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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 Buttes podcast. I am your host David Hellman joined by some trusty co-hosts. We've got our final four in March here. It's myself, Andrew Hagelett, Austin Bundy and Tom Harden. Of course we are in the thick of it in March madness. ⁓ For those that aren't watching on YouTube, Austin is wearing his guard you shirt. I have a kind of vintage ASU basketball shirt that I found
on discount at the ASU bookstore a couple years ago. ⁓ Andrew and Tom, you guys are not in the basketball spirit, clearly.
Tom Hardon (00:39)
I don't have any basketball merch, I gotta fix that.
Andrew Hayslett (00:43)
I like racing. I'm wearing a racing shirt.
Austen Bundy (00:45)
You
Tom Hardon (00:46)
I'm repping hockey for those who aren't watching on YouTube.
David Howman (00:51)
Yeah, you got the hockey hat on. We gotta get you guys some basketball merch though.
Tom Hardon (00:57)
I'll get right on it.
Austen Bundy (00:58)
Do you guys, know David, you probably were the only one who were there when this was a thing. Andrew, don't know if this is still a thing, but remember the Sun Devil Rewards app?
Tom Hardon (01:08)
I remember that.
Andrew Hayslett (01:09)
It does not exist, I think. At least to my knowledge. I can go on the App Store real quick and...
David Howman (01:09)
Yeah.
Austen Bundy (01:16)
I,
this is, that's where I got this shirt through was I collected enough pitchforks doing their stupid little daily tasks and got a free guard you t-shirt out of it.
David Howman (01:28)
You know, I'll be honest, and this is gonna be ⁓ like humble brag, ⁓ I guess. So I had two different student jobs at ASU while I was there. One, I was a student worker for the Alumni Association, and then I was also an RA in the dorm. So between those two, I got a lot of free shirts. I didn't get a free guard U-shirt. That one I did have to pay for. But when you factor in all the other savings that I have throughout my...
my six years total at ASU ⁓ because I went for my master's too. Don't think that it just took me that long to complete my bachelor's. ⁓ But I did save a lot on shirts during my time. ⁓
Austen Bundy (02:08)
Super senior David Hellman.
Tom Hardon (02:16)
That's what we call leveraging.
David Howman (02:18)
Exactly. Yes, it was a power move.
Austen Bundy (02:22)
He just took advantage of his COVID year.
David Howman (02:26)
Thank
Andrew Hayslett (02:28)
Took a red shirt year as well.
David Howman (02:30)
Yeah, took a red shirt, medical red shirt. Yeah, you know? I mean, these days it's kind of common, so you never really know. But...
Tom Hardon (02:33)
year.
Andrew Hayslett (02:42)
On Austin's
point, the SunDev Awards app does not exist anymore, unfortunately, on the App Store.
David Howman (02:48)
man.
Andrew, you also don't know what Camp Fargo is.
Andrew Hayslett (02:54)
I don't.
Tom Hardon (02:56)
⁓
Austen Bundy (02:57)
Did that go away?
David Howman (02:59)
yeah.
Austen Bundy (03:00)
When did that go away?
Tom Hardon (03:00)
And that's a throw.
David Howman (03:02)
That went away in like...
I mean, it was while we were in school, Austin. It was like, I don't know, I want to say 2017.
Austen Bundy (03:14)
No way. They went away in 27th? I was part of 942 crew. How did I, like, miss that? Ken Sargo went away.
David Howman (03:19)
Well, so it
didn't technically, it kind of was sort of still there, but whenever ASU switched to the athletics fee, where like everybody got tickets because they already paid for it kind of thing, there.
Austen Bundy (03:35)
Well,
I remember Camp Fargo because they did that my freshman year 2015 that everybody because of the athletics fee got tickets no matter what you just had to claim them. But Camp Fargo was still a thing because you camped out in order to get the first like two or three rows of the end zone in the student section or you camped out to get the first like five rows at the basketball games.
David Howman (03:56)
right. And but they were doing that still. And but then it they slowly phased it out. So it was, I guess it was, it might have been 2019. Now that I'm thinking about it, because I think I feel like I remember it happened ended during the Herm Edwards era, which feels, in retrospect, very right. Not that I think Herm Edwards had anything to do with it, let alone knew about it.
Tom Hardon (04:15)
on brand.
Austen Bundy (04:21)
that we know of.
Tom Hardon (04:24)
I remember. ⁓
David Howman (04:25)
Well, apparently there were a lot
of things going on with that program he definitely didn't know about.
Tom Hardon (04:29)
I remember Camp Fargo for the Notre Dame game and just seeing the line for tickets there.
David Howman (04:36)
Yeah, it was.
Austen Bundy (04:37)
In
the words of Mark Jackson, what happened to the game I love?
Tom Hardon (04:43)
We used to be a proper country.
Austen Bundy (04:45)
You
Andrew Hayslett (04:46)
You
David Howman (04:47)
Yeah, well, know, changes, changes with Camp Fargo and everything. There's changes all over. ⁓ Obviously, the big change with ASU right now is the changing of the guard at the basketball in the leadership for the basketball program. The coach, Bobby Hurley, is out. ⁓ Technically, he's still with Arizona State through June, but not in a coaching capacity. ⁓
And they've been kind of doing their search and ⁓ there's been a few developments recently. There hasn't really been any like hard set news, but all signs at this point seem to be pointing towards Randy Bennett out of St. Mary's being at the very least the top target, the guy that they're going after. ⁓ There was a report from Chris Cartman.
with Sun Devil Source and 24 seven sports where he said that ⁓ Randy Bennett is seriously considering the job and since then others have come out and they've said the same thing that they've been really pushing with to get a deal done with Bennett. It kind of sort of feels like reading the tea leaves may be some news ⁓ could even be some news between the time that we finished recording this podcast and when it goes out. So
Andrew Hayslett (06:11)
you
David Howman (06:13)
If he's already been announced as the next head coach, then, you know, take this for a grain of salt or whatever. But how does everybody feel about Randy Bennett? Because I know online I've seen a lot of mixed sentiment. But I know at least two of us have talked in the past about wanting Randy Bennett to be the coach before there was even an opening. But how is everybody feeling at this point?
Tom Hardon (06:40)
For me, like the local ties. He is a ⁓ Mesa native and I believe his parents are here. the desire to move back and be closer to family is certainly a big draw for him. Makes a lot of sense. You want to have somebody who is grounded within the community to be able to appeal and...
I'm going to tap the sign again, activate the valley. That's the mantra that's been going across all of San Diego athletics for the last few years. And who better really to do that than somebody who grew up here in the valley and knows the various fan bases and how to engage across the board. ⁓ The only drawback that I will say to Randy Bennett is not exactly the younger candidate that I would have envisioned having.
somebody who's more in tune with navigating the NIL landscape and transfer portal and everything that comes with it. But at the end of the day, I think the strong local ties does carry more weight with being able to get the program, get a lot of momentum behind the program and get people excited about it and turn Tempe into maybe not the destination in college basketball, but
Andrew Hayslett (07:56)
you
Tom Hardon (08:04)
a destination worth considering.
