Don't even get me started about those years. It feels like it, our way.
Andrew Hayslett (19:51)
Yeah
Aya Abdeen (19:52)
Maybe it might be a mom-to-be. We will have to wait and see.
Tom Hardon (19:58)
Meanwhile, me over here entering
David Howman (19:58)
Yeah, it's.
Tom Hardon (19:59)
my tillman here by the time that rolls around.
David Howman (20:05)
But, ⁓ yeah, so Texas is out, Florida has already been out, Whispers at LSU is out. ⁓ Yeah, like Andrew said, it just means more,
Andrew Hayslett (20:21)
Yes it does.
David Howman (20:24)
But yeah, obviously ⁓ it would have been fun to see those games happen. I think given ASU's record against the SEC, I'm fine with pivoting towards playing some Stanford quality teams. All due respect to the Cardinal new head coach, Tavita Pritchard, but I like our chances in 2030.
Austen Bundy (20:49)
We don't know what Andrew Luck's gonna do to that program. He's their general manager now.
David Howman (20:53)
Yeah, I mean unless Andrew Luck gets down on the football field and starts airing it out, I feel fine.
Austen Bundy (21:02)
And on a serious note, though, if I'm the Big 10, if I'm any Big 10 schools, I'm giving ASU a call because even though no Big 10 school has ever come to Tempe in one, I feel like any of those teams in that conference should look for any opportunity to look better than the SEC and to see the SEC backing out of matchups with a Big 12 school that is clearly on the rise. The Big 10, any of these
Andrew Hayslett (21:02)
I- ⁓
Tom Hardon (21:02)
He's not there with
me.
Austen Bundy (21:27)
program should be looking at ASU and saying, yeah, we'll take you on. Like, we'll schedule something. We go down to you one year, you come up to the Midwest. Like, could you imagine, ⁓ you can think about the polar opposite environments that these two programs would have to go into, having to go, let's say, like ⁓ you bring the Golden Gophers down and then you got to go to Minneapolis the next year, or you go to Ohio State and you got to bring the Buckeyes in. I don't think.
The Buckeyes have ever come to Tempe. The last time they've ever played each other was in that Rose Bowl. So that would be some appointment television to see those two programs go at it.
Tom Hardon (22:04)
bring Michigan down here and return series of the big house.
Andrew Hayslett (22:08)
I'd like to play older old pack 12 rivals. I like to get back to that because With the conference realignment and you schedule these games 10 years or so in advance sometimes Even I thought I saw one good scheduled as late as 2040 on what I want to say like James Madison and Mark know that they're in conference, but there's someone
that scheduled someone in 2040. Like, I'm ASU, I'd want to go play your UCLAs, USCs, Oregon, Oregon states, Washington, Washington states. ⁓ You're already stuck with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona in your big 12, but let's go play these other old Pac-12 rivals that you don't get to see anymore.
And you've seen that across the board in other sports where with basketball or scheduling isn't released 10 years in advance, which I like seeing that.
David Howman (23:16)
Yeah, and I think ⁓ Graham Rossini has said that in the past too, is that when they can get something scheduled with those old Pac-12 foes, that's something that is on their mind and that was kind of what led to getting Stanford on their schedule when something came open. ⁓ I also really like the idea of Oregon State as a non-conference opponent because it means even though you have to go to Corvallis, you're not doing it in November. And that is...
That's like the ideal. That's something that we would all collectively pray for every single year. And to have that just like etched in stone that it won't be in November anymore would be nice for sure.
Tom Hardon (24:03)
ate that town in November.
David Howman (24:06)
Yeah, it's, mean, between going to Corvallis in November and going to the town that Mississippi State is in, whose name I definitely remember. Yeah, Starkville.
Austen Bundy (24:18)
Dark Mill.
Tom Hardon (24:20)
start the biggest.
Austen Bundy (24:22)
this week on Fansville.
David Howman (24:24)
Yeah,
I know Andrew never wants to go there with all the cowbells, ⁓ but corvallis in November is just as bad.
Austen Bundy (24:37)
The sound of those chainsaws on third down haunt my dreams.
