College basketball programs across the country began officially practicing this week, and that includes the ASU men's team under second-year head coach Bobby Hurley.
Hurley addressed reporters for the first time Wednesday following a tough stretch of practices, which he described as similar to an NBA training camp.
"It's good to be back." - @BobbyHurley11 pic.twitter.com/APDzbeRxEK
— Stefan Modrich (@StefanJModrich) October 5, 2016
"We've got a lot done the first weekend," Hurley said. "Physically, it was a pretty taxing on the guys, so they're crying a little bit."
Despite the "crying," Hurley reported no new injury concerns on the roster and that everyone is in good shape physically entering the season.
That health will be important to maintain for the Sun Devils, who are already down two cogs in freshmen forwards Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White, who are out for the season due to a torn ACL and academic ineligibility respectively.
Senior forward Obinna Oleka is the lone returner in the front court, carrying the load for ASU. He'll be accompanied in the post by sophomore Andre Adams — fresh off an ACL injury — along with freshmen Jethro Tshisumpa and Roman Vila.
"We're not as deep as I anticipated on the front lines, so we're doing some things I might not have done in the past defensively to compensate for that," Hurley said. "On the flip side, we're excited about the young guys and it depends on how quickly they come along."
instead, Hurley will have to rely on his guards to carry a larger load for ASU, including juniors Tra Holder and Kodi Justice, the slasher and shooter combo that has carried the team for a couple years.
Joining them is redshirt junior guard Shannon Evans, replacing the departed Gerry Blakes in the ASU backcourt.
Evans played two seasons for Hurley at Buffalo before transferring with his coach to the desert to don the maroon and gold. In his sophomore season for the Bulls, Evans broke out, scoring 15.4 points per game while shooting 41.3 percent from the field — good enough to be second team All-MAC.
Hurley had high praise for the backcourt group and possibly setting some high expectations.
"I wouldn't trade our perimeter with anyone in the country."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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