Andrew Hayslett (08:05)
you
Austen Bundy (08:09)
Yeah, I think I'm with Tom on that one. mean, I don't know a whole lot about his body of work, but considering St. Mary's is one of those perennial names you hear when it comes to March Madness in the NCAA tournament. It's constantly being mentioned in a dogfight with Gonzaga for the WCC titles. ⁓ I'll take Randy Bennett right now, barring any other younger splashier name that potentially comes up here. Just because if you just
think about the transfers that might come over with him from St. Mary's, not just from St. Mary's in general, but maybe some of the other WCC schools or some of the other mid-majors who had gems that were thinking of jumping to a St. Mary's after the season and now may switch their allegiances to ASU if he ends up in Tempe. On a separate note, I do believe with Gonzaga leaving for the Pac-12 and if...
Bennett leaves St. Mary's for ASU, I believe we're witnessing the death of the WCC in college basketball. Just because there's not a whole lot. I mean, a lot of people are like, why would Randy Bennett leave St. Mary's when Gonzaga is leaving? Like St. Mary's could dominate the WCC. Well, without Gonzaga, the WCC is nothing, regardless of how good St. Mary's is going to be, because that conference now drops below the Mountain West in relevance. ⁓
St. Mary's will not get the same credit it has previously gotten for playing in the same conference as Gonzaga. It's going to end up in a similar situation as Miami of Ohio did this year in that they could have some of the greatest regular seasons possible because they didn't play Gonzaga twice and probably split with them. That that resume is nowhere near as good as it ⁓ should be. And that's going to go across the board for the WCC. So I would be.
shocked if we saw more than one representative from that conference in any future tournament going forward.
David Howman (10:09)
Yeah, and not only is is Gonzaga leaving, which that's obviously the headline, but also Oregon State and Washington State have been in the West Coast Conference last couple of years. They'll be in the Pac-12 next year. So they're losing their best team. They're losing three teams total. So the size of the conference is shrinking and the prestige is dropping off considerably. So I think that's that's well put, especially in light of the
All of the narratives that Miami of Ohio faced this year too, there's, mean, ⁓ Randy Bennett has had St. Mary's in the tournament the last five years in a row. ⁓ Three of those times they've advanced to the second round and they've done a lot of that without always winning the conference tournament. And it's because their resume was good enough to get an at large bid despite not winning the West Coast.
without Gonzaga, that's probably not gonna happen. It's gonna be, you either win your conference tournament or good luck in the NIT. ⁓ So I don't think that that's, I know a lot of people have said, well, why, like his road to the tournament just got easier. I don't think that's necessarily a positive for him. Meanwhile, you look at Arizona State and it's not exactly a place where basketball coaches come to elevate their standing, but at the same time,
Big 12 has had, they had eight teams in the tournament this year. They've had at least seven teams the last few years. You really only need to be in that, you know, get to the top half of this conference to be firmly on the bubble, if not better. ⁓ Obviously it's much harder to win in the Big 12 than the West Coast, but I think there's a more direct path to the tournament starting next year in the Big 12 versus in the West Coast.
Austen Bundy (12:00)
He also doesn't need to win the Big 12. He could also just get Arizona State back to the tournament. He just needs to get Arizona State back to the Sweet 16. And regardless of what you want to say about loyalty to programs, mean, that elevates his stock, gets him, it gets eyeballs on him and what he can do with the program and could potentially jump to whatever Big Ten or SEC school needs their own rebooting or their own successor.
Andrew Hayslett (12:00)
Yeah, it's...
Yeah, it's kind of like what you said David. Do you want to be a big fish in a small pond or a little fish in the big pond? Based on the reasons you said David, I think it's a smart move for him. For ASU, I don't know. His age concerns me a little bit. You look at the recent hires for ASU across the board. Kenny Dillingham, younger guy, first go around.
JJ Van Neil, younger guy, first go around. Molly Miller, it wasn't her first go around, but she's still on the younger side. Bennett's on the older side. He's up there in age. How long is he going to be at ASU even before he retires? Five years? For me, I'd rather go get a coach of the future that you can ideally have 10, 20, 30 years possibly, if you get it right. I think that would be the...
the best option but I'm not as in tune with who's on the board compared to you all. If there's not that option that you love then go get a Randy Bennett.
David Howman (13:38)
Well, and I mean, to your point, I think, I mean, a lot of people have talked about his age and questions about how long is he going to be the coach here? ⁓ Randy Bennett will turn 64 ⁓ later this year. So he is up there in age, especially compared to a lot of the other coaches that Arizona State has right now. ⁓ Now, that being said, can he coach another 10 years? Potentially there are.
a handful of coaches in the tournament right now that are all over 70 years old. Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo, Rick Barnes at Tennessee, and somebody else that I'm totally blanking on right now. it's, mean, Coach K was working well into his 70s before he retired. It's not unheard of to get into your 70s as a basketball coach these days.
And I really don't think that a guy like Randy Bennett, who could easily, if he thinks he only has a few years left, he could easily stay put at St. Mary's. His legacy there is secure. I don't think that if he really thinks he's only got a couple of years left, that he would make this move and come to anywhere, let alone a program that is going to take some building and is going to be a challenge if he doesn't think he's got a lot left in the tank. Also, to that point,
Tom Hardon (14:39)
Thank
Thank
I'm.
David Howman (15:03)
I you know right now at Saint Mary's his his associate head coach is a guy by the name of Mickey McConnell who like Randy Bennett grew up in Mesa and Has he played for Bennett at Saint Mary's? He's a third-generation coach his his dad coaches it ⁓ at Mesa at Dobson High his grandfather has the most wins in Arizona high school basketball history this is another guy that is
that Arizona native through and through has strong ties. And Mickey McConnell is only 36 years old. So there's obviously, there's definitely the potential McConnell replaces Bennett at St. Mary's, or he could come with him and kind of be that, that groomed to be the successor.
Tom Hardon (15:35)
Well, and that's a that's
David, you run up the hypothetical that I was trying to outline is, if McConnell was to follow Bennett over and if it's kind of a planned ascendancy for McConnell to get his head coaching opportunity. There's all these variables that go into it. Bennett's not even officially the head coach. We can speculate all day long. But if this ends up being
a short-term situation, short-term I say five to seven years, and there's a plan in place for McConnell to have, not only be that top assistant, but have that decision-making ability where he is almost, ⁓ he's the head coach in waiting. That's a situation that I could see playing out.