David Howman (24:41)
you
Tom Hardon (24:43)
I can't say much against that. My first alma mater, NAU, did chainsaws as well in the dome.
David Howman (24:50)
The chainsaw is legitimately cool. I am a fan, but not when it's at my own team's expense. ⁓ But with the new practice facility and all the money, that won't even matter because we're going to have so much talent out there that we could play them in November and we would walk the dog. ⁓ Yeah, exactly. ⁓ But ⁓ one area where
Austen Bundy (25:11)
Walk the beaver.
David Howman (25:19)
Beavers and dogs are not really being walked lately though is on the ice for Arizona State. ⁓ It's a beautiful transition, but Tom, what's going on with Sun Devil Hockey?
Tom Hardon (25:33)
Well, first and foremost, ⁓ as I wrote in my preview for Devils in Detail earlier this week, missing Colin Potter is really starting to put its strain on the collective team and especially so on the top line.
was diving into the stats in the eight games since Potter went down and Cruz Lucius and Ben Shemek have been mainstays on the top line all season long. Sean McGurn has stepped up and become the top line center. ⁓ Kyle Smolin has seen some time as top line center but when you're when you're looking at
the first four games since Potter won out. That's talking about the North Dakota series and the Colorado College series. Those four combined for a respectable 16 points, putting up two goals and 14 assists. But the last four games, Lucius and Shemek have been kept off the score sheet and McGurn and Smolin
I've only combined for three goals and one assist in four games. And when you look at the team as a whole, in the eight games of that potter, averaging 2.75 goals per game, but over the current five game losing streak, averaging under two goals a game, 1.8 goals per game. And you can see just how that's permeating across the entire
Andrew Hayslett (27:02)
you
Tom Hardon (27:09)
the entire roster and the depth that Coach Powers has been reaching all season long, it's becoming dimmer and dimmer. You're still seeing some spots of hope in Carmelo Crandall. Sam Alfano has been producing as of late as well. this upcoming series against Omaha is turning out to be
Andrew Hayslett (27:10)
you
Tom Hardon (27:36)
an inadvertent playing game for the NCHC tournament. Now when the NCHC expanded to nine teams bringing ASU in originally the tournament format did call for a one game play in between the eight and nine seeds that would be held at the site of the number one team in the conference midseason last year the NCHC decided to scrap that but we still get that this year just comes with the caveat of being the
the home finale series for the Sun Devils. As much as hope is dwindling for the Sun Devils, not all is lost because with a sweep this weekend, granted that's a tall order given the current losing streak, but with a sweep the Sun Devils could clinch at worst the number eight seed in the NCHC tournament and be assured of at least one more weekend of play before the offseason.
David Howman (28:36)
That's the best case.
Tom Hardon (28:38)
That's best case. ⁓ Obviously, anything less than a sweep, points still ⁓ matter when the Sun Devils travel to Denver next weekend. And God forbid, should the losing streak continue, Sun Devils would really be behind the eight ball. Right now, they are only one point up on Omaha in the conference standings. And in the event of a tie,
Omaha currently holds the tiebreaker due to a greater number of regulation wins in conference play.
Andrew Hayslett (29:11)
And I think it's also worth noting that as ASU, as Tom pointed out, ASU goes to Denver next weekend, whereas Omaha, I believe, travels to Miami.
Tom Hardon (29:23)
Correct.
No, host Miami.
Andrew Hayslett (29:25)
in host
Miami I was I wasn't sure if they were home or away but there's I know who I'd rather be playing of those two teams I'd rather be playing Miami no disrespect to them but Denver is a tough team through and through Miami's just not shown to be that so you had you have to take a get a win
at worst this weekend I think and it has to be a regulation one too because overtime wins not not good unless you unless it turns out that the other games an overtime loss so regardless three points is is the number you have is the minimum for this this series which it's crazy to me to saying this is that the season comes down to Omaha
Had you asked me that in the beginning of year? Had you told me that? I would said, man, Omaha must be really good or something. Not ASU's falling off the turn up truck since Potter's injury, which is what's happened.
David Howman (30:26)
Yeah.
