The Way It Is: Sun Devils are a tournament team, but they need to start playing like one again

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Selection Sunday is approaching fast and the Arizona State Sun Devils want to hear their name called. But after a rough 5-6 start to conference play, will they?

If the season ended today, ASU would definitely be in the field of 68. Too bad there are still five weeks to be played for the struggling Sun Devils. In his latest bracket project, ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi had ASU as a No. 9 seed in the West region. But Lunardi expects ASU to bounce back, telling Cronkite Sports last week, “if I had a bet, I’d say (ASU) will be a 6 or 7 (seed).”

The Sun Devils’ upcoming stretch of games will be no doubt important ones. As of now, ASU only has two wins over Basketball Power Index (BPI) top-50 teams, but could double that total in its next two games when facing Arizona (No. 20) and USC (No. 48).

The Sun Devils should benefit from playing those games back at home in Wells Fargo Arena, where they have only lost twice all season.

The first two bullet points on the Sun Devils’ tournament resume are their wins over No. 5 Xavier at a neutral site and No. 10 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. When picking teams for the field, the tournament selection committee recognizes the significance of winning away from home and with those two victories, ASU starts its case strong.

“We just have to keep things in perspective,” coach Bobby Hurley said on Wednesday. “Right now we are an NCAA tournament team and we’ve done a lot to earn that at the moment. We still have work to do and a season to close out but I think our fans realize we’ve accomplished a lot and (they) are going to support our team with the hope that we can have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.”

Although the victories over Xavier and Kansas are the only BPI top-50 games to go the Sun Devils’ way, they round out their resume with impressive wins over No. 53 Kansas State and No. 60 San Diego State.

Through all of these wins, the team has shown the committee enough to get in. But, they still have work to do to ensure themselves of a first tournament bid since 2014.

Not including the conference tournament, the Sun Devils will take on only one team ranked ahead of them in the BPI (ASU is currently No. 42) the rest of the season, a Feb. 15 home game against Arizona. The next three games are crucial, but afterward, ASU should win out against the Oregon schools, Cal and Stanford, all of which are ranked lower than the Sun Devils.

The only way ASU misses out on the Big Dance is with continued losses in Pac-12 play. The squad likely needs to win at least four of their last seven league games to keep their chances of playing into the middle of March alive.

If they want to guarantee a bid, two wins in the next three games should do it, with ASU hosting USC on Thursday night and UCLA on Saturday night before the rivalry meeting with UA next week.

Although they were a projected one-seed between Christmas and New Year’s Day, 2018 has not been kind to ASU.

“When you got out of the gate the way we did, you are staring at Joe Lunardi’s (projected bracket) and you’re a No. 1 seed, sometimes being an 8-seed (later in the season) seems like the sky is falling,” Hurley said. “But I’m not looking at it that way.”

While the fall from a No. 3 place in the AP Poll to unranked has been historic, the Sun Devils still put in 10 straight weeks ranked in the top-25 nationally. Based on all of this, it is clear the Sun Devils are one of the best 64 teams in the country.

They just need to start proving it again.

Editor’s note: The Way It Is Column is a rotating column among WCSN reporters, writers and editors analyzing Arizona State athletics. Follow each new edition of the column at cronkitesports.com/category/columns.