David Howman (16:47)
I mean, it worked so well for Utah this past cycle. ⁓ But no, I mean, I think that that's definitely something that could potentially happen. And even if St. McConnell does stay put and take the St. Mary's job and he just gets promoted there, that also doesn't mean that in 10 years or whenever when Bennett retires at Arizona State, again, assuming that he is the next head coach, that doesn't mean that they can't then go to
Mickey McConnell who has 10 years of coaching experience in the West Coast and say, hey, you want to come coach at Arizona State? You want to also come back home? Look how well it went for your mentor. ⁓ So.
Tom Hardon (17:28)
with
a couple national championships to lure him here too.
David Howman (17:31)
Right,
Andrew Hayslett (17:32)
you
David Howman (17:32)
yeah,
no, it'll be very, much more competitive that time around. I think there's, I think a lot of people, another thing I've seen a lot of people not love about Randy Bennett is this idea that he should have done more already to this point in his career. They saw St. Mary's get bullied by Texas A &M in this last tournament game. They see that.
He hasn't advanced past the set the round of 32 since 2010 when he took St. Mary's to the Sweet 16. And I've seen people say like, well, he's not never really been a Cinderella team. Like, why are we going after somebody who's, this is what they're saying. Why are we going after someone who's old and doesn't win in the tournament? To which I say, he gets to the tournament. He gets to the tournament consistent. He's had.
Andrew Hayslett (18:09)
you
David Howman (18:28)
He's had more tournament appearances and more tournament wins in the last five years than Bobby Hurley had in 11 years at Arizona State. ⁓ And he did that at St. Mary's. He did that without elite NIL resources. He's never had a recruiting class that's ranked higher than 60. ⁓ He finds hidden gems. He finds guys that fit into his system and turns that team into a really competitive team.
that they're not gonna be able to win every tournament game that they're in. But that's also kind of exactly what you kind of look for in mid-major coaches. Like it's somebody who can take a program that isn't gonna have four stars and five stars, but they're still able to get to the tournament. They're occasionally able to make some noise. Ben McCollum, who's now the head coach at Iowa and just took down Florida right before we hopped on to record this, simultaneously destroying my bracket.
Andrew Hayslett (19:25)
you
David Howman (19:26)
completely setting it up in flames. Ben McCollum did that at two different jobs before getting the Iowa job ⁓ and has had a tremendous first year in Iowa. Bucky McMillan who just beat Randy Bennett at Texas A He had a couple really good years at Samford, but like he didn't really make any real noise in the tournament at Samford. He just did enough to show you he's a legitimate coach. Put him at a place like Texas A
which has more resources than Samford. Arizona State doesn't have elite resources available to basketball, but they do have more than St. Mary's. So I think that's exactly what you look for in a coach is he built St. Mary's pretty much from the ground up. He's had almost as many tournament appearances in his time at St. Mary's as the program had their entire history before hiring him.
That's how good he's been relative to the program history.
Aya Abdeen (20:35)
I do have to... Sorry, I just came in just a few minutes late.
Tom Hardon (20:35)
Notice a girl in from here, from me.
Aya Abdeen (20:40)
So basically I have some dots on hiring Bennett, which Arizona State men's basketball after letting go of Bobby Hurley for 11 seasons, they need some sort of the Molly Miller magic. Like what I've seen on the women's basketball side in which they have ended a season on Thursday night and a heartbreaker loss, a heartbreaking loss to Virginia who went on to advance to the round of 32 after taking down Georgia and then upset.
But after hearing your analysis on Randy Bennett's impact on St. Mary's men's basketball, I'm pretty interested to see how he could change the winning culture for Arizona State men's basketball and bring it back to where it used to be or go further up to where they want to go. So that's what I have to thoughts on hiring ⁓ Bennett.
David Howman (21:32)
Right. Well, and a lot of people have have in since this coaching search popped up, everyone says like, well, we need to find the next Molly Miller and you know, Molly Miller is is younger. She's definitely more energetic than Randy Bennett, just from a personality standpoint. So I understand why people would look at Randy Bennett and say he's not the next Molly Miller. ⁓ It also does not help his case. I think that he looks
very very similar to Herb Sendak who also is in the west coast and then just had a really good year at Santa Clara. If you told me that the two were brothers I would fully believe you ⁓ but again Molly Miller I mean she's young but she was at Drury for six seasons and had a lot of success there at the D2 level. She was then at Grand Canyon for five years ⁓ so like she was experienced and she
Aya Abdeen (22:11)
Literally.
Andrew Hayslett (22:12)
you
David Howman (22:30)
When she came to Arizona State, she brought a culture of success. Like when she told players, here's how you win, they believed her because she's got all these wins on her record. Same thing with Randy Bennett. And the fact, I think the fact that Randy Bennett, in a lot of ways, he's been kind of like college basketball's version of Matt Campbell at Iowa State.
Aya Abdeen (22:33)
Definitely.
David Howman (22:55)
is, you know, he's, he's, doesn't have elite resources. All he does is win consistently at a place that didn't win before him. And all these schools every year, it's like, who's going to be the one to get Matt Campbell out of Iowa State? And suddenly it happened and Penn State was the one who got him. And like for Arizona State to be the one to get Randy Bennett out, when so many other programs have come calling over the years. I think that says something about
where the university is. think that says something about the leadership under Graham Racini, the athletics director. And I think it speaks to the potential for the program that Randy Bennett, again, if he takes the job, we don't know what's going to happen yet. But a lot of things look like they're pointing that way. But also this is the same program that hired June Jones for 12 minutes.
Aya Abdeen (23:36)
We're have to wait and see,
⁓ for 12 minutes. That's literally insane. But I do have to add it as well. So since Graham Rossini has taken over the Arizona State Athletics program, he has hired Jamia Jackson to take over a women's tennis and look where they are, which it has been pretty impressive. I do remember writing a story about it for Cronkite News in December of 2024, which was honestly one of my favorite stories outside of basketball.
David Howman (23:51)
and then reverse course.
Aya Abdeen (24:18)
And it speaks to the type of the winning culture Graham Racini wants to bring in Tempe for sure. And then the next big money hire was, it's been a year since Molly Miller has taken over the women's basketball program. And I do have to say, it blossom from a year ago today to now has been pretty impressive. it's just the beginning for this program. And I'm really excited to see where it continue to go.
Tom Hardon (24:35)
you
Aya Abdeen (24:46)
for a used to club as well.
David Howman (24:51)
Well, and so again, we don't know if it's going to be Bennett. ⁓ We don't know, but we think if it's not Bennett though, ⁓ a few different candidates that some people had on their radar have gone off the board to other other jobs by this point. But if it's not Randy Bennett, who I'm going to put everyone on the spot. We'll go around the table. Who's Steve Nash? Go for it.