Tom Hardon (30:35)
Well, at the outset of the season, I had a feeling that the series would have seeding implications. I just thought it was going to be more for which of Arizona State and Omaha would be securing home ice with the series. I did not expect that this would be a battle for eighth place in the conference tournament.
David Howman (30:59)
Well, and I mean, in a way this week will be like, it's almost like the tournament's already starting for ASU too, because it is the must win environment of it. And so, ⁓
It's going to be interesting to see after all the things that have gone wrong this season at various points. Like, do they still have some fight left in them? Can they step up and step up when it kind of comes down to it? ⁓ Or is it going to be more of like a feeling of, man, let's just call it a year, come back next year, try again ⁓ after a full off season to heal up?
Tom Hardon (31:42)
well i'll tell you what what i'm expecting to see out there this weekend i'm expecting a playoff type atmosphere from both teams i'm expecting a lot of desperation on both sides of the ice and these two teams are going to be going after each other hard and mike gabinets teams over in omaha
there are no slouches. They've had some ⁓ bad luck with injuries with goaltender Simon Lacozzi being out for 12 games during the season. And when he's been healthy ⁓ in the stretches after his initial injury, he hasn't quite been his usual self when he was a Hobie Baker nominee last year. it would not surprise me at all to see
a vintage simon lacozzi performance this weekend especially given how last year omaha omaha pushed arizona state to the brink and got a split in the
in Arizona State's final series at Omaha last year. And something else to note with the series, when the NCHC expands to 10 teams next year when University of St. Thomas joins, Arizona State and Omaha will be designated travel partners, meaning that they will be guaranteed a home and away series with each other every season. And the last series of the regular season will be between those two teams alternating who hosts.
Bye season.
David Howman (33:17)
So you're saying it's gonna be a rivalry much like Arizona State and Utah.
Tom Hardon (33:22)
I'm saying that the the NCHC is kind of pushing this rivalry together, but it's certainly turning that way.
Andrew Hayslett (33:34)
Tom.
David Howman (33:34)
more people were going to jump in
and say Utah's not a rival. But I know that's great. We all agree.
Andrew Hayslett (33:39)
Tom,
Austen Bundy (33:39)
It goes without saying.
Andrew Hayslett (33:41)
I have a question for you, because I don't know what the right answer is to this question. Who is Arizona State hockey's biggest rivals? Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota? I know Omaha is getting pushed. Or do you go back to the non-conference days still with the two Alaska schools? I know those were heated rivalries in the past. What do you think?
Tom Hardon (34:07)
Now as much as I feel that the Arizona-state-Omaha rivalry is being forced, I do think that's turning into the bigger rivalry. Now granted, there is a big rivalry with proximity for Arizona-state and Denver, but I feel like that is a more one-sided rivalry, much like...
the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers because Denver has a much more, much, much closer rival in Colorado college. And I feel like it's not, no, not to say it's a, it's a lack of better options, but I think that, you know, this is organically turning into a, a bitter rivalry, even with the NCHC's efforts.
Austen Bundy (34:58)
think there's a bit of a social media rivalry too between ASU and Denver because that whole thing kind of sparked even before we joined the NCHC where they were going back and forth at each other online. Whoever those mods were, props to them, they sparked a pretty decent competition to look forward to each year anytime they go up against one another.
Andrew Hayslett (35:18)
you
Tom Hardon (35:21)
And you know, next weekend, Denver is going to be.
David Howman (35:21)
Yeah, my guarantee was...
Tom Hardon (35:26)
as a saying that you know next weekend and was going to be ⁓ anxious to of ends last season's sweet that the symbols
David Howman (35:37)
I was going to say my gut instinct was Denver as well, but then Tom, the point you made when the Diamondbacks caught some strays was, I think that makes sense too. It makes sense as a rival for Arizona State, but I'm not sure that Denver probably doesn't feel quite the same way. ⁓ maybe Denver can be like our USC back in the day. USC is not like the number one, but man, does it feel good to beat USC.
Tom Hardon (36:06)
Honestly, that's what I see that turning into is a USC situation.
David Howman (36:15)
Well.
