(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
Bobby Hurley began his tenure as Arizona State men’s basketball’s 14th coach, by emphatically setting a new barometer of success for the program.
“We’re going to compete for championships,” Hurley said. “Pac-12 championships and we want to go to Final Fours.”
With that quip the tone of the entire press conference and perhaps Hurley’s tenure was set.
The failure to win in March that defined Herb Sendek’s nine year run, is no longer acceptable.
Hurley noted the work ethic it’s going to take to get the program to those lofty heights.
“We have a lot of work to do, and it gets done behind closed doors when there aren’t cameras in front of you, and we are going to do it at a very high level here.”
While the work behind the scene’s may be grueling, Hurley fully expects the Sun Devils to put an aesthetically pleasing product on the floor. He explained that the style of play is going to be a combination of what he did at Duke and his takeaways from coaching under his brother Dan at Rhode Island.
“It’s a very aggressive man-style of defense, I want to put pressure on an opponent, but do it in a disciplined way.”
As for the offense Hurley is borrowing from former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni and upping the tempo.
“This year we were in the top 25 in pace of play, it was a style that our players enjoyed playing,” Hurley said. “We’re going to play fast and I think that style fits in very well in this league, you know we got to be in great shape to do it.”
Sendek started experimented with faster play when Jahii Carson became eligible three seasons ago, but fell off from 56th in the country in possessions per game in 2013-2014 to 90th this year.
Arizona State ranked an average 140th in the nation in assists per game, something Hurley intends to change.
“Of course I am the all-time assist leader so everyone has to play unselfishly,” said Hurley who owns over 1,000 assists at Duke.
The former Blue Devil intends to emphasize skill development and then give his players the freedom to go out and execute.
“I don’t micromanage every dribble, every pass. I like to put my players in great positions on the floor so that they could showcase their creativity,” Hurley said.
Hurley didn’t waste any time meeting with his players talking to them this morning before the presser and they generally seemed receptive to what he had to say.
The most important vote of confidence came from all Pac-12 guard Tra Holder who told Cronkite Sports he wouldn’t be transferring.
“Yeah I mean I always wanted to be a Sun Devil you know it was such a quick, shocking moment when Coach Herb Sendek got fired, Holder said.
Holder also didn’t mind the idea of playing for one of the greatest college guards in the game’s history.
“He’s just going to make this transition even easier for me. I spoke with him earlier today and you know he really has a lot to offer me and I’m really ready to see what he know’s about the game and implement it into my playing style.”
Kodi Justice agreed saying he was “really excited.”
“Knowing you have a great point guard, all the experiences that he’s done as a coach as a player, as everything,” the freshman said.
Hurley views Arizona State as more than a stepping stone on the way to greener (or perhaps blue-er) pastures.
“This is a destination job for me, a place I want to be for a long time,” Hurley said.
Of course if Hurley has significant success at Arizona State he’ll certainly be in the conversation at Duke whenever Coach K decides to hang it up.
But for now there’s a new found sense of optimism around Wells Fargo Arena and Hurley, who made a career out of disproving doubters, intends to make sure it isn’t fleeting.
“There’s been great tradition in the program, guys like James Harden and Eddie House and players of recently memory like that that have built the program and have taken it to good places and taken it to NCAA Tournaments, and now we would like to take it to another level.”