Austen Bundy (25:10)
Thank
Aya Abdeen (25:14)
I'm going to draw in a hot name, Steve Nash. ⁓ It's just making it
like a dream scenario, mind you, because like, I just saw a post where Steve Nash is at tonight's Suns game against the Raptors. And I just randomly think, what if he comes into a cross over from Phoenix to Tempe and then just bringing in winning culture as he has instilled in the Suns back in the 2000s.
David Howman (25:21)
Tell us why. Give me the pitch.
Aya Abdeen (25:43)
It could be possible, but I'm just making it like his dreams.
David Howman (25:46)
He does have coaching experience.
I mean, he's 94 and 67 as an NBA coach with Brooklyn.
Aya Abdeen (25:57)
Literally, one of the things that I vividly remember about Steve Nash was in 2022, days before he got fired from Brooklyn, he got ejected in a game against Milwaukee and he appeared to be upset at the officials.
David Howman (26:15)
Well, and here's the other thing. His first year in Brooklyn, guess who was on the Brooklyn Nets roster?
Aya Abdeen (26:22)
Have a Dorad.
David Howman (26:25)
and also James Harden, ASU, obviously ASU alum and potentially mega donor.
Aya Abdeen (26:29)
Yep.
Austen Bundy (26:35)
I'll stick with.
David Howman (26:35)
Tom, do
you want?
Tom Hardon (26:39)
I'm gonna...
David Howman (26:40)
Putting you on the spot, give me your
name.
Tom Hardon (26:43)
I'm going to give one name that's really standing out to me, Eric Olin from New Mexico. And I'm leaning into this one because there's a close tie with Graham Racini, both dating back to their days in Mobile, Alabama. I think that's ⁓ a factor that will lend itself well if Bennett eventually does not come to ASU. I think that the connection that Olin and Racini have will
be a strong selling point to ultimately try and land him.
David Howman (27:22)
Yeah, it's a popular name.
Austen Bundy (27:22)
stick with the NBA.
I'll stick with the NBA theme here and go with another hot take name Byron Scott.
Aya Abdeen (27:29)
Ooh, that's an interesting one.
David Howman (27:33)
thought you were going to tell me like a current NBA coach or at least somebody that coached in the NBA in the last decade.
Tom Hardon (27:34)
Thank
Austen Bundy (27:40)
I mean, I'm only going with this just because he has, I mean, he has that quote out there of like rekindling the glory days of the program. I mean, if you put him and Graham Harden's resources, ⁓ James Harden's resources together, who knows what happens? mean, Scott may not work out well on the, when it comes to like the recruiting trail, just cause.
He may not be able to navigate the modern game very well, but I mean, James Harden at least would work on the NIL front and at least have resources for if Graham Racini brings in a GM or something for the team to work out the financials, whereas Scott sticks to the pure basketball ⁓ side of things.
David Howman (28:23)
So here's my challenge to you Austin since you brought him up. So Scott's a year older than Bennett, has not coached in college, hasn't coached at all since the 2015-16 season when he was with the Lakers. He went 17 and 65 that year. Make me feel better about that.
Austen Bundy (28:47)
Well, college is a whole lot different than in the NBA, and I feel like there's a little bit more opportunity for him to command respect from younger players who at least would know his NBA days, or at least be aware of him being somewhat a legend of the game.
David Howman (28:48)
You
This is sounding a lot like when Herm Edwards was hired.
Austen Bundy (29:13)
Hey, man!
Tom Hardon (29:14)
You beat me to the punch, David.
Aya Abdeen (29:14)
my god, don't even remind me.
Tom Hardon (29:17)
I was about to call that out.
Austen Bundy (29:18)
It very well could be, but...
Tom Hardon (29:24)
YOLO
Austen Bundy (29:25)
If you can't land Randy Bennett, I mean...
David Howman (29:25)
Yeah.
All right, Andrew, Austin lowered the bar for you a little bit there. Again, all due respect to Byron Scott. He's a legendary ASU player, had a long NBA coaching career. But Andrew, give me your name.
Tom Hardon (29:33)
Okay.
Andrew Hayslett (29:51)
I have no clue if this is feasible or not, but I like the idea. Bryce Drew. He's taken Grand Canyon to another level.
If you can somehow go two for two and poaching the basketball coaches in back to back years, that would be a great storyline. Crosstown rival, build the rivalry up a little bit. He didn't take GCU to the tournament this year, but in the past they've made the tournament, they've done well under him. If you can go get him, why not? I believe he's a younger guy.
in age which is something I've said that I like. He's ⁓ born, he's 51. He's not young but he's not ancient either which it gets you what you want to an extent but it's just, ⁓ it would be an interesting shout if they went that way.
Austen Bundy (30:56)
Do we want the GCU trolls to just accuse us of being GCU East for our basketball programs?
Tom Hardon (31:05)
Are there even JCU trolls?
Austen Bundy (31:08)
plenty of them considering that they want to consider us a cross town rival.
Tom Hardon (31:16)
there.
David Howman (31:17)
They're out there. The issue I have with the Bryce Drew idea, like, Andrew, lot of what you're saying makes a lot of sense. The only issue I have is Bryce Drew's brother coaches at Baylor. And I think for that reason, now I don't know Bryce Drew personally, but I think for that reason that that idea would be dead in the water. I just don't think that he wants to coach against his brother.
Andrew Hayslett (31:24)
you
David Howman (31:46)
each year for the same reason that Sean Miller and Archie Miller never coached in the same conference for the same reason Bobby Hurley isn't going to coach in the same conference as Dan Hurley. You know, I just, I don't think you see that a whole lot, at least with brothers who still talk to each other. Maybe if they had a falling out, then it could be different. That would be fun. But I think the idea is spot on. If we weren't in the Big 12, it might be more
There might be more traction there, but I feel like that would prevent us from going two for two with GCU hires.
Andrew Hayslett (32:24)
Personally, I would want to coach against my brother if we were both coaching in college basketball, but I also don't have a brother, so.
David Howman (32:35)
Well, there
you go.
Andrew Hayslett (32:38)
Can't say I relate.
David Howman (32:41)
I'll give my hot take. The one name, well, I will say, honestly, my backup option would be Eric Olin, like Tom said. I think he's a really good coach. I think he's a really good rising star. ⁓ I don't know if he's actually willing to leave New Mexico after just one year, but also you mentioned that he and Racini are both from Mobile, Alabama. They grew up together. ⁓
to some degree, but also the athletic director that hired Olin just left for Colorado. The university president is retiring, I believe in May. So the leadership team that just brought him in, they're gone. And it would make perfect sense to me if Olin said, well, I wanna, want out, I want somewhere where the people who I work for, the people who actually said they want me here. ⁓
Now that since you already took him, I won't say that that's my second option. So I will go to the other option that I am at least somewhat intrigued by, which is the one that's been floated a lot, which is Derek Glasser, the former point guard who played alongside James Harden. And of course it's been reported by many. If he were to be the head coach, James Harden is going to significantly increase the money that he's donating to ASU basketball.
that Derek Lasser would use his connections to bring in a bunch of very experienced, very seasoned coaches to be his assistants and essentially assemble a team of rivals on that coaching staff since he is fairly young, fairly inexperienced. I like the idea because it's appealing from the NIL aspect. Derek Lasser is somebody who back when he played at ASU.
