2. Arizona State Sun Devils (19-8, 10-5 Pac-12)
For the second straight year, Arizona State finds itself on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The difference between the two seasons?
These Sun Devils are doing more to play themselves into safety whereas the 2017-18 team crumbled after a 12-0 start, winding up in Dayton for the First Four.
In its final homestand, ASU took care of Stanford, 82-60, and avoided disaster against California, edging the Golden Bears 69-59 to improve to 10-5 in conference play.
The winning Pac-12 record is the Sun Devils’ 14th in 42 seasons with the Pac-10/12.
Granted, Stanford sat sophomore forward KZ Okpala and guard Daejon Davis played while on the mend, but the Sun Devils showed a capability to finish games, previously an area of concern for coach Bobby Hurley’s team.
The Cardinal trailed by eight at the half before the defense of ASU held Stanford to 29 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes. Senior center Josh Sharma (7-of-7) and sophomore forward Oscar Da Silva (6-of-15) combined for 32 points while the rest of the team shot 8-of-34 (24 percent) from the floor.
Against Cal, the Sun Devils went into the half down six points after shooting 26 percent from the floor. But ASU made its first eight shots of the half, racing out to a seven-point lead and connecting on 57 percent of its shots after the intermission.
Junior guard Rob Edwards averaged 16 points per game during the week on 12-of-21 shooting. Freshman guard Luguentz Dort added a game high 22 against Cal, the first time since November that ASU won a game in which he scored 20 or more points.
The Sun Devils finish the regular season on a three-game road trip, starting with Oregon and Oregon State. A sweep would give ASU confidence ahead of the Pac-12 Tournament and assurance that it likely would not have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday.
– Pekale