I was gonna try and make some pun on like, we will see USC, something like that, but it wasn't coming to me. We'll edit this part out. We can make me look smart. ⁓ But, you know, in hockey, we're coming down to...
coming right down to the wire in a playoff atmosphere, of course. And we're kind of getting the same thing in basketball. We're officially under a month away from the start of March Madness, both in men's and women's basketball. And in men's basketball...
Last week on the show, we talked about who we wanted to be the next coach. We threw out some names. apparently Bobby heard you listen because he turned in, well, his team turned in a very good game and they upset number 13 Texas Tech a couple of days ago. Of course, the bigger story coming out of that game was the fact that Texas Tech superstar JT Toppin tore his ACL. ⁓ Horrible news for him. His season, unfortunately, is going to be done. ⁓
the time that he did go down in the game, Erdogan State was already up. They had been nursing a healthy lead. They were playing some really some lockdown defense down the stretch too. ⁓
By no stretch does this now suddenly mean that they're in the hunt for the tournament, but I did see something that said that one of the bracketology models that gets put out there said that if ASU can pull off a couple more wins the rest of the way, they might be close to being on the bubble, which is a crazy thing to think about given the way that this season has gone. Yeah, we have a quad one win.
Austen Bundy (38:02)
We have a quad one win, man. Anything is possible.
Tom Hardon (38:03)
to which I said, I'm on the whole team in this company.
David Howman (38:08)
have a really good quad one win. ⁓ Does this change anybody's opinion on men's basketball right now?
Andrew Hayslett (38:16)
No.
I need to see them beat Oklahoma Coast College. But on a serious note, Hurley always tends to have those one or two games a year where he goes and upsets a team in conference play that you say, wow, maybe this is something possibly that could turn into something. Until I see another win of this magnitude, I'm not buying in yet.
Tom Hardon (38:20)
you
David Howman (38:22)
We'll
Andrew Hayslett (38:48)
Bobby Hurley said he was in his prime of coaching. He might be, but the Big 12 is a tough basketball conference. I will give him that, but if this is his prime, it's not cutting it.
Austen Bundy (39:04)
If you're going to go via the transitive property, Texas Tech did beat U of A. So we do have two quad one wins if you think about it.
David Howman (39:11)
There you go. Well, three from the two games that we played against them.
Tom Hardon (39:13)
I'd buy that.
David Howman (39:18)
So it counts for both games. ⁓ I mean, looking at the rest of their schedule, next up they play at Baylor and Baylor is not having a good year. ⁓ They've got at TCU, home against Utah, home against Kansas, and then at Iowa State. I mean, if they take, let's say two or three of those with one of them being a win over Kansas, suddenly their resume looks decent-ish, maybe.
Maybe you could talk yourself into them being a first four team.
Austen Bundy (39:52)
I don't know if I want them to be a first four team though.
David Howman (39:55)
I'm not saying I want it. I'm saying you could talk yourself into it.
Austen Bundy (39:59)
I don't know if I want to talk myself into it.
i've had enough of datin
David Howman (40:04)
It would also be,
it would be so classic ASU as well for them to just like go on a run, you know, run the rest of the table and then get one or two wins in the big 12 tournament and sneak into the actual NCAA tournament. When we spent this whole year, know, Bobby Hurley's on the last year of his contract. He's done after this year. And then suddenly it's like, Oh wait, he's okay. He figured it out. Like now we got to bring him back or let him walk.
That would be such a classic ⁓ ASU conundrum. I'm not saying it's gonna happen. I'm just saying it would feel about right.
Tom Hardon (40:44)
You're not saying what you're saying.
David Howman (40:50)
I'm not even saying, not saying, but saying, I'm not saying and I'm not not saying.
Tom Hardon (40:58)
the mental gymnastics that I just did to work out your statement.
David Howman (41:05)
I'm just, I'm just saying.
Austen Bundy (41:09)
Godzilla had a stroke trying to read that.
David Howman (41:11)
Hahaha
Andrew Hayslett (41:14)
Good thing this isn't transcribed.
