It’s year three of the Sendek era for the ASU men’s basketball team, and it appears the country is taking notice.

The Sun Devils have been ranked highly in preseason polls and are gaining more national television appearances.

It’s a far cry from Sendek’s first year on the job, when his team went just 2-16 in conference play.

“We’ve made significant progress on all fronts,” Sendek said. “There’s no question that the exposure that our program is receiving has greatly increased from where we started.”

If one takes a look at the upcoming 2008-2009 schedule, it’s easy to see why many expect this to be the year that ASU basketball turns the corner and establishes itself on the national stage.

ESPN will be on campus for ASU’s tilt against UCLA Feb. 12, marking the first ESPN regular-season broadcast of an ASU home game since 1992.

CBS will broadcast the Sun Devils’ game at Pauley Pavilion when the two teams meet Jan. 17.

The UCLA contests are just a two of the many games that will be broadcast nationally throughout the season.

Even though the Bruins lost three-fifths of their starting line up to the NBA, UCLA is still the class of the Pac-10 Conference.

After that, however, the conference looks wide open. In fact, it’s not far-fetched to think ASU will finish as the second best Pac-10 team.

Sendek said last year’s crop of talent in the Pac-10 made it “as good as any year in the history of the conference from top to bottom.” But with seven first-round picks — including five selected in the lottery — gone to the NBA, the Pac-10 will look a lot different.

“I really don’t see [the Pac-10] losing pace from last year,” Sendek said. “I know [the conference] lost some stellar players, but I think the league recruited exceptionally well.”

Sendek is hoping that his program’s raised profile will help attract the nation’s top-rated recruits. The Sun Devils are already in the running for 2009 high school graduate Renardo Sidney, a power forward from Los Angeles whom ranks among the best collegiate prospects in the country.

This offseason, however, Sendek added just two freshmen to a team that that won 21 games and went 9-9 in the Pac-10.

The team only lost guards Antwi Atuahene, Christian Polk and Steve Jones from last year and will return 95 percent of its scoring output. Atuahene graduated, while Polk and Jones transferred.

“We’re still a relatively young team if you look at the fact that we only have one senior in Jeff Pendergraph,” Sendek said. “We still haven’t got to the point where were upper-class heavy, but that’s part of building a program.”

Reach the reporter at alex.espinoza@asu.edu.