The undrafted free agent said he will sign a deal with the Bengals.

“I didn’t get drafted like I wanted to, but I’m blessed to be on an NFL team,” Burfict said.

Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis has kept an eye on Burfict since ASU’s Pro Day, the linebacker said. The Bengals were in need of a running back in the sixth round and drafted Ohio State running back Dan Herron with their last pick. Lewis told Burfict he’d give him a call if Burfict wasn’t drafted in the seventh round because the team in thin at linebacker.

And that’s exactly what happened.

“I feel comfortable being coached by him,” Burfict said. “I know that I’m a first, second round pick and the Bengals got a steal in the draft because nobody drafted me.”

The last year has been a hectic one for Burfict. Projected as a first-round pick last year, his stock fell as the season progressed. In what he described as a bad junior season, he collected just 69 tackles compared to 90 as a sophomore. Burfict underperformed at the NFL Combine and just days before the draft, Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer reported Burfict failed a drug test.

“It’s been a hard, long year and now that it’s over, I can look forward into the future, better myself and learn from my mistakes,” Burfict said.

Burfict said Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga stood out to him. During his third season, the former USC Trojan registered 88 tackles in 13 games.

“I’m going to go in the first week and take notes of what he’s doing,”  the Corona, Calif., product said. “I’m going to perfect my style of football. Hopefully, I’m either playing beside him, backing up or I’m starting. Either way, I’m happy to be on the team.”

One of those teams is the Oklahoma City Thunder. While many believe the Thunder are the favorites to make it out of the West, Charles Barkley said it best: The Thunder won’t win with that offense.

Sorry, James Harden fans. It’s not happening.

The Thunder have arguably one of the worst half-court offenses in the NBA. It’s predictable and relies on three players to do everything. The Thunder are the most dangerous in transition with their ability to score by blowing past you with Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

It’ll be very difficult to score that way in the playoffs, when the tempo is slower and you receive fewer possessions than in the regular season.

Its best facilitator comes off the bench. The Thunder have the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the league.

If you can’t move the ball, it’ll be extremely difficult to score in the postseason.  Not to mention the Thunder have a mediocre coach, a superstar forward who is limited with his lanky 6-foot-9, 235-pound frame and an outstanding point guard with a terrible basketball IQ.

It’s hard to believe the Thunder can turn it around when they blow 18-point leads in the second half a week before the postseason.

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Austin Quick tees off at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational. Quick was one of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season for the ASU men’s golf team. (Photo by Sam Rosenbaum)

By all accounts, the 2011-12 season was a rebuilding year for the ASU men’s golf team.

With a new coach and seven out of the nine golfers without prior collegiate experience, the Sun Devils were young and looked tremendously different than last year’s squad.

“Unfortunately, it appears that for the first time since 1983, the men’s golf team won’t be represented in the NCAA postseason,” coach Tim Mickelson said. “(This was) certainly not the first year I wanted. (It’s) certainly very frustrating and disappointing.

“I think that’s a big reason why they brought me in. They want me to turn this thing back around and get guys that are committed to the same thing that I am committed to, which is contending for Pac-12 championships and national championships.”

A silver lining in the transition year was freshman Austin Quick’s strong play in the spring season.

Quick started the spring season with a memorable hole-in-one shot in Hawaii and finished it with a second-place finish in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational.

Spencer Fletcher is the only senior departing from ASU after this season. He played well in the fall season with three top-10 finishes in four appearances, and capped off the run with a win in the Bill Cullum Invitational.

However, Fletcher’s high level of play in the fall season proved to be a mirage, and he reverted back to his career norms in the spring. Fletcher averaged 71.4 strokes per round in the fall and shot nearly five strokes higher per round in the spring.

With a schedule ranked No. 17 in the country by Golfweek, the No. 78 Sun Devils had little margin for error to work with all season.

Consistently facing schools in the upper echelon, ASU was overmatched in the team’s more competitive invitationals.