David Howman (41:17)
Yeah,
yeah, we can go to the transcript for it and we'll work it out. ⁓ In the meantime, on the flip side of Desert Financial Arena, the women's basketball team is very much on the bubble. And they unfortunately did not take advantage of what was a golden opportunity on Wednesday against a really, really good Iowa State team. If they had won that game,
most likely, barring some collapse the rest of the way, most likely a win like that would have punched their ticket to the tournament, you have to imagine. ⁓ Even if they had a close loss like they did a week ago against Baylor, ⁓ that helps you. Even though it's a loss, it's a competitive loss against a really good team. And they lost by a considerable margin. It was not particularly close. It was not their best game. ⁓
You know, again, you're still losing to a great team, but when you're trying to make the argument of we should be in that initial field because we can go toe to toe with teams like this, having a game like that this close to the tournament is not the best way to make that argument. Ayo, what was your main takeaway from that game?
Aya Abdeen (42:33)
So Adi Brown has made a big difference for the Cyclones in her return. She was on the triple double blotch with 6.7 rebounds and 6 assists. Adi Crooks and Jada Williams has been really impressive for the Cyclones. Like the Sun Devils couldn't get an answer, but still, keep in mind that they're an all new group with players from the Transfer Portal, and it's going to take some time for the Sun Devils to get to where they want to be.
David Howman (43:05)
Yeah, well, I mean...
Aya Abdeen (43:05)
I'm so sorry
guys, I apologise.
David Howman (43:08)
you're good?
And one, think the other thing too with Iowa State, ⁓ I mean, they started the season out on fire. were, what they were, I think they were 14 and 0. And then they lost five in a row and just had this slump kind of out of nowhere. And then they got back on track and they only had one loss since then. ⁓ So for the vast majority of the season, they've been
you know, one of the three best teams in the big 12, definitely one of the 25 best teams in the nation. It's just that that five game losing streak was enough to drop them out of the rankings and they're still trying to climb their way back up there. So it is definitely a, a really great team that they lost to. ⁓ Addie Brown coming back from her injury for this game to did not help. ⁓ but
Aya Abdeen (43:58)
For sure.
David Howman (44:04)
going into the last three games of the regular season before the Big 12 tournament. Now Arizona State's gonna need, they're gonna need to finish strong and they're gonna need to win a few games in the Big 12 tournament before they can really feel confident going into selection Sunday.
Aya Abdeen (44:20)
100%. In order for them to be considered into the NCAA tournament watch, they would have to go grand over the last few games. But the last few games, you know, will be against the Tech Tech, which they are ranked. have one of the best seasons in program history. And I can see that the Thunderbolts continuing to build on that momentum, but it will really depend on the Big 12 tournament. How old were they before? How it will come down to who,
will be the X factor for the team. Hello, Lisa Carrera. On Wednesday's game, she was limited to just zero points. Gabby Elliott, she was only recorded to single digits, looking at the stats. Like, the Cyclones has been really on a roller coaster season, as you mentioned. But the Sun Devils really need to find their strides in order to get into the NCAA tournament, for sure. There are some of the games that they should have won in the Big 12, such as the Cincinnati game, in which they
They blew an 18 point lead and especially that home to a really good Kansas State team as well.
David Howman (45:29)
Yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna all come down to how they finish out the year. And as you mentioned, last game of the season is on the road against Texas Tech. That will be the toughest one. ⁓ The thought of going three and to finish the year is it's hard to think about largely because of Texas Tech looming on that last portion of the schedule. But as we've seen,
There's nothing that Arizona State does better than ruining Texas Tech Fans Day. Because they beat them in football, they beat them in men's basketball. Why not do it in women's basketball to finish out a strong end of the year? And the thing that I keep coming back to as well is, you
Aya Abdeen (46:02)
Please.
David Howman (46:15)
A year ago, this program was, there was zero chance that any of us were going to be sitting here talking about, they're on the bubble and they really need to finish strong to have a shot at the tournament. ⁓ So it's, it's, you know, the, the excitement of how this season has gone. It would feel like a disappointment if they don't make the tournament because of just how much better they are than they were last year. But at the same time, the fact that we're even having this conversation,
is a massive endorsement of the direction of this program with Molly Miller, with this new staff. And by the way, Molly Miller also had a ⁓ segment on ESPN earlier this week, which is ⁓
pretty significant given again where this program was the last few years to get a segment like that to have that kind of exposure. It really does remind you in a lot of ways of the early years of the Kenny Dillingham era as well, where it's, know, people are just, people are taking notice and.
