ARIZONA STATE BASKETBALL
UPDATED: MARCH 28, 2023 AT 7:45 PM
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, right, and guard Frankie Collins pause near the team bench during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Southern California in Tempe, Ariz. Saturday, January 21, 2023 . (AP Photo/Ross D Franklin)
TEMPE — Arizona State men’s basketball head coach Bobby Hurley had very little time to celebrate his two-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season.
After ASU’s heartbreaking loss to TCU in the NCAA Round of 64, the Sun Devils already saw four players enter the transfer portal before the Final Four even tipped.
Those four are guards DJ Horne, Jamiya Neal and Austin Nunez and center Enoch Boakye, not including the fact that guards Desmond Cambridge Jr. and Luther Muhammed are both ineligible.
“Usually in past seasons you go through a long year and there’s a lot of tough games and just so much stress and pressure and the finality hurts so much that you just want to escape and go away and relax a little but not in this world anymore.” said Hurley.
“The transfer portal – we’ve been very aggressive and explored several ways to surround the core of this upcoming team with players that will enable us to take further steps than we’ve done this year.”
The Sun Devils already know they will have two returning starters in point guard Frankie Collins and wing Devan Cambridge, with the former also playing recruiters for guys in Portal looking for new homes. Seven-foot center Warren Washington, the most athletic tall man Hurley has ever had, may also return as he still has the remaining eligibility.
Hurley had individual meetings with the entire team on March 20 to discuss their future with the program, three days after ASU was eliminated from the NCAA tournament.
“I told everyone I want you all back because I think you guys raised the basketball at Arizona State,” he said. “But you also promoted basketball in Arizona State, so thank you if that’s not the place.
“I’ll try to keep you here and try to convince you to stay here, but if you don’t have the heart to be here and it’s better somewhere else, then I just want to thank you for helping us to relaunch our program. That’s how I feel about the guys in the dressing room and we’ll continue to discuss with all these guys what their future is.”
This isn’t Hurley’s first rodeo on the transfer portal, either, as the head coach has proven he can bring in guys who can both play straight away and win basketball games.
Just look at last year’s starting lineup, which included four transfers to Collins, Michigan, Cambridge Jr., Nevada, Cambridge, Auburn, and Washington, Nevada.
“That’s exactly how the transfer portal is set up and the way you can instantly change a squad and put yourself in a position to win,” Hurley said. “So I think every year there will be changes, there will be guys who will explore their options for different reasons and then there will be guys who will knock on the door to come here.
“So we’re going to do our best to keep everyone we can and if that’s not the case, we’ll bring in someone who will do the work.”
The eight-year head coach has guided Arizona State to the NCAA tournament three times during his tenure, which would have been four had COVID-19 not canceled the 2020 edition.
And with younger brother Dan Hurley leading UConn to the Final Four that season, Bobby Hurley pointed to the “great inside players” and “great shooting” in an overall “deep team” for the Huskies. The ASU head coach added that building a team is like a puzzle, with a chance to win a Pac-12 championship and play in March Madness being one of them.
“When you get involved in games like this, your program’s profile goes up a notch,” he said. “Kids want to know that, yes you’ll get better, I’ll play a good role, but winning is also in that equation and an opportunity to play on the biggest stage like the NCAA tournament.
“We’re confident that will carry over to what we’re doing with roster improvement.”
