Arizona State entered the 2024-25 season with one of the most electrifying rosters in college basketball and hopes were high to defy expectations in year one as a member of the Big 12. Well, with less than two months remaining in the season, it doesn't even look like the team will meet expectations.
Sitting at 15th in the conference (12-11, 3-9), the Sun Devils have just eight games remaining to make some sort of miracle run heading into the Big 12 tournament. Half of their upcoming opponents are ranked, making that climb even harder.
ASU has lost four of their last five games and, even more disappointingly, eight of their last 10. Entering conference play, the team was squarely inside the NCAA Tournament field of 64 according to bracketologists. Now, their postseason fate looks a whole lot different.
ASU nowhere to be found on NCAA Tournament bubble
ESPN's Joe Lunardi and CBS Sport's Jerry Palm update their bracket projections twice a week and after the latest weekend, both have removed ASU from their bubble watches.
Normally that would sound like a good development but this time it's just a sign of how bad things really are in Tempe. The Devils are nowhere near the bubble any longer, not even in Lunardi's "next four out" category.
At this rate, ASU won't even get an NIT invitation. Head coach Bobby Hurley is 100 percent on the hot seat unless he can somehow put together a miracle final stretch.
Granted, injuries have decimated the promising roster he put together at the start of the season. The Devils had just seven players available in Sunday's 86-73 loss to Oklahoma State, losing freshman phenom Jayden Quaintance for the entire second half to an ankle injury.
We'll continue to keep you updated each week on whether ASU re-enters the 'March Madness' conversation but unless it can return to consistent winning ways, it's likely going to take an insane Big 12 tournament run to get in.