Aya Abdeen (47:13)
Yes!
David Howman (47:19)
I mean, women's basketball probably is not getting an indoor practice facility of the same magnitude. But we do know that renovations are coming to Desert Financial Arena. Their four-year stage plan ⁓ begins in May of this year. So things are definitely looking up and looking bright for the future of women's basketball here in Tempe.
Aya Abdeen (47:41)
For sure.
David Howman (47:44)
Yeah, and of course, as we wrap all that up with both basketball seasons, with hockey, we're gonna have plenty to say about it. You can of course find all of our stuff on Devils in Detail here at Echo from the Buttes as well. Before we officially wrap up the show, I do wanna put everybody on the spot and go around the horn once and...
Of course, we alluded to the fact that we don't know yet who it was, who this mystery donor is for this practice facility. I want everyone to take their best guess at who it is.
And Andrew, you smiled first, so I'm going to have you start because you look like you had somebody in mind.
Andrew Hayslett (48:31)
I thought did come to mind and this is kind of hear me out. This is gonna tie the golf team, which Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy, he sold that company off a long ago. Now does PXG.
The contract has to end with, think it's pinged for what the men's ASU got men's side is with at least I believe. After that runs out, PXG takes over.
on that side and that is known to be and the practice field is known to be as Parsons Extreme practice facility or something about that. PXG is Parsons Extreme golf. It could be Parsons Extreme something else.
David Howman (49:25)
like it. Tom, what do you got?
Tom Hardon (49:26)
I it. ⁓
I'm going to go with a low hanging fruit here and go with Jake Plummer.
Andrew Hayslett (49:36)
I do, I believe I saw that it was not someone tied to ASU. If I read what I read correctly, I, memories could be wrong here.
David Howman (49:53)
That would be really cool if it was Jake Plummer, but you also, you can't have the phrase Plummer as the name of a facility. I'll do respect to the snake, but.
Andrew Hayslett (50:05)
Well, you have Mono Plumber Aquatic Center.
Tom Hardon (50:06)
See that's why it would be Jake's training center.
David Howman (50:13)
Or like the Dallas Cowboys, their facility is simply called The Star. They could just call it The Snake.
It could work.
Austin?
Austen Bundy (50:26)
If we put any of these context clues together, somebody is not connected to ASU potentially. And I'm pretty sure Dillingham said it was an eight-figure donor. So we're talking the tens of millions here. I'm trying to whittle down who potentially would be local enough to care about ASU, not be connected and still have that much money or at least that much of a net worth.
So we could be talking about anybody who lives in Scottsdale. ⁓ Man, I don't...
I don't.
Plot twist, it's Rafi. It's Rafi Law Group.
David Howman (51:22)
Raffy Law Group.
Andrew Hayslett (51:28)
What decided the-
David Howman (51:28)
Is that your YouTube?
Austen Bundy (51:33)
Go ahead, Andrew.
Andrew Hayslett (51:35)
What would the side of the practice facility then just be a giant raffy billboard?
David Howman (51:40)
yeah, for sure.
Austen Bundy (51:44)
I don't really have a good guess because I don't know who I can't think of off top of my head to anybody with that much money who would care about ASU but is not an alum because otherwise my head was going if it was an alum my head was going straight to somebody with NFL money so like Terrell Suggs or someone like that. ⁓
David Howman (52:05)
Terrell
Suggs isn't an alum. He went to Ball So Hard University.
Aya Abdeen (52:12)
I do have to chime in and think that a hot take, I guess could be is Jerry Colangelo. He has transformed Arizona sports for the better and especially like how he has bought into Arizona Diamondbacks and which they bought, they got its first World Series in 2001. That could be a hot take for sure. But Jerry Colangelo was also honored at GCU campus as well.
Andrew Hayslett (52:36)
you
Aya Abdeen (52:38)
which is interesting to say the least, even though it's a related to, it's not related to Sun Devils, but it's like college wise, know, in state one, you know, it's going to be an interesting take.
