Arizona State Responds to Adversity

Where to begin when you talk about what a shambles Arizona State was before the season?

There was the little matter of the point-shaving scandal from the 1993-94 season that resulted in indictments of two former players.

Then coach Bill Frieder quit.

Did we mention that only one player, Jeremy Veal, had been in the program more than a year?

Or that the Sun Devils went 10-20 last season, winning two Pacific 10 games?

How about Athletic Director Kevin White spending a couple of weeks trying to hire Utah’s Rick Majerus or Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson before naming Don Newman--a nice guy with a 20-114 career record--as interim coach?

Let’s be honest: Arizona State seemed as if it was in for a dose of trouble as big as Superstition Mountain.

Instead, the Sun Devils are 10-3--equaling their victory total of last season--as they begin Pac-10 play at home against USC on Saturday and UCLA on Monday.

They beat Cincinnati in the Preseason NIT and nearly upset Kansas before losing in overtime, 90-88. So far, the Sun Devils’ only losses are to a couple of top-10 teams--Kansas and Connecticut, and undefeated Oklahoma State.

Veal is averaging 19.5 points, third in the Pac-10, and forward Bobby Lazor, a transfer from Syracuse, is fourth at 19.2.

Point guard Ahlon Lewis is leading the Pac-10 in assists, averaging nine a game after setting a school record with 16 against Northern Arizona.

But the Pac-10 still could be bruising, with Stanford, Arizona and UCLA all in the top 10. After all, Arizona State was 7-3 before going 2-16 in conference play last season, and the Sun Devils were picked 10th this year.

“They picked us dead last,” Newman said. “I thought in my own mind: A lot of people don’t know what’s going on in Tempe, the hard work and commitment.”

The Sun Devils are playing hard, and they come by it naturally.

During the 1980s, Newman played in both the Continental Basketball Assn. for George Karl’s Montana Golden Nuggets and in the Canadian Football League, bouncing from Edmonton to Saskatchewan to Hamilton.

“For three years, I was going around the clock,” said Newman, 40, who took his lumps in his first coaching job as Sacramento State moved from Division II to Division I.

“Now, if it takes getting up at 5:45 in the morning, we do it. I’m constantly in fear that USC, UCLA or someone out there in the country is outworking us and is going to be hungrier than us.”

His idea of hard work has Arizona State overachieving.

“One, we were a better team than people thought, and Coach Newman has got us playing hard every night and every practice,” Lazor said. “I’m not sure how he does it, but he gets us to play hard. Dive for balls when you need to, and go after rebounds.”

It’s not only hustle though: Arizona State has shot 50% or better in 10 of 13 games and is leading the Pac-10 from the free-throw line, at 75%.

But make no mistake, the Sun Devils are a running team, and if they’re taken out of their game, things might get tough.

“We like to push it,” Newman said. “I don’t know how many teams we can beat in a half-court game with our set offense, but up and down, we can give people problems.”

Problems, the Sun Devils know about.

“The point-shaving, I never worried about,” Lazor said. “When I heard about it, I talked to Coach Frieder and he said it wasn’t going to affect us as a team. There weren’t going to be any violations or NCAA sanctions.

“Then, when Frieder resigned, that was a tough few days because there was so much uncertainty, with all the talk of looking for a coach.”

Not that Arizona State isn’t still looking. White covets a “big-name” coach, and the local newspaper recently published a list of 14 candidates, none of them named Newman.

“Am I trying to make the decision difficult?” Newman said. “You bet I am.”

THEY’RE HURTING

When Raef LaFrentz, one of the nation’s best players, and Elton Brand, almost certainly the best freshman, both went down because of injuries in practice during the last week, it left Kansas and Duke--two of the top three teams in the country--to pick up the pieces.

Kansas struggled for two games before being upset by a good Hawaii team Wednesday, but at least can take comfort in the fact that LaFrentz is expected to return in six to eight weeks after breaking a bone in his hand.

Duke, on the other hand, now might be hard-pressed to contend for the NCAA title.

Brand, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer, is out for the season after breaking his foot.

Another Duke freshman, 6-11 center Chris Burgess from Irvine Woodbridge High, will try to fill in for Brand and played well in his first start. But Burgess is more finesse where Brand was power.

The answer--if there is one--might be by committee. Senior Roshown McLeod, who is 6-8 and prefers small forward, 6-8 freshman Shane Battier and little-used junior Taymon Domzalski, 6-10, will do what they can.

“We’re starting our inside personality over,” Coach Mike Krzyzewski told the Raleigh News & Observer. “There is no good time to do this. In fact, this is a bad time.”

Duke opens its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule Saturday at No. 20 Maryland.

“I know there’s more opportunity and more pressure,” Burgess said. “But that’s why I came to school here. I want to be in there. Now I have to step up and play my game.”

Kansas is in a better situation, not only because LaFrentz is coming back, but because his absence could inspire Paul Pierce, from Inglewood High, to perform at his best.

Pierce, an explosive swingman, scored a career-high 34 points as Kansas held on to beat Vanderbilt in its second game without LaFrentz.

Inside for the Jayhawks, 7-foot freshman Eric Chenowith from Villa Park High will be attempting a similar challenge to Burgess at Duke. Chenowith even looks a bit like LaFrentz, but he needs maturity. Kansas also gets a boost from forward Lester Earl, a transfer from Louisiana State who has made a nice debut.

ANYBODY BUT HIM

Every team has a player it doesn’t think it can afford to lose--and it seems as if Kansas has lost that player two years in a row.

Last year it was point guard Jacque Vaughn, who like LaFrentz, returned for his senior season only to suffer an injury that cost him a chunk of it.

A quick glance at some other top teams, and each one’s not-always-so-obvious Mr. Indispensable: North Carolina--forward Antawn Jamison, Utah--point guard Andre Miller, Purdue--center Brad Miller, Kentucky--point guard Wayne Turner, Stanford--forward Mark Madsen, Arizona--guard Miles Simon, UCLA--forward J.R. Henderson, South Carolina--guard Melvin Watson.

Watson, by the way, is out for a couple of weeks because of a knee injury, and without him running the show, South Carolina only beat Towson, 65-55, and must play No. 16 Mississippi on Saturday.

THE 700 CLUB

Before this season, only seven coaches had won 700 Division I games: Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba, Ed Diddle, Phog Allen, Ray Meyer and Bob Knight, who hit 700 last March.

By the end of next season, the list should be closing in on a dozen.

Missouri’s Norm Stewart reached 700 last week against Illinois, and Texas El Paso’s Don Haskins is one victory away.

Lefty Driesell, the former Maryland coach now at Georgia State (686) and Jerry Tarkanian, now at Fresno State (672), are closing in, both likely to get there next season.

Even former Illinois coach Lou Henson might reach 700 eventually. He has 672 after taking over as interim coach at New Mexico State.

QUICK SHOTS

Among the ranks of the unbeaten and unranked are Tennessee and Oklahoma State, where Eddie Sutton is being helped by Notre Dame transfer Doug Gottlieb, who is from Tustin. . . . The ultimate quick fix is on display at the Pyramid: Long Beach State’s Andrew Betts, a newly eligible 7-foot-1 transfer from C.W. Post who had 31 points against USC, is a senior whose 49er career might encompass only 20 games. . . . The freshmen Collins twins from Harvard Westlake are playing only a small role for No. 7 Stanford, with Jarron averaging about five points in a reserve role and Jason expected to return later this season after arthroscopic knee surgery Dec. 10.