Tom Hardon (34:21)
Thank
David Howman (34:39)
You know, as the point guard, as somebody who was very much like a distributor, a playmaker, he had to have a certain level of leadership. He had to have a certain level of basketball IQ. He's in charge of the offense at UC Santa Barbara now. And again, it goes towards that, that hiring a young guy with local ties, kind of MO. And also the thing that really I find the most appealing is before he got into coaching, he was also an agent.
for players and coaches in the NBA. And I think that's such a unique background to have in the NIL day where you're kind of, you're negotiating deals to an extent. know NCAA, they don't actually negotiate deals. Nobody pays for play. But in this world where universities can now directly pay players, know, people jump in the transfer portal and they're looking for the best offer sometimes.
Tom Hardon (35:19)
Okay.
David Howman (35:39)
Having a coach who's actually negotiated deals like that is, think, like that's very unique. And I think that could be a real asset to have. Now again, Randy Bennett has been my top choice since the moment the job came open from a year ago when the job didn't come open and we all kind of knew it was gonna come open now.
Andrew Hayslett (35:52)
you
David Howman (36:03)
⁓ So Randy Bennett is definitely who I would have as my top guy. It sounds like it's who Arizona State has as their top guy as well. But I can't lie, the idea of Derek Lasser being the head coach with everything we've heard about it sounds very intriguing to me.
Tom Hardon (36:22)
Lots of options available, that's for sure. Lots of speculation, we should say.
David Howman (36:28)
Lots of, yes, lots of speculation ⁓ and we'll find out soon enough if we haven't already found out by the time this episode goes live. ⁓ But you know, it would be classic, ⁓ just classic timing if that's how it goes. But ⁓ of course, you know, that's where the men's basketball team is right now. ⁓ And like we mentioned a little bit while talking about this, the shadow of what women's basketball just completed. ⁓
also hangs over it of how quickly Molly Miller was able to turn things around. And, you know, it was, I know you touched on it, the way that their season ended in the tournament, but it was devastating to watch, especially the way that they lost that game. But again, the fact that they were even there in the tournament, it's such a bright future for this program. And, ⁓
I know there's four seniors going out on this team, but they're still returning a good chunk of players. Molly Miller has shown in the past a level of adeptness for the portal. So what does it look like for next year?
Aya Abdeen (37:28)
And there's also Ali and Ruby White.
I apologize
for interrupting while you're speaking in the middle of it. When I mentioned about the addition of transfer guard Ruby Whitehorn, which I talked to Molly Miller about a few days ago. And she said that she has been around a team like soaking it all in and Tempe, which is like obviously pretty cool. And it also gives Whitehorn a fresh start in a new program as well, especially after what she had to go through in Tennessee this past year.
And for the Sun Devils Women's Basketball, they're also bringing in three high school high school standards, Avery Lower. She is a dynamic three point shooter, which has really stood out to me and London Parker. I got to say, I'm excited to see what what these three high three upcoming freshmen will bring to the Sun Devils Women's Basketball this next season as well. But back.
to the first four matchup against Virginia, know, props to the Virginia for giving them a hell of a fight, I gotta say. And I mean, like what led to the Sun Devils to lose the game is in the first quarter, Heloisa Carrera, who has been a standout in Molly Miller's first year, she definitely got into foul trouble. So they didn't morally washing it. And they did speak a little bit about the foul discrepancy in which they got.
Tom Hardon (38:36)
and
Austen Bundy (38:48)
Thank you.
Aya Abdeen (39:03)
they got 21 fouls compared to the Cavaliers 9. Which is like obviously like now looking back at the stat sheets, it was pretty interesting to see if they didn't get into foul trouble, then there could have been a different outcome like Sun Devils winning. They could have been playing in the round of 64 and they could have won over Georgia and basically advanced in round of 32. But.
This Sunday was women's basketball. How they navigated with this whole group and especially three returning players actually won with Jaya Lovette from last season. It definitely speaks to a lot of volume and how, how Molly Miller has envisioned this winning culture that she wants to bring over to Tempe as well. And I mean, like in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, mind you, it's really entertaining. And once Marlee Washnitz made that game-tieing three pointer,
Tom Hardon (39:50)
me.
you
Aya Abdeen (40:00)
It was about to be, to be a fight until the final buzzer basically. then once Tamora Johnson hit the dagger, which is a three pointer and then she scored the last four points and the Sun Devils basically had a chance to tie the game in which the Cavaliers, had a great wall of China defense over there and they didn't have a chance to score. So that led to Sun Devils losing to that game. But, win or lose, they kept their heads held high.
and how Molly Miller brought in this type of people from coaching staff to players that want to win and play in Tempe and build a community that will last for years to come is ultimately pretty special. And I'm excited to see what Molly Miller will have in store for the next season.
David Howman (40:52)
Yeah, and I mean, the game itself, you kind of touched on it in that first quarter especially. Two players got into early foul trouble, but also they were just, they looked disjointed on offense. It looked like in general, they got off to a slow start in the game. And with the way that they finished, they were really firing on all cylinders in the second half. But ⁓ I think if they came out playing a little bit stronger,
Aya Abdeen (41:09)
Yeah.
David Howman (41:22)
they win that game. Makina Brackens had an especially tough game. ⁓ Had a lot of missed shots that she doesn't normally miss. It's unfortunate to see a player of her caliber have that moment to have a bad night. But it definitely felt more like ⁓ a game where ASU lost versus Virginia won. ⁓ And I think that's also encouraging going forward is.
Aya Abdeen (41:22)
Definitely for sure.
with me.
What?
David Howman (41:51)
One, the fact that they were even there in the first place, but two, like they didn't play their best and they came incredibly close to winning and moving on to the next round. So.
Aya Abdeen (41:58)
That's really impressive for her. to add in
Gabby Elliott, Elliott has been a go-to scorer throughout the whole season, which how she went out quiet. It's, mean, respect to Gabby Elliott for the type of career she has had.
playing for four different schools and landing in her final season with Arizona State. I'm excited to see where she headed. I could see her getting drafted by a WMP team who needs a backup guard or a guard who can have the opportunity to play minutes off the pitch. Like, I'm really excited to see where Gabby Elliott is headed. Shout out Erica Day, a podcast host for PHNX Wildcats.
And especially for the Mercury, she's, she's, she's done such great things on the podcasting side. And, and I'm really inspired by her work ethic and her yapping as well. And basically I'm, I definitely agree with how Erica has pointed out about Gabby Elliott becoming one of the prospects to watch for this year's WNBA draft, which will take place next month.
