Before the ASU men’s basketball team has even tipped off once this season, it seems fans and analysts have already given up on this year’s new-look squad.

Yes, saying goodbye to arguably the greatest Sun Devil hoops star of all time, James Harden, and one its toughest competitors and resident rebound machine, Jeff Pendergraph, is cause for concern.

But I’m not sure it is time to throw in the towel quite yet.

Although, if you read ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb’s recent prediction for how he expects the conference to finish, one might think the fight is over before it even starts.

Gottlieb has ASU finishing ninth in the Pac-10, with only Stanford finishing worse.

Are the Sun Devils going to be as good as last year?

No.

But I certainly would not be so hasty to throw them in the cellar.

ASU coach Herb Sendek told The Arizona Republic that there are more questions than answers right now, which may be unsettling to a fan base that has shown it will not put up with poor performances — See: Danny Sullivan.

There might be more questions, but the few answers Sendek does have are plenty good.

One of those answers is a trio of upperclassmen that can absolutely shoot the lights out of the gym.

Senior guard Derek Glasser and juniors Ty Abbott and Rihards Kuksiks will provide plenty of points for this team to be competitive with the rest of the conference.

Kuksiks is the leading scorer returning from the bunch, averaging 10.3 points per game last season, but it is Glasser, who averaged 8.8 of his own, that will facilitate the others’ scoring.

The opportunity to pick the brain of former Lakers great Magic Johnson, whom Glasser corresponded with last season and over the summer, can only improve his prowess as a floor general.

Don’t expect to see the “Showtime Sun Devils” anytime soon, but any advice from Magic is probably good advice.

Of these three, the player who definitely has something to prove is Abbott.

Last season, Abbott had a nightmarish shooting slump, in which he shot 8-for-59 from beyond the arc during Pac-10 play.

How he had the heart to even keep shooting, I do not know, but when the conference tournament and NCAA tourney rolled around, he found it.

Abbott had double-digit scoring efforts in four of his last five games, including a season-high 20 points against Syracuse in the second round of the tournament.

If he can carry that momentum over to this season and find that stroke he had two years ago when he set a school record for most 3-pointers by a freshman, then scoring should not be the issue.

The play of the frontcourt, however, remains a large determining factor in this team’s success level.

The departure of Pendergraph means senior center Eric Boateng will have to step into more of a contributing role than he had last year if this team has any hopes of emerging from the lousy preseason expectations.

The rebounding department is where he will be needed most after Sendek lost 44.4 percent of that production to the National Basketball Association.

So, some of the newcomers are going to have to make an immediate impact as well to aid Boateng in filling the void.

Freshman Ruslan Pateev’s 7-foot, 231-pound frame is best suited for helping in that area.

But freshmen Trent Lockett, Demetrius Walker and Victor Rudd will need to proffer their talents, too.

Unfortunately, the Pac-10 often goes unnoticed by the rest of the country because the games do not start until 10 p.m. on the East Coast.

So, I do not know if Gottlieb did not get a chance to see ASU or the rest of the conference last year, but for him to pick the Sun Devils to essentially finish last is a tad ridiculous.

Last year was great, and the chances of seeing a repeat performance are slim, but the Pac-10 seems more wide open, outside of Washington, than it has in a long time.

So, contrary to what Gottlieb would have you believe, take your hand off the panic button.

The season has not even started yet, and there are plenty of faces on this team who played a critical role in last year’s successful run.

Reach Erik at emschimm@asu.edu.