With a thin frontcourt, the Arizona State basketball program will rely on their backcourt which includes a pair of transfers.
ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS
Last Season: 11th, 5-13 in Pac-10, 15-17 overall
Predicted Pac-12 Finish: 10th
Projected Depth Chart
C: Jethro Tshisumpa (Fr)
PF: Obinna Oleka (Sr)/Ramon Vila (Fr)
SG: Kodi Justice (Jr)/Sam Cunliffe (Fr)/Maurice O’Field (Jr)
G: Shannon Evans (Jr)/Torian Graham (Sr)
PG: Tra Holder (Jr)
Gone: SG-Gerry Blakes, C-Eric Jacobsen, PF-Willie Atwood, F-Savon Goodman (transfer), G-Andre Spight (transfer-Northern Colorado)
Arizona State Basketball Strengths:
The Sun Devils return leading scorer Tra Holder and also welcome in a pair of impact transfers from Buffalo in Shannon Evans and Torian Graham. Evans played for Arizona State basketball head coach Bobby Hurley at Buffalo and averaged 15.4 points and 4.6 assists per game as a sophomore. Graham was slated to join Hurley at Buffalo but instead decided to join him in Tempe.
Add in sharpshooter Kodi Justice and top 100 recruit, Sam Cunliffe, and the Sun Devils have a solid collection of skill and depth on the perimeter.
Arizona State Basketball Question Marks:
Outside of Obinna Oleka, Arizona State’s frontcourt features all freshmen. Oleka is a solid contributor on both ends of the floor but doesn’t bring an intimidating presence in the paint. Romello White was expected to play a significant role as a freshman but was ruled academically ineligible and will sit this season while fellow frosh Vitaly Shibel tore his ACL in the summer and will be sidelined this season. That leaves ASU thin up-front and likely to use plenty of four-good looks.
Player to Watch:
Hurley has compared the addition of Evans to bringing in a McDonald’s All-American. He and Holder should be interchangeable in the backcourt as Evans can run the point or play off the ball. He will need to live up to his coach’s build-up if the Sun Devils are going to make a move up in the Pac-12 standings.
X-Factor:
Keep an eye on Jethro Tshisumpa who at 6-10, 260 pounds can make a huge impact in the middle on the defensive end. He is still very much a work in progress on the offensive end though. With all the talent at guard and on the wing, ASU doesn’t need Tshisumpa to score a ton of points. If he can consistently protect the paint, that would be a big victory for the Sun Devils.
Looking Ahead to 2017-18:
Getting White and Shibel back will provide a huge boost inside and Hurley adds to his talented backcourt with 2017 commit, Remy Martin. It seems unlikely that ASU makes a major leap this season but 2017-18 could be the year when that happens.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/17 vs. Northern Iowa (Puerto Rico Classic)
11/18 vs. Oklahoma/Tulane (Puerto Rico Classic)
11/28 vs. Kentucky (at Atlantis Resort)
12/6 vs. Purdue (Jimmy V Classic at MSG)
12/10 at San Diego State
12/29 vs. Creighton
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.