While the ASU athletic community's focus is currently turned to the College World Series run of the school's baseball team, other squads are quietly preparing behind the scenes to make postseason runs of their own in the near future.
One such group is coach Herb Sendek's basketball team, which will welcome seven new players to the fold in the 2010-11 season. Sendek, who is set to begin his fifth season at the helm in Tempe, sat down with reporters earlier this month to talk about his new recruiting class, his returning players and what fans can expect to see on the horizon.
On the team heading into practice in the fall
HS: We're really exited about our team going into next year. First, we have a cast of returning players who have experience who continue to get better every step of the way, so we're looking forward to their continue progress. It's a really nice nucleus of five players.
Then we have an injection of talent into our program with a really important recruiting class for us. I think we have a group of guys who have tremendous character. I think we've made our team more athletic, so I'm really looking forward to working with this group.
On what each new recruit brings to the table
HS: Going back to the fall, we landed Corey Hawkins from Estrella Foothills [in Goodyear]. He's a guard who notably, as everyone in our area knows, broke Mike Bibby's all-time scoring record here for the state of Arizona.
Also in the fall we picked up Keala King, a very versatile player at about 6-foot-5 who played for Mater Dei High School in California and had an outstanding senior year.
Our third early signing was Jordan Bachynski, a young man [from Canada] who is over 7 feet tall and really has grace and fluidity. I think he has tremendous hands and a nice touch. He hasn't played in nearly two years [because of a Mormon mission], so it's going to take him some time to get his basketball legs back under him.
In the spring we picked up Chanse Creekmur from Marshalltown, Iowa. Chanse is an outstanding 3-point shooter, a tough hard-nosed competitor. He played quarterback on his high school football team.
Then we picked up Brandon Dunson from Wabash Valley [Community College]. Brandon is an explosive, elite athlete. He really sets the mark high with his quickness, his jumping ability. I think he'll really improve our athleticism.
And then we just picked up Kyle Cain, 6-foot-8 from Chicago. Really a great competitor who plays hard, plays with a great motor and high energy.
Then there is Carrick Felix from right here in Phoenix. He's 6-foot-6 from the College of Southern Idaho, an athletic and versatile player. So some of those terms I use for several of those guys are consistent, so we welcome those guys on board.
On how rare it is to add players of Cain and Felix's caliber, both who were originally signed to other Division I schools, so late in the signing period
HS: It's really unheard of. It was the convergence of a lot of circumstances that made them available at a later date than usual. We were fortunate to be in a position where we could recruit them and land them.
On the challenges that come along with a seven-man recruiting class
HS: Obviously we have, in a lot of ways, a young team. In some respects it's not truly a seven-man class because we have guys in different classes coming into the group (Dunson and Felix are junior-college transfers). We don't have seven freshman. Obviously we're going to have to get those guys up and running and integrated with the guys who are returning.
On how the influx of talent will play into the offensive game plan
HS: I think our team will force us to enter the season next year with an open mind. We have to be willing to put a lot of different considerations on the table. It's not unlike any other year — we always look at who we have and how we best have to play to take advantage of our strengths. I think this year, that is definitely necessary. We're going to step back, both offensively and defensively, and put those guys into a postion to be successful. I'm really looking forward to that process.