The Sun Devils’ goal for the regular season was to simply qualify for the postseason and extend the streak of 29 consecutive postseason berths.

The postseason fate was realized when the Sun Devils unraveled and finished last in the Southern Highlands Invitational on March 9 to 11 — the most competitive golf field of the regular season — dropping their record too far below .500 to recover from.

To turn the program around, Mickelson will need to recruit better players. His first recruiting class joins the team in the fall, which will create battles for starting spots.

ASU will conclude its season April 27 through 29 at the Pac-12 championships in Corvallis, Ore.

Half of the Pac-12 schools are ranked inside the top 12 in Golfweek’s latest rankings. ASU is the third-lowest ranked team in the conference. The Sun Devils record is 2-19 against the top six Pac-12 schools and ASU would need to beat all of them to qualify for the postseason.

In addition, the State Farm Territorial Cup Series point is decided at the Pac-12 championship. ASU has a 1-2 record against the Wildcats this season.

Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu

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Giulia Molinaro stares down a shot in the PING/ASU Invitational. Molinaro will lead the Sun Devils as the women’s golf team heads to Pullman, Wash., for the Pac-12 championships. (Photo courtesy of Jim Bochenek)

Despite the fact that the ASU women’s golf team has yet to win an invitational this season, the team believes it has had a productive and successful season.

“I’m pretty happy with how they’ve progressed,” coach Melissa Luellen said. “They’re just getting more and more confident and believing in themselves. I’m very proud of this group and it’s really fun to watch them grow up.”

The No. 3 Sun Devils have five top-three finishes, including three second-place finishes in eight invitationals.

The development and consistency from senior Giulia Molinaro has propelled ASU to its high ranking.

Molinaro, now the No. 2-rated player in the country, averages 72 strokes per round, showcasing drastic improvement from her first three seasons in the program.

In addition to Molinaro’s strong play, ASU has also received efficient production from the rest of its starting lineup. All five ASU starters are currently ranked in the Golfweek top 100.

Behind Molinaro, sophomore Justine Lee averages 73.7 strokes per round, garnering a top 50 player ranking.

The other three players on the starting lineup card average nearly identical rounds. For the season, freshman Noemi Jimenez, and sophomores Daniela Ordonez and Laura Blanco all average between 74.7 and 75 strokes per round.

ASU has lost to top-ranked UCLA in six out of the eight invitationals, with the other two defeats coming at the hands of USC and Oklahoma State.

However, ASU out-shot the Bruins in rounds one and three of the PING/ASU Invitational and believes the gap between them and UCLA is closing, despite the six head-to-head defeats.

“The girls realize they were the low scores day one and day three at our tournament,” Luellen said. “I think they’re starting to believe that. I just pointed out a couple things different between us and them and it’s not that much.

“Can we hit a few more wedge shots closer? A couple more putts? That’s what it really comes out to be, so it’s not as monumental as they thought it used to be. They’re starting to feel like maybe they can beat them.”

The Pac-12 championships take place April 27 through 29 in Pullman, Wash., where the State Farm Territorial Cup Series point will be decided. Chilly weather and fast winds could become a major obstacle.

“In golf, we didn’t pick an indoor sport so (weather) is always a factor,” Luellen said. “We know it’s going to rain, and we know it’s going to cold. If we get a nice day, then that’s a bonus.”

Most of the year, ASU’s goal has been to finish in the top three of an invitational.  After improving its ranking in the Pac-12, the team’s focus has intensified.

“Now that we did jump ahead of USC in the rankings, we look at which teams are ranked ahead of us,” Luellen said. “The only team that’s ranked ahead of us for the conference championship is UCLA. So our goal will be to finish in the top two.”

Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu

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Please, hold back the tears until the end of the column.

I began working for the paper as a freshman in the spring of 2010. I started out covering the gymnastics team and worked my way to the football and baseball beats.

Over my five semesters covering ASU athletics, I’ve come across some great people and some not-so-great people.

