ASU Men’s Basketball: Breakthrough season comes to bitter end in Dayton

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

DAYTON, Ohio — The 2017-18 season brought a wave of newfound success for Arizona State men’s basketball. Signature wins washed away the stench of mediocrity, bathing the Sun Devils in national attention. As the postseason grew closer, frustrating losses made everything murky again.

Wednesday’s 60-56 loss to Syracuse — the first NCAA tournament appearance in the Bobby Hurley era — served as a watershed moment for the program. A win would’ve meant a lot, but the tide has still shifted in Tempe.

“I don’t look at this season in any stretch of the mind as a disappointment,” Hurley said. “They’ve elevated Arizona State basketball, the seniors have. They’ll have a special place in my heart.”

Tra Holder, Shannon Evans and Kodi Justice laid the groundwork this season. They established “Guard U” and set a precedent for the next generation to follow. In their final game in the maroon and gold, they put up 40 of ASU’s 56 points.

It was one last hurrah that ended in disappointment instead of cheers. Everything was in place for the Sun Devils to pick up another signature win, and they came up short.

Justice and Evans were confidently hitting deep threes, ASU was playing excellent defense, Syracuse was having an off day offensively and momentum rested firmly in the Sun Devils’ hands. Everything just fell apart in the final few minutes.

But the program isn’t broken. It’s very much on an upward track after a season like this. These seniors didn’t have to be the ones that made a deep postseason run.

“I feel like it can only go up from here,” Evans said. “We’ve got great guys in our locker room, young guys, and we set the standard. It’s time to come back and win some games in the tournament.”

Remy Martin will have that opportunity. He will take on a leadership role next season as a sophomore, running the offense while providing savvy and skill on defense. He’ll have Kimani Lawrence, Romello White, De’Quon Lake and Mickey Mitchell back from this year’s team, along with a talented class of freshmen and newly-eligible transfers.

Next year’s team will look drastically different without the senior guards that paved the way, but ASU will have yet another chance to compete in the Pac-12 if young players realize their potential. Whether that results in another NCAA tournament appearance is uncertain.

“I hope I can continue to find guys like them,” Hurley said of his outgoing seniors. “If I do that, we’ll be in tournaments like this quite a bit moving forward.”

The offseason provides an opportunity for Hurley and the returners to reflect and look forward. Holder, Evans and Justice brought their teammates to the water’s edge, and while the three of them might be leaving now, they stayed long enough to get everyone’s feet wet.

“This feeling right now, it stings, it burns,” Justice said. “This is going to help them get better, to help take this program further.”

Sink or swim, the Sun Devils are diving in.