David Howman (52:49)
Yeah, I think I saw that somebody else made that guess online. I was like, that would be very interesting for a few reasons. ⁓ But Graham Racini also said that specifically the method in which this mystery billionaire was funding it was a little unconventional too, which.
doesn't really help me in piecing together clues, but if it is Jerichoangelo, there may be something there as far as the unconventional method of it all. ⁓ That's who I was gonna say. And thanks for stealing my thunder, Austin. But yeah, Matt Ishby, of course, the owner of the Suns, who also donates very heavily to Michigan State, which is why it would be ⁓ definitely a surprise.
Austen Bundy (53:21)
What about Matt Eschbia?
Sorry.
David Howman (53:41)
because he already has a university, his alma mater that he's donating a lot to. But he's not really connected to Arizona State because of that, but is in the Valley, surely knows Kenny Dillingham to some degree. And if he's trying to put down roots in the area, it would make sense to do something like that. And also would not really be a...
It's kind of a drop in the bucket for him for what he would be paying for this practice facility. So it could make a lot of sense. But also I think Michigan State might have a fit if we've got the Matt Ishby at practice facility in Tempe for Arizona State, where of course they are, they haven't won in a hot minute.
Austen Bundy (54:30)
Well we know it's not the bid wells, because they're cheap.
David Howman (54:34)
Which the Cardinals did announce a practice facility on the same day as well, a few hours after Arizona State released their renderings. ⁓ It was really funny because it was very clearly like, well, they can't steal a spotlight from us. And nobody really cared. All due respect to Mike LaFleur.
Andrew Hayslett (54:57)
Here's another f-
Here's another flyer pic out there. George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, living in the Valley apparently. A lot of money behind him. Did not go to ASU. He went to Seton Hall. I don't know if they have a football at the FCS level, but...
one as well.
David Howman (55:26)
That would be a good poll. ⁓ Although he may have lost some of that money when CrowdStrike had their crash ⁓ and jeopardized everybody's flights not too long ago. But ⁓ neither here nor there.
Andrew Hayslett (55:39)
He
Tom Hardon (55:43)
Another possibility I thought of was the Garcia family behind Carvana. They've got that big tower right across the freeway from ASU campus.
Andrew Hayslett (55:50)
Mmm.
David Howman (55:56)
And that would be fun because then you could work in like, you know, with NILH2 giving a car to each player to drive to and from the Carvana practice facility.
Or maybe not every play, maybe just the good ones, but.
Andrew Hayslett (56:11)
building.
Build one of the parking lot towers at the facility for athletes to use and maybe on game days fans as a possibility.
David Howman (56:20)
Yeah
no,
wouldn't. No, fans, fans, have to, you have to drive your own car. have to park 10 miles away. You have to walk. You have to get assaulted by the security guards half halfway along the way to the stadium. That's part of the experience.
Andrew Hayslett (56:44)
Well the
price for parking for that would be, say your typical like $20, it would be $100.
David Howman (56:53)
$20 for parking.
Tom Hardon (56:53)
And then you got to uber to
Andrew Hayslett (56:53)
making money.
Tom Hardon (56:55)
the stadium too.
Andrew Hayslett (56:58)
you
David Howman (56:59)
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, where are you getting parking on game day for $20, my friend? Did they drop the prices since I graduated? That's not how it's supposed to work.
Andrew Hayslett (57:05)
I don't know, don't park there. I
do know they dropped the prices recently when Rossini took over.
David Howman (57:16)
Well, there you go. ⁓ I haven't been there in a minute, but that's good. I had to take out extra student loans to pay for parking when I was there. ⁓ But of course, ⁓ for those who are watching, Austin Bundy dropped off because he was, I assume, got lost down a rabbit hole of searching for who this mystery millionaire could be.
⁓ So he's gonna do the work, he's gonna figure it out, he'll have the inside scoop. And maybe we know who it is next time we're on the show, maybe we don't. Either way, we will be back next week breaking down everything else that happens, that unfolds in the next week for Arizona State Athletics. So signing off for Austin Bundy, Aya Abdi, and Andrew Hazlett, and Tom Harden.
I'm David Howman coming from this full house here at Echo from the Buttes and as always, give them hell devils.