Arizona St Preview
The Orange is back in action tomorrow at 12:10 to face 6th seeded Arizona St.
The Sun Devils will be an intriguing matchup and offer a much more dangerous foe that SU’s first round opponent – Stephen F Austin. Arizona St is lead by G James Harden who averages over 20 points per game. He is a solid all around player and has the talent to not just play but suceed at the next level. He is joined by forward Jeff Pendergraph as main cogs in the ASU offense. Pendergraph shoots it extremely well and unlike our interior is an excellent foul shooter. From the perimeter, Rihard Kuksiks is the main 3 point threat shooting it at 44% from beyond the arc.
The Sun Devils also like to employ a zone defense although it is not the same type of zone that the Cuse sees everday in practice. Look for the Devils to employ a 3 -2 look that will spread out the perimeter and try and limit entry into the low post. Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku will have to be at their very best to keep ASU from controlling the boards. Point guard Derek Glasser is not a huge scorer but if he gets 22 like he did in ASU’s opening round win over Temple, the Orange will be in a world of hurt.
There seems to be an abundance of storylines. Harden and Flynn reliving some fun times in ABCD camp over dinner. Herb Sendek, coach of ASU and JB go pack to Herb’s early years in the BE with Providence. And of course the looming cloud of health over the Orange team, with JT, Kong and possibly Andy suffering from effects from the flu. Also a concern for ASU is the potential East Coast time zone effects of playing a virtual 9am game. UCLA fell to Nova in a similar setting today. It will be interesting to see if the same thing applies to tomorrow.
