Breakdown Of The Arizona State Sun Devils For The 2009 NCAA Tournament

Team:  Arizona State Sun Devils

Style of play

ASU is a odd, malleable, conglomeration of several styles. They are a defense-first, deliberate team, but have scoring punch, but will never force an up-tempo game on their own.

They are not afraid to run in spurts, but their preferences is to play a slow-down game, especially when they run their offensive sets in the half-court. They have several zone variations that are very hard for teams that have not played them before to figure out. 

On offense, they really like to run high pick-and-rolls over and over with Pendergraph on the pick and either point guard Glasser or star-scorer Harden on the roll.

Many teams who have seen these pick-and-rolls over and over still cannot stop them because of how skilled these three players are at running it. Kind of a poor-man's Stockton and Malone.

Strengths

Arizona State's biggest strength for sure is Pac-10 Player of the Year, James Harden. He is a gifted player who looks like he can play in slow motion and never looks rattled.  He literally looks like an NBA player in the NCAA, which he actually is, I guess.

He can shoot from outside, but his favorite thing to do is get in the lane, draw contact, and then with his superior dexterity, throw in a leaner in the defender's chest and draw the foul. He is the best scorer in the Pac-10 and is pretty much unstoppable one-on-one.

Point guard Derek Glasser is an undersized floor general who is not much to look at, but his basketball IQ wins games for ASU and he has even developed into an adequate outside shooter, something that is very important when Harden is breaking down defenses and kicking the ball out to open shooters. 

Jeff Pendergraph is the Devils' only real inside presence and is a great rebounder. He is not an intimidator on defense, but he has a mean streak and is tough as nails. ASU's defensive schemes are so elaborate that most teams find it hard to get the ball inside to their post man, making Pendergraph's defensive job much easier. 

As mentioned earlier, he is a great half of the best pick-and-roll in the NCAA and will get a lot of dunks and layups after getting a quick pass from Glasser or Harden as he slashes to the basket from the top of the key. 

He has also show some decent mid-range shooting as the season has gone on. ASU will beat almost anybody if they can make it exclusively a half-court game because they are so adept at this pick-and-roll and the fact that their defenses are very confusing, especially to teams that they have not played before.

Weaknesses

A lack of size and depth. They make up for this by slowing the game down, reducing the number of possessions a game and also with their ambiguous defenses. Their fourth and fifth players are nothing more than glorified three-point shooters, and while often good, they can ruin a game for the Devils if they are off. 

They get a lot of open threes because Harden often demands two or three defenders, but they are inconsistent and not to be counted on on a regular basis. But if they are on, they can carry ASU to wins.

But the lack of depth behind their 'Big Three' is a concern, as all three of them are very hard to replace and Arizona State often goes into scoring lulls when they all aren't on the floor at the same time.

Should do well against

Undisciplined teams that do not value the ball. If ASU goes up against teams that are not "smart", they can make them look really bad.  ASU loves playing an Arizona-type team, meaning a team with a free-flowing style that does not play a lot of defense. 

They can also beat teams that slow it down because that is Arizona State's game too, and they are better than their opponent at it most of the time.

Could have trouble with

Run-and-gun, high-scoring teams that have balanced offenses and force an open-court game. ASU just cannot run and run and run. With Harden, they are able to put up points quickly, but they cannot sustain that pace for an entire game, nor will they try. 

If things begin to get out of hand, ASU will call timeout and "reset" the game as often as possible. 

A team that has several outside shooters could pose problems also, as long shots can go right over the top of their complex defenses. Also, a team with a complex zone (like Syracuse) might be able to foil their high pick-and-roll which is their bread-and-butter.

Best-case scenario

Arizona State is a legit team. They have a veteran and confident core and could beat almost anyone, in my opinion.  If they can get solid matchups and can control the tempo, they could surprise a team that is well regarded. They would match up well with any Big 10 team.

Worst-case scenario

They get in early fouls trouble and need to rely on players that have not contributed much this year to this point. Also, if they fall behind early and start to panic a bit, they can end up looking like they did in the second half of the Pac-10 Championship against USC, where they were a bit scared and let USC take it to them.

If everything goes right, they could reach

The Final Four. Seriously. But they would need to play some perfect games along the way. If their outside shooters are hitting shots, it will really open up the middle for the pick-and-roll and Harden, and if it goes that way, they could be hard for anyone to beat. 

Strong, fast, high-scoring teams with enough confidence to ignore the Devils' attempt at controlling the pace should beat them, but if they draw teams that want to play half court, I would give ASU a chance against anyone.