ARIZONA STATE BASKETBALL

Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley: We want to be aggressive in our scheduling

May 21, 2015, 4:09 PM | Updated: 4:09 pm

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TEMPE, Ariz. — Playing a tough non-conference schedule not only prepares a college basketball team for its upcoming conference action, but it also opens the eyes of those deciding at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament.

And with Arizona State having experienced March Madness only three times in the past 20 years, it’s easy to see why new head coach Bobby Hurley decided to add Kentucky and St. John’s to a non-conference slate that already included Creighton and UNLV in 2015-16.

“We want to be aggressive in our scheduling,” he said. “I believe that it pays dividends when the NCAA Tournament committee is in that room examining your resume; and if you are willing to play and schedule games like the Kentucky game on Dec. 12 and St. John’s on a neutral site and the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, all those events are important for us in terms of getting the exposure that we want for the program and then also challenging our players to play those quality teams.”

The Sun Devils will travel to Creighton (Dec. 2), Kentucky (Dec. 12) and UNLV (Dec. 16) in a two-week span, play St. John’s in Las Vegas (Dec. 22) and host Texas A&M (Dec. 5). This is all after playing two games against LSU, Marquette and/or North Carolina State in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 23-24).

Hurley, who on Thursday celebrated his sixth week on the job, is no stranger to scheduling tough opposition. His Buffalo team last season played at both Kentucky and Wisconsin.

“Those games, I think, helped us when we got to conference play because we really challenged ourselves,” he said, speaking to a group of reporters at Wells Fargo Arena.

Buffalo in 2014-15 finished 23-10 and were co-champions in the Mid-American Conference. They won the MAC Tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, their first in school history, where they lost in the second round to West Virginia.

Before ASU pulled the trigger on this season’s out-of-conference schedule, Hurley said he and his staff had to become more familiar and more comfortable with the roster, which includes four returning starters plus newcomers Obinna Oleka, Maurice O’Field and Andre Spight.

“Some of the guys fit how I intend to play,” Hurley said. “I really like Savon Goodman’s versatility and his motor and his athleticism on the frontcourt. I like Eric Jacobsen. I haven’t really had a guy like him that’s had his frame, a big body that could rebound, play defense and score a little bit inside, so he was exciting. Gerry Blakes, I think, is a guy that could continue to build on a pretty solid season last year. Tra Holder is a young guy that I think has a chance to keep developing and getting better.

“Those are some of the core guys that I think are going to be important for those kind of games.”

Of course, the biggest name on the schedule is Kentucky; a team that last season entered the NCAA Tournament undefeated only to lose in the Final Four to Wisconsin. Despite losing seven players to the NBA Draft after a 38-1 season, the Wildcats will have at least five former five-star recruits on the 2015-16 roster.

“It’s a big-time game against a big-time program with a lot of tradition,” said Hurley, referring to the trip to Rupp Arena. “It’s a game (nationally televised by CBS) that, not only do our fans get excited about and alums, but recruits, the kids that we’re talking to and classes down the road. This is an example of who we’re looking to play against; these are the games that you’re going to be playing in, so it gets them excited as well.”

Hurley mentioned upgrading the Sun Devils’ non-conference schedule was a topic of discussion during the interview process prior to him being hired April 9.

“It’s obviously a huge school, Arizona State,” he said, “so you have alums all across the country that want to see your team, and the opportunity to play at a place like Kentucky or in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against quality competition gets our fans excited and our players, I think, want to play in those type of games.”

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