ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Week 11 Power Rankings
By Trevor Booth
ASU basketball’s conference woes continued while three teams have began to create separation at the top of the league’s standings.
If Pac-12 basketball could emulate a pitch, it would be Sandy Koufax’s great curveball. A staple of its time, the throw self-branded turmoil, taking its hitters to the greatest heights before settling in a deepness of strikeouts and pop flies.
More likely than not, the seven-time all-star hasn’t thrown the bender since leaving the mound in 1966. But 53 years later, the toss has taken the actuality of Arizona State basketball.
The Sun Devils, sitting at 2-2 in league play, are conflicted. Saturday’s loss to Stanford was the team’s fourth in the last seven games and its third by double digits. Still seeking an identity, coach Bobby Hurley started his sixth different lineup of the season, a change that couldn’t save mental errors (6-of-17 FT shooting) and a 9-to-19 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The struggles are puzzling for a team that separated itself in the first 12 games. Nine wins, including those against Mississippi State, Utah State and Kansas, now seem the outliers for a team that’s fallen back in the conference’s strike zone.
Meanwhile, three teams have embraced the start ASU expected. Sean Miller is leading what may be his best-coached season at Arizona, as the Wildcats hold the top start in the league without a collection of five-stars and NBA Draft talent. Emmanuel Akot’s decision to transfer will hurt, but the team’s commitment to defensive execution should help hold the course.
Toward the northwest, Washington and Oregon State each hold 3-0 records. After a program turnaround from coach Mike Hopkins, the Huskies’ competitiveness is expected. The Beavers, however, are a different story.
Known for the father-son connection between Wayne and Tres Tinkle – a la Steve and Bryce Alford at UCLA – the Beavers hadn’t surrounded their star player in years past. Now, they may have it, as a Pac-12 Player of the Week honor for Stephen Thompson Jr. and team contributions equated an impressive sweep of the Los Angeles schools.
Aside from those teams, each unit is looking for a rhythm. Some, like Oregon and Stanford, feel one is brewing while either Washington State and California will pick up its first conference win in this week’s meeting.
Almost a third of the way done with league play, here’s where each team stands in our Pac-12 Power Rankings.