David Howman (43:14)
Yeah.
Tom Hardon (43:15)
I think for me, my two factors that ⁓ that led to the loss on Thursday more so than simply the foul trouble was turnovers, 16 turnovers that led to 12 points for Virginia. And then the inability to control rebounds on defense, ⁓ especially in the second half, Virginia recorded 11 offensive rebounds. Now granted in over the entire game,
only five second chance points, but especially in the second half that just blood the clock down at a time when the Sun Devils needed every second to be able to press their advantage that they were, you know, they were building momentum, but just the inability to control those defensive rebounds really just milked the clock away.
David Howman (44:08)
Yeah, the lack of rebounding was very frustrating to watch, especially because ASU has been such a good rebounding team most of the year. it's almost like Virginia just went into the league settings and turned the slider down for defensive rebounding and cranked it up for user offensive rebounding. It was so frustrating to watch because it's...
not what we've come to see out of this team, even in the games that they've lost, that's not been what got them in trouble in those games. So all in all, felt like it was very uncharacteristic of the team in some of the ways that they lost because typically they don't turn it over that much. they don't give up offensive rebounds like that. They do tend to get in foul trouble.
physical team, they're an aggressive team, they play hard defense. ⁓ But it just, it felt, again, like I said, it felt like they didn't have their A game and again, they came so close to winning even with that. So ⁓ definitely a lot of optimism around this program. ⁓ know, Molly Miller, with our question in year one has activated the Valley, which brings us into the next segment of Activate the Valley.
Andrew Hayslett (45:21)
you
David Howman (45:32)
The one who actually coined the term Kenny Dillingham is back in business with spring football, getting started back up. Andrew, you were there and I thought your one key takeaway regarding the temperature was very apt.
Andrew Hayslett (45:46)
It was hot. was simply put, the players were talking about it, how like, a lot of the transfers, like man, they weren't expecting it. Even the returners were like, wow, this is hot. And everyone started to get used to it, and come late August time, it's gonna be an advantage for Ares on a state in those.
Warm weather came because Arizona is going to be hot and Tempe it's going to be warm. Morgan State is one of the first two teams, first few teams coming in. They're coming in from the north. It's going to be struggle for them and you're going to beat FCS teams 99 and a half times out of 100 at home, I would imagine.
Tom Hardon (46:38)
Don't tell that to Michigan against Appalachian State.
Andrew Hayslett (46:42)
the that's on the half times uh... more often than not you you're going win those games and then it will get you an advantage for some of these other non-conference games and you got uh... kansas and that's on the on london on the week three throwing things away uh... way out of order from what normally it is so i believe the next game is baler at home if memory serves me correctly
Tom Hardon (47:11)
I think that's not until either the last weekend of September or the first weekend of October. It's a very light front-end schedule, which for the fans at least will be a welcome sight to not have all the games in 100 degree weather, but then when you think about it having only a very light front-end of the home schedule, you're having to wait more for that opportunity to be in the stadium.
Andrew Hayslett (47:21)
Yeah, ⁓
Yeah, you've got the the week five game of Baylor's the second home game of the season That like you said Tom that's October 3rd, and then you got October 10th against Hawaii Which those are still gonna be warmer games, but I don't think we'll see we might we might see triple digits we might not I Don't know could very well could be because it's it's Arizona, and I guess we're getting triple digits in March now
But yeah, it was hot. ⁓ Everything, but in terms of besides the heat, the team looked solid in practice. You can only see so much. ⁓ What was it? There's two key players that stood out for me. Nick McClarty, the punter. He can punt like a ways.
I can confirm that. That's something that ASU struggled with last year. He was punting pretty consi- Yeah, 6'7", I don't know his weight, big boy. He was punting 40 plus yards consistency, getting the 50 range pretty consistently of where a line of scrimmage would be. And-
David Howman (48:38)
He's a big dude too.
is like 250 pounds or something.
Andrew Hayslett (49:02)
Marion Miller was catching the balls with one hand, out raised, caught one by doing this. He caught a few others that were tee bobbled. what I saw from McClarty was something I didn't see much from last year. So that was the big difference for me.
Aya Abdeen (49:26)
it.
David Howman (49:27)
Miller's got the Odell Beckham Jr. catch down.
Aya Abdeen (49:30)
Well, sure.
I was also there.
Tom Hardon (49:31)
I'm sorry.
Andrew Hayslett (49:32)
Yeah.
David Howman (49:32)
Hopefully,
Odell Beckham Jr., when he makes a one-handed catch, it actually comes in a win. Right, Austin?
Austen Bundy (49:42)
Hey, he might be making a return to the Giants here in a little bit, so... He looks like he's still got it if you watched him at the flag football game in Los Angeles.
Aya Abdeen (49:53)
Interesting to note. So I do have to add in, I apologize for the interruptions a little bit, but I was also at the first two days of the spring football, football practices as well. And what I have, what has really stood out to me is is a Mario Miller and that, in which I did interview Dillingham after day two about what has stood out to him about Miller's work ethic. And he said that he doesn't play as fast as he is, which is a good thing.
Tom Hardon (50:08)
me
Thank
Aya Abdeen (50:22)
He's always under control. And that's what really stands out to me from day two, the first two days of spring football as well, which I'm pretty excited to see how it will all turn out. But the big question, but also to add in, Dillian also pointed out in day one that this is like the, this is a big, like the big and athletic roster he has ever seen, which it's pretty interesting.
Tom Hardon (50:34)
Thank you.
Aya Abdeen (50:50)
me to point this out as well. And I'm so fascinated to see how we'll all translate into the football season. But the big question that I have is how they're navigating the start finding the right starter for the quarterback as long as they basically stay healthy. And that's what all matters for the Sun Devils throughout this season.
Tom Hardon (51:08)
Listen.
David Howman (51:14)
Yeah, if if if cutter Bowley can come in and take advantage of all the potential that he has, it could be a really big year again. Also, I think it was a smart move bringing in Mikey Keene, who has a pretty high floor as a college football starter. Have we gotten any like clarity on? The offensive play calling situation if Kenny Dillingham will call plays the way he did in the bowl game or if Marcus Arroyo will return to that.
That's set up.
Andrew Hayslett (51:45)
I believe in his Tuesday 45 plus minute long press conference Kenny's at the nearly and I want to say it was I would guess around the 39 minute mark he said something about it where he did it's gonna be a royal primarily it was kind of a non-answer though memory serves me right I'm trying to find that quote
Tom Hardon (52:14)
Well, while Andrew's looking at that, I'm going to echo the excitement about the wide receiver room. Not only Amarian Miller, but Reid Harris, Uriah Nelloms. It's a very deep wide receiver room. again, like at the quarterback position comes down to, can these guys stay healthy to be able to produce ⁓ to the highest potential they have. But it's a very, very high ceiling that
this this my receiver room brings to the new season.
