ASU Basketball: ‘Bubble Watch’ entering Senior Day
By Trevor Booth
With four regular season games and the Pac-12 Tournament outstanding, ASU basketball has a chance to boost or blow its NCAA Tournament resume.
Rob Edwards made it clear Wednesday – Arizona State has its eyes on the postseason.
“(I’m) just trying to confidence for March and tournament time,” he said. “Trying to pick it up and help everybody else so that we can get ready and win games. We know that’s what we got to do.”
Even as a top-two seed in the Pac-12, the Sun Devils (18-8, 9-5) realize what they’re up against. A down year for their conference doesn’t guarantee any bids for the NCAA Tournament – with the exception of Washington – and an additional league tournament champion in Las Vegas.
But if any squad has a chance at an at-large bid, it would be ASU. As of Feb. 22, the Sun Devils were one of 30 teams to have four or more victories against NET Quadrant 1 opponents. Twenty of those teams had a winning record within the Quadrant, including ASU.
However, that potency comes with an asterisk. The Sun Devils are one of four teams (Baylor, South Carolina, Northeastern) in the NCAA NET top-100 with two or more Quadrant 4 losses, a large reason why they’ve been ‘on the bubble’ in recent tournament conversations.
Last year, Bobby Hurley‘s team was in the same position. Even after a 12-0 start with wins over two No. 1 seeds (Kansas, Xavier), the Sun Devils had to ‘sweat it out’ before Selection Sunday, dropping five of their final six contests before scraping in the First Four.
This year, the breathing room likely won’t be as large. Of ASU’s four remaining games, one is Quadrant 4 (Cal), two are Quadrant 2 (Oregon State, Arizona) and one is Quadrant 1 (Oregon). Factor in inconsistency, and there’s no telling where each opponent (besides Cal) will end up by the end of the year.
As Senior Day looms tomorrow afternoon, here’s the latest look at where ASU’s NCAA Tournament chances stand.