The following words are focused on the athletes I’ve enjoyed covering the most. I’ll let the bad eggs off the hook.

Mary Atkinson (Gymnastics, 2011 graduate)

 On a bad Sun Devil squad in 2010, Atkinson kept her team afloat by competing in the all-around competition in every meet for ASU.

She consistently let teammates off the hook after falling on routines with her superb diligence. As a junior, she was an All-American on the vault.

Furthermore, she was named the Pac-10 Scholar Athlete of the Year in gymnastics in 2011. Sadly, her senior season was cut short because of a torn ACL, but her leadership and general kindness always shined through above everything else.

Brady Rodgers (Baseball, junior)

 The first Sun Devil baseball player I interviewed turned out to be the best. By the way, there’s photographic proof of said meeting in the form of my Twitter profile picture.

Rodgers was thrust into the No. 1 starting pitching role as a sophomore, but he never showed his lack of experience on the mound or at the podium. He was very open about his performance when he had a good night, but to his credit, he was just as open on the off night when things didn’t go his way.

Selected in 39th round of the MLB Draft out of high school and largely overlooked by some scouts in favor of a few of his teammates, Rodgers — who is averaging a 1.13 ERA so far this season — has put himself in great position to be drafted in the first round come June.

Omar Bolden (Football, 2011 graduate)

 By far the most colorful interviewee I spoke with at ASU, Bolden is simply one of a kind. There is no raining on his parade, even when clouds are gloomy.

Poised to turn in a memorable senior season after announcing his return in dramatic fashion at a press conference, revealing a Sun Devils jersey under his shirt, Bolden tore his ACL last spring and missed the entire 2011 season.

Despite not playing in any games, Bolden served as a mentor all year for the players who stepped in for him. As the creator of the “#PositiveLiving” campaign on Twitter, Bolden will most likely be the second ASU player to be taken in the upcoming NFL Draft behind Brock Osweiler.

Cory Hahn (Baseball, sophomore)

 Hahn became paralyzed while sliding into second base last February, two days into his collegiate career. While lying on the ground unable to move, Hahn told ASU coach Tim Esmay, “Damn right I’m safe.”

I’ll never forget those words, and I’ll never forget Hahn, even though we had little contact. I wear a bracelet with his name on it every day because it makes me proud to be a Sun Devil.

Despite the odds being stacked against him, Hahn believes he will walk again someday, and you know what? So do I.

Thanks for the memories, guys.

Reach the columnist at tyler.emerick@asu.edu

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Annie Lockwood stands at second base in a game against UCLA on April 6. Lockwood and the Sun Devils have won eight of their last 10 games and are inching closer to No. 1 California in the Pac-12 standings. (Photo by Sam Rosenbaum)

Another terrific defensive performance means another conference sweep for the No. 5 ASU softball team.

With No. 1 California dropping one game in back-to-back series, this sweep felt different, as the Sun Devils (39-5, 11-2 Pac-12) and Golden Bears (42-3, 13-2 Pac-12) are now tied in conference losses.

Sunday’s win over No. 16 Stanford put ASU closer to the top of the Pac-12 standings at exactly the middle point of the conference schedule.

“This is exactly where we want to be,” senior first baseman Annie Lockwood said. “Cal finally lost those two games we were really hoping they would lose, and now we are just right back in it with them.  (Pitching coach Chuck D’Arcy) made a comment last night that now the hunter has become the hunted.

“We’re there nipping at their tails every step of the way.”

The Golden Bears look vulnerable for the first time all season, and ASU is just beginning to hit its stride.

Defensively, the Sun Devils were impeccable, including a tremendous series from Lockwood, who still considers herself an outfielder — the position she played her first three years — rather than a first baseman.

Her biggest highlight was a double play on a ground ball to first that she tossed to senior shortstop Katelyn Boyd before getting back to the bag for the return throw.

“She was yelling at me to get back because I forgot,” Lockwood said. “I guess it’s a bigger deal than I thought it was to do a double play like that. Honestly, I wanted to get the lead runner more than anything.”