David Howman (52:46)
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I also really hope, and this is half tongue in cheek, but with Nick McLarty and the punter and with the size he has, we know Jack Nudo, the new special teams coordinator, he's talked in the past and he's done it as interim coordinator last year. He likes to come up with some trick plays here and there. I want a punter draw play where you give it to McLarty, just have him.
Tom Hardon (53:11)
Yes.
David Howman (53:14)
just have him barreled downfield straight up the gut and it'll be like that scene from the longest yard where the guy is just like carrying five guys on him as he rumbles forward. And I think that we might be able to get that.
Tom Hardon (53:25)
fullback diver with your punter.
Make it a full back dive, but with your punter.
David Howman (53:31)
Yeah. So I don't know, Andrew, if you want to slip that note to Coach Nudo next time you see him, you can sign it on all our behalf.
Andrew Hayslett (53:42)
⁓ I'll ask him question about if that's something that he might have in the playbook. But I do want to mention what Tom says. still trying to find this quote. It's taken me a bit longer than I thought it was.
is that people want to come and play under Heinz Ward. Let's not forget he was a Super Bowl winning wide receiver and he's done a lot. He was on the Sunday Night Football preview show for a little bit too. He's a guy who knows a lot. Jordan Tyson up to be the success he was. And now there's definitely people
who want to come in to play under a guy who's done so much in his career.
David Howman (54:38)
Yeah, definitely good to have somebody like him, ⁓ especially seeing the success Jordan Tyson had. And this is easily their deepest wide receiver room that they've had since Kenny Dillingham got here. So it's very, very exciting. I'm just, know, spring ball is always tough for me because it's like, you get a little taste of it, but then we still got to wait so many more months until we get there.
Andrew Hayslett (55:08)
Yeah, here's what Kenny said kind of summed up is that he wants to be more involved on the offensive side, especially with spring football. He's probably going to be more involved. But he also says that doesn't change Marcus's role, that they worked well together at a high rate.
He says he wants to run around a little bit more, be a little bit more engaged, be a little bit more involved in those meetings.
nothing really explicitly one way or the other.
David Howman (55:49)
Almost sounds like, sounds like we'll find out week one against Morgan State.
Andrew Hayslett (55:55)
Yeah, a couple of interesting guys who were on the team last year that are coming into the wide receiver room, Clayton Smith. He's practicing in an offensive jersey, which is interesting. ⁓ Yes, he's now going on the offensive side, which...
David Howman (56:11)
Edgerusher Clayton Smith.
Andrew Hayslett (56:19)
I it's interesting how they're going to try to fit him into the offense, which if they want to use him as a wide receiver, like you said, David, there's Ward and company brought in bunch of transfers as well as a couple other guys that are on the team like Jalen Moss.
tight end side you've got Kamari Anderson and AJ Ea already in there. It's like where do you want to piece together that? moving in from the quarterback room to the wide receiver room is Michael Tullofson, Butter Tullofson. Interesting note to see if he's going to get in there, ⁓ some, get some playing time with.
other guys like Derek Kusebio still on the team, he changed his number that's weird for me to see, he's five now. So just new faces, new names, old names, different places, a lot of moving pieces in the offense with not a lot of returners.
David Howman (57:21)
Yeah, well, ⁓ before I have to learn all the different new numbers and which names they go to, the thing that I'm probably most intrigued by is that play calling role and how that evolves, whether it's Kenny calling the plays or Arroyo still calling the plays, but Kenny is kind of in his ear, whatever it ends up being, I'm gonna be following that pretty closely.
⁓ A lot of people really liked what they saw when Dillingham was calling the plays in that bowl game. But we may also still get a chance to see if Marcus Arroyo can kind of get his fastball back, so to speak. And speaking of fastball, we want to pivot.
We want to pivot to, of course, Sun Devil baseball, the sport that's actually going on right now. Basketball's in, you know, wrapping up, football's getting ready to begin. Baseball is, we're in the thick of it. looks like we got a pretty good team, right? Like they're doing pretty good to start.
Andrew Hayslett (58:27)
Yeah.
two and one these first two conference series now in terms of record, which is what you want to see. got a couple the last two mid weeks you had wins over your in state schools, Arizona, GCU now, which you if you're bloomquist you're feeling good, but you're not.
there yet there's still things you want to clean up alex over bay in the in the starting role hasn't been super impressive ⁓ col klecker didn't pitch well today ⁓ which you're you're gonna have off days but you're gonna want to limit those a few and far between in absence of ⁓ new contratus who's been out with an injury's been able to swing the bat now at least
not really run so you've had a couple different guys out there at second who have kind of not done much in Finn Leech from his first two starts and Beckett Zavorik that that's those are those are kind of two biggest holes right now is starting pitching out outside of the two holes and second base
Tom Hardon (59:46)
Yeah, you know, it's really, you know, the bright spot that I'm going to bring up is just the beat going on for Landon Harrison. I mean, he has been all but unstoppable at the plate and just tearing the cover off the ball, game in, game out. ⁓ He is the straw that serves the drink for this, for the Senegal baseball team. And...
It's giving me the feeling that as he goes, this team will go. So the longer that Landon keeps raking at the plate, the farther this team's gonna go.
David Howman (1:00:24)
Yeah, I think...
Andrew Hayslett (1:00:24)
His powers
came a long way.
David Howman (1:00:27)
think what's been most encouraging to me so far is just the number of options that they have in the bullpen too, because that was always a concern the last few years. And of course, know, why Halverson has an injury, he's out for the rest of the year, that's a big blow to their depth, but they do still have a lot of different guys that they can go to. ⁓ You know, we've seen a few times already this year,
where they've gotten into games where, I mean, we know the offense can be explosive. We know that Harrison and everybody else, they can go off for double-digit runs any given night. I think, I was just looking through their schedule. They put up 29 against Loyola Marymount earlier this month. 29 in one game, by the way, not 29 across the series. They won 29 to four. But even in the games where their offense isn't...
like isn't doing what it normally does or if they're in a ballpark that's not as conducive to just knocking it out of the park, ⁓ their pitching has been able to keep them in the game. And there were so many times last year at this point in the season even where it was like our offense either shows up or we lose. know, we can win shootouts or we can blow teams out.
but we're not gonna be able to win those rubber matches. And we've gotten into a few and it's still not to a point where, you know, I'm not booking my tickets to Omaha just yet, but it's been a lot more encouraging. There's been games against TCU, against Kansas State this past Friday, where you have to rely on your pitching just a little bit more and they last just a little bit longer than they did last year than they did the year before.
And, you know, again, you get into the dog days of the season and you see how well they actually hold up down the stretch. But I really like the way that the Willie Blomquist attacked this off season to give himself not just like quality pitchers here and there, but to just fill up his arsenal there. And that's really what I was most looking to see early on. And so far, again, it's early, but so far I've been really impressed.
