ASU Men’s Basketball: Lineup versatility is a key theme of the Sun Devils’ 2023-24 season

(Photo Courtesy: Sun Devil Athletics)

If one thing is for certain, it will be extremely cumbersome for an opponent to prepare for the infinite possibilities of lineups head coach Bobby Hurley will deploy in Tempe this season. Lineup versatility was the overwhelming theme during Arizona State Men’s Basketball’s media availability last Thursday, the final one before tipping off its 2023-24 campaign at the Barstool Sports Invitational in Chicago against Mississippi State.

Sophomore forward and Louisville transfer Kamari Lands hailed his team’s overall skillset at every spot. He believes every player has multiple roles they can fill for this squad this year on both ends of the floor.

“A lot of versatility, everybody on the team can do their own thing and play make,” Lands said. “We don’t have anybody that’s a liability on the ball… and our versatility on defense, we can switch four ways.”

As the dust settles on what has been an active offseason in the Valley of the Sun, the final haul of fresh faces comes to 13. Hurley will have to show his creative inclinations — entering his ninth season at ASU — from the jump, as he is losing one of his few returning veterans in graduate forward Alonzo Gaffney before official games have commenced. Gaffney will miss some time early in the season due to an injury suffered in a closed-door preseason contest, Hurley disclosed Thursday, which has thrown a wrench in the finalization of a starting lineup before opening night.

“[The starting lineup] is still a work in progress due to some unforeseen stuff,” Hurley said. “…There’s always a chance someone could get injured… so we’re dealing with that a little bit with Alonzo Gaffney right now… It’s going to be most likely a couple of weeks.”

The absence of Gaffney, while unfortunate, opens a Pandora’s box of options for how to assemble a competitive group on the court. Those options became more plentiful with the late addition graduate guard Jose Perez, who transferred from West Virginia. The 6’5 guard was one of the NCAA’s premier weapons in 2021-22, averaging 18.9 points and 4.5 assists at Manhattan. Perez transferred to West Virginia but was forced to sit out the entirety of last season, but is confident he can bring his veteran offensive prowess and leadership to Desert Financial Arena to help Hurley in any capacity required.

“[Hurley] needed a veteran guy to just come in, either facilitating or scoring,” Perez said. “I feel like that’s something over my college career that I’ve done at a very high level.”

Should Hurley want to maximize his volume scoring on the floor, he can arrange a lineup partnering the former Jasper with returning junior guards Jamiya Neal and Frankie Collins, with Perez sliding to more of a wing role. While primarily a high-volume feature scoring guard, Perez recognizes his job may be more off-ball centered in order to fit with the only two seemingly nail-on starters in the backcourt. In any case, he is one of those key versatile pieces with the ability to unlock many different forms of Sun Devil offense.

“I feel like I can play slow or fast,” Perez said. “With [Collins] and [Neal] I feel I can get a rebound or an outlet, let them do their thing in transition. If we’re playing slow I can post, I’ll come off ball screens, get everybody involved, and just share the sugar.”

At 6 foot 9 inches and 200 pounds, Gaffney had the size to stretch to a center or stretch big, need be, in smaller shooting-based lineups for ASU last season. He was willing to pull from behind the arc, attempting 62 total shots from deep in 2022-23. Because of his length, he had the capability to guard some bigs.

If Perez, Neal and Collins all share the floor, that stretch shooter and defender role would fall to Lands. At 6 feet 8 inches the new transfer is a natural scorer who recognizes his capabilities being able to play four different positions on the hardwood, as he creates a mismatch playing in any of those positions.

“I can play one to four,” Lands said. “Especially if I’m at the four, I got a dude that might be taller than me, but I’m quicker and I can score. If I’m playing two or three, I’m going to have somebody smaller on me.”

With Gaffney out, the lineup will have to be jimmy-rigged together until he can return to a starting role. The eligibility of juinor transfer forward Adam Miller will also throw another wrench in the equation for Hurley. Being a second-time transfer, Miller would traditionally be required to sit out another year, but he’s appealed to be able to immediately feature in Tempe. This is an appeal that has not proven successful for other NCAA athletes as of late, but if he is cleared, he adds yet another versatile wing-scoring presence for Hurley to lean on when the team needs points.

Going into the season, ASU was not favored in preseason polls or awards. No Sun Devil featured in any of the preseason All-Pac-12 teams and the team as a whole was slated to finish sixth in the Conference of Champions by the Pac-12 media poll. Initial impressions from the media doesn’t faze the former Final Four most outstanding player who is now running the show for ASU. After a summer of workouts and training, Hurley knows exactly what he has in his arsenal and is ready to put the squad on display starting Wednesday in the windy city .

“I get to see these guys every day,” Hurley said. “I believe in the group… I think once we get and find our stride with the team we’ve put together, I got a lot of confidence in, so I don’t really care about all that other stuff.”