The defensive play kept senior pitcher Hillary Bach’s (19-0, 1.13 ERA) pitch count low. This allowed her to make her second straight start Sunday after pitching a 5–0 shutout against the Cardinal (32-16, 6-12 Pac-12) on Saturday night.

“That’s what it was about, the defense,” Bach said. “The last inning (Saturday), they came in clutch for the first two outs in that inning. Then I had to step up my defense for the third one.”

Bach caught a popout to end the second game. The defense of the pitchers is something coach Clint Myers pointed out as an area to improve on this year.

“As soon as the ball went up, I’m calling, ‘Hillary, Hillary, Hillary,’” Myers said. “Her freshman year, we would have been calling anybody’s name, but now she is becoming a lot more athletic … Our pitchers this year are probably fielding their position the best in my seven years.”

Of course, Bach did get run support, particularly from the long ball. Five different players hit seven home runs for ASU in the three-game series.

One of these players was freshman centerfielder Elizabeth Caporuscio, who put a 0-4 Friday night behind her with a three-hit and three-RBI Saturday.

“(Friday) night was pretty bad, I have to admit,” Caporuscio said. “I just had to let it go and know that today was a new day. I didn’t let it affect me and that was my biggest goal.”

Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu

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Joe Eason returns an interception in ASU’s spring football game. Eason had one of two interceptions on the day for the Sun Devils’ defense. (Photo by Sam Rosenbaum)

If you ask ASU defensive coordinator Paul Randolph how the defense started Saturday’s spring game, slow might be an understatement.

“It sure did in the spring game, no doubt,” Randolph said.

Consistency has been an issue for the defense this spring as the players get acclimated to the complexities of the defensive scheme and coach Todd Graham’s quick-tempo practices. The defense allowed three touchdowns within the first six series, two of which were scored on plays longer than 40 yards.

While the defense kept it simple and didn’t incorporate blitz packages Saturday, Randolph isn’t using that as an excuse for the start. The offensive line experienced trouble at times during practice against the blitz, but Randolph hopes he doesn’t have to send pressure. He wants his guys up front to be able to create pressure to give the defense a good combination of playing out of the base defense as well as mixing in blitz packages.

The defense picked up one sack through the first six series.

“It was more on the D-line to get a pass rush, and we’ve got to do our part,” junior defensive tackle Will Sutton said. “I felt like we should’ve got a better pass rush.”

Most of the defensive players are also on special teams, which allowed a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to senior wide receiver Jamal Miles after a 46-yard touchdown catch from senior wide receiver Rashad Ross. Fatigue played a factor as defenders hustled back and forth from kickoffs to defense in triple-digit heat.

“We’ve got to condition our minds to not let the heat or special teams affect us,” junior safety Alden Darby said.

Randolph gives credit to offensive coordinator Mike Norvell for the offense’s fast start, but was proud of his defense’s ability to battle back and finish strong.

The defense collected four sacks in the last three series, which all ended on three-and-out punts. The defense allowed just two touchdowns and a field goal in six overtime series.  The defense picked up one of its two interceptions during the overtime period as well.

The defensive players credit the turnaround to their defensive coordinator. Randolph gathered the defense following the third quarter and told the defense to play the way it’s been coached all spring.

“We’ve got a couple scrimmages where we’ve done that, and we’ve had a couple scrimmages where we started fast and ended slow,” Randolph said. “Of course, we care about how we finish because we preach that, but we also have to start faster and be more ready to have a better start to begin with.”

The defense was able to finish strong without redshirt senior linebacker Brandon Magee. He was kept out as a precaution, but he liked what he saw from the sidelines at the end of the game. Magee said the players began to communicate more after Randolph gathered the team.

“We came up with some big time stops and that shows the character that we have on this defense,” Magee said. “When I get back out there, I’ll just flow with them, teach them a few things here and there, and that’s about it.”

Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu

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