Tom Hardon (1:02:41)
On and David you can you bring up the depth of the bullpen I am I want to I want to give my early hat in the ring for a bullpen MVP to Sean Fitzpatrick Last season was a very forgettable season for him era of over 11. He was really he was really a project pitcher for not for coach Blomquist and really refined his his craft in the offseason and
Aside from the series against Kansas State, he did not give up an earned run until this weekend series, up one run in each of last few games. But outside of that, he's just been a shut down pitcher, somebody who, and I asked Coach Blomquist about this a couple of weeks ago, somebody that he is comfortable turning, the ball to in any situation out of the bullpen and saying, here you go, pitch. We saw it with
a career long three innings against Arizona in the midweek game two weeks ago. ⁓ He's taken every situation that Coach Blomkos has given him and just run with it and really just been the driver out there in the bullpen.
Andrew Hayslett (1:04:04)
Yeah, in addition to Fitzpatrick, who's had an outstanding bounce back year, as you mentioned, Tom, a couple other guys have caught my eye. Taylor Penn, transfer sophomore from Western Kentucky, pitched really well so far with a 2.04 ERA with three wins.
He's been a reliable arm. I didn't think was gonna be the most reliable coming into the year. I thought he was gonna be serviceable, but he's been reliable, which is a step better. Derek Schaefer, the closer, a guy who I was tied on coming into this year as a potential start. He's been a great piece, a junior in the back end of the bullpen. Colby Guy, who's been a guy who's been a starter in the past before having an injury early in his last season.
and Asheville, want to say. It was the big South preseason pitcher of the year last year. Transfers in Arizona State. Has put up some good numbers so far this season. Pitched really well last, what was that? Tuesday in the midweek. And then the other guy, Josh Butler on the team was one of the better bullpen guys last year. Gonna continue that into this year, it looks like.
Tom Hardon (1:05:24)
And in coming into the season where I believe you brought up the point that Coach Blomquist was a little bit noncommittal on which guy and which arms are going to be slotted into which roles. we knew that Cole Carloen was going to be the Friday starter coming into this ⁓ season. But I think outside of that, there was no real firm commitment to where guys would land. ⁓
You bring up Cole Clucker, again, a rough outing for him today. Like you said, we're going to have, know, guys are going to have those, those games, hopefully, you know, minimize them and have them fewer and farther between as the season goes on. But he's a new, he's another guy that I've been really impressed with since transferring in from TCU and had, you know, his best outing of the season last Sunday in a start against TCU throwing seven shutout innings.
David Howman (1:06:22)
Yeah, and like we said earlier, it's still, we're kind of early into the year, but looking at the Big 12 standing so far after two Big 12 series, Arizona State's foreign team that right now ties them for third in the Big 12. Only teams ahead of them are UCF and West Virginia, both at five and one. And as luck would have it, West Virginia is the next Big 12 team that's on their schedule. They'll play out in Phoenix this weekend.
ASU draws UNLV Monday night in Vegas and then they come home for a quick game against New Mexico State before hosting the Mountaineer. So really ample opportunity early on to face one of the teams that's kind of hot coming out of the gate in the Big 12. And again, going back to their non-conference portion where they had that...
series against Oklahoma, which ultimately went their way. They didn't get the full sweep, but they won the series. And then the three straight games, which they did lose all three, but against three different top 25 teams. I think that was a really good scheduling ⁓ tactic to prepare them to the point where now we're going into face of West Virginia team. It's right now one of the best in the big 12. And you got to feel good about at least where their mental state is, their preparedness for
a team like that. So it's lining up early on for Arizona State to be able to set themselves apart as one of the teams to beat in the Big 12.
Andrew Hayslett (1:07:55)
Yeah, I don't want to get too far ahead and look at that West Virginia team. I'm very curious on how this midweek against UNLV is going to play out. Traveling from Kansas to UNLV, back-to-back days, interesting scheduling, different. ASU lost this game at UNLV last year. I think one of the different makers for UNLV's was Dean Toygo.
And now ASU has Dean Toygo and Dean Toygo is swinging a really hot bat. He has homered a lot, I think it's like eight times in his last nine games, something ridiculous. He has 11 homers this season. An OPS of 1100 plus, well, only batting 326, which I say only. That's still a pretty high number at the end of the day.
He's found his stride as of late, swinging a really hot bat. That's a guy you want who, in ⁓ a smaller ballpark, like municipal stadium where the ball flies, is gonna hit a lot of home runs. You need that bat to be hot.
Tom Hardon (1:09:11)
And that's a tough tandem to face with when you've got Landon Harrison usually up there at the top of the order and then farther down the order you've got Dean Tuygo. Their opposing pitchers are going to have nightmares going up against the lineup like that.
Andrew Hayslett (1:09:28)
Absolutely and then then then you pencil and other guys like your your PJ moots arises of the world that are batting 315 in the second slot Dominic small Dino 333 with a 950 OPS Garrett Michelle 317 with a 976 OPS you're catching catchers this season have done really well as well Briggs and Cohen Nikolai batting over 300
David Howman (1:09:29)
Yeah.
Andrew Hayslett (1:09:57)
each Austin Roll Egg 360 right now. There's a lot of challenging pieces to face in this lineup right now.
David Howman (1:10:08)
Yeah, and you you mentioned Briggs and you know, I can't help but root for the guy, not only because he's a Sun Devil, but he also hails from out here in Oklahoma in the Tulsa area. And there's a small contingent of people out here that are now de facto Sun Devil fans because specifically they're following Brody Briggs. So that's been a cool thing for me personally, is getting some new found Sun Devil fans. ⁓
And I'll have to get them some basketball gear in addition to Andrew and Tom some basketball gear. Because we love obviously, you know, all things Arizona State athletics, whether it's basketball, baseball, tennis, volleyball, hockey, football, we can take it or leave it, of course. you know, we obviously we
Andrew Hayslett (1:10:37)
you
David Howman (1:11:03)
We love seeing the Sun Devils win and baseball is doing a really good job of it right now. ⁓ Future looks bright for men's and women's basketball pending a certain higher than may or may not happen. ⁓ But of course, as always, we'll have all of the coverage ⁓ on all things Arizona State Athletics right here at Echo from the Butte. You can also read all of us talking all about it at devilsindetail.com.
⁓ And on the next episode, I may or may not be wearing my tequila sunrise shirt because that will be one of their special days in this upcoming series against West Virginia. Another one of those shirts that I got for free because of how savvy I was as a college student back in the day. But that's just a fun teaser for the next episode. Until then, signing off for Tom Harden, Austin Bundy, Andrew Hazlett, and Aya Abdeen, I'm David Hounman, here at Echo from the Buttes. As always, give them hell, devils.
Tom Hardon (1:11:30)
you