Disappointment. Frustration. Losses.
The ASU men's basketball team hopes to avenge those themes from last season, as the Sun Devils begin their 2004-2005 campaign Sunday at the Las Vegas Invitational in Tempe.
Coming off their first last-place finish in the Pac-10 conference under head coach Rob Evans last season, the Sun Devils are looking to gain respect and make their way back toward the top of the conference standings.
"The biggest issue for us is to continue to get better every day," Evans said. "If we play to our potential, we will reap the byproducts of it, which should be a strong conference finish and postseason play."
Playing to potential will come from experienced leadership and getting back to playing sound defensive basketball, which has been a staple of Evan's coaching philosophy.
"Last year's team was one of the weakest defensive teams that I've had," he said. "A lot of that was due to inexperience, and a lot of it was due to the fact that the commitment wasn't there; but this year these guys are really committed to playing better defense."
Even if the Sun Devils do become more fundamentally sound, there is no shying away from the fact the team's success lies heavily on the shoulders of one man.
Ike Diogu
The front cover of the ASU men's basketball media guide says is it all: All-American.
Junior forward Ike Diogu is the leader. He's the Sun Devils' go-to guy, and it will not be a question of if he will be successful this year, but rather just how great of a season he will have.
"Ike is a perfectionist; I'm in my 38th year coaching and I've never seen a kid like him," Evans said. "He has all the early accolades, but still remains grounded and understands he needs to continue to get better.
Staying grounded might be an understatement. Diogu could have easily entered the NBA draft last season but chose not to because, as he told Evans, he was having too much fun in college.
Every team the Sun Devils face this season will plan to stop Diogu in order to win -- the only problem is he hasn't been stopped yet.
Diogu has scored in double-digits in all 59 games he has played in his career, the longest current streak in college basketball. He also ranks third among the top-returning scorers from last season, after averaging 22.8 points per games in 27 games during his sophomore year.
Despite his dominance and leadership on the floor, Diogu also understands that the team must improve in all facets of the game to win.
"We're going to be better defensively and an overall tougher team than we were last year," Diogu said. "We let people out-rebound us, and we didn't get key stops when we needed to, but this year, we are going to change that."
If anyone knows what it takes to win, it's Diogu, who has experienced both highs and lows during his two-year collegiate career.
In Diogu's freshman season, he helped lead the Sun Devils to an NCAA tournament berth and a first-round win over Memphis, only to have his sophomore season end with ASU not even qualifying for the Pac-10 tournament.
"Having team success early was a good thing for me personally because I know what it takes to get to the tournament," Diogu said. "Hopefully, my knowledge will carry over and have an impact."
Evans thinks Diogu took the correct steps this summer to make himself an all-around better basketball player.
"He stayed here and worked on his game and worked in the weight room this summer," Evans said. "He went to Michael Jordan camps to play against the best competition, both pro and college."
Diogu's hard work has paid off early this season, as he has scored more than 20 points and led the team in rebounding in its two exhibition games.
Senior leadership
While the team revolves around Diogu, it will be the play of his supporting cast, most notably the backcourt, that will make or break the Sun Devils this season.
ASU is a young team, but it has experience in the form of senior guards Jason Braxton and Steve Moore. It will be their job to run the offense and provide court leadership.
"I expect those guys [Braxton and Moore] to lead this team both on and off the court," Evans said. "The biggest thing they can do for this team is to help the young kids understand what it takes to win on this level."
Braxton, like Diogu, was part of the Sun Devil team that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament two seasons ago.
Last year's disappointments were especially tough on Braxton, however, he is using that as motivation.
"Last year was one of the worst and hardest years of my career," he said. "I forgot what it was like to have fun. This year I'm going to bring the joy back to the game, and I know winning will follow."
While many of Braxton's teammates feel the same about last season, it is Moore who understands where Braxton is coming from. Moore, a junior college transfer from Santa Ana College, isn't accustomed to tough seasons. In high school Moore played with the likes of Tyson Chandler (Chicago Bulls) and Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons) on one of the most celebrated high school teams in history, giving him the knowledge of what it takes to be successful.
"We need to have fun and play basketball, that's the main thing we can focus on," Moore said. "Once we started losing last year, it was like cancer, nobody wanted to do anything, and it spread from there, I won't let that happen this year."
The missing link
There are plenty of candidates, but the question surrounding this season's team is who will step up? The Sun Devils need at least two people on this team besides Diogu to step up and consistently contribute.
The front-runner has to be sophomore guard Kevin Kruger. Over the final nine games of last season, Kruger averaged 12.4 points per game, while playing an average of 29 minutes per game.
Kruger is the outside shooting threat the Sun Devils need. Every team this year is going to double- and, at times, triple-team Diogu, which makes it imperative for someone to knock down an open shot. If the end of last season was any indication of Kruger's skill, ASU has found its missing outside game.
"Kevin is definitely a guy that is going to score," Evans said. "He is one of the guys that will make us better offensively this season."
Another sophomore who is expected to bolster ASU's perimeter game is sophomore transfer guard Bryson Krueger. Bryson, who averaged 15.8 points per game at Yavapai Community College last season, is the athletic scorer the Sun Devils need.
"If teams choose to double Ike on the post and leave Bryson open on the wing, he will make them pay," Evans said. "The kid can shoot."
Bryson started in both of the Sun Devils' preseason games, which makes him a favorite to be a contributor on the offensive side of the ball this season.
Other than Kevin and Bryson, a number of players will have a chance to step to the forefront and make a name for themselves. Whether it is sophomore forward Serge Angounou, who is looking to be the consistent player he was before the injuries that have plagued him over the past year and a half, or often-overlooked center Keith Wooden, the Sun Devils need solid team contributions to be successful.
Nowhere to go but up
Media polls around the nation don't show any reason this year's Sun Devil team will be any better than last year's team -- which is the reason nearly every Pac-10 poll is picking ASU to finish dead last.
If anyone should downplay the accuracy of pre-season polls, it's Evans, who has experience with being picked to finish last.
"When I coached at Mississippi, we were picked to finish dead last," Evans said. "But we ended up winning the conference. Preseason polls don't mean a thing. If anything, they'll fire up the team."
Reach the reporter at matt.reinick@asu.edu.
