Mid-Season Report: ASU Sun Devils

Many national media pundits, will say, "that the Pacific Ten Conference is in a bit of a down year," from a national perspective. However, fans in Tempe will not mind if everyone else surrounding them, is treading water to earn NCAA Tournament bids, especially since Herb Sendek's Sun Devils sit atop the Pacific Ten Conference Standings.

If the local media in Tempe, AZ ask Head Coach Herb Sendek, if he thought his team would be sitting pretty in first place in late January, most likely his response would have been, "great, let's see what we can do in March when it counts." 

But on the positive side of the Pac-10 season, ASU is currently holding the pole position with a 4-2 record, just as their in-state rival Arizona Wildcats stare them right in the face.

A four and two record is great, but Herb Sendek has to instill in his players' mind, that with three straight homes games coming up on the maroon and gold's schedule, the Sun Devils should be eyeing a seven and two start to reach the half way point of the conference season.

The interesting topic about the Sun Devils' success, is that ASU has won their games primarily without a big play scoring threat. If the Sun Devils are hot shooting the ball from the three point line, well, their opponents will be in for a long night.

Rihards Kuksiks has led the charge for ASU offensively, scoring in double figures four out of the six conference games this season. Kuksisks even managed to score 25 points or more twice in that stretch.

Now, for the Sun Devils and Herb Sendek's squad, the key will be to continue this hot streak of shooting from the perimeter.

But when things have look gloomy for the ASU basketball team, the past four years Senior point guard Derek Glasser has led the way, and this season is a perfect example of such leadership.

Glasser is ASU's second leading scorer, behind the sharp shooting Kuksiks, but Glasser has left his mark on a different stat column. Earlier this month, Glasser re-wrote the ASU assists record and etched his name in, as the best point guard in Sun Devil history.

The only thing that Glasser is missing is an outright Pacific Ten Conference Championship. With the next three games at home versus Arizona, and the two bay area schools, Glasser and his Sun Devils will look to write their storybook tale on their way to that goal.