The ASU men’s basketball program needs you.
With the final minutes ticking away in UA’s 15-point win Sunday, Wildcat fans took over Wells Fargo Arena. The scoreboard provided the courage behind the cacophony.
For our friends in red driving back down to the mess, the final tally proved the haul wasn’t just an exercise in tradition.
Tradition, wish we knew ‘ya.
In case you missed the show, “Things: How They Are Supposed To Be,” it’s more than a feel good story.
On Sunday, an old plot line helped UA fans rediscover their superiority complex.
There was no defense.
The Sun Devil student section’s pre-game chants of “block that kick” were as much a preemptive ploy as they were an old impulse to overcompensate.
For all the comparative advantages that a “dynamic” educational experience provides ASU students, the truth is that Sundays at the church of Lute Olson are a “you got service(d)” for the maroon and gold faithful.
But in an attempt to unravel the mysteries behind the success of that religion in Tucson, compared to our wandering, wondering, program paganism, we are forced to confront the notion of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
While program building is a complex undertaking where success and failure are often determined by factors outside the purview of reason, say, for example, the sight of a Nebraska license plate or the allure of neon green uniforms, there is a reason that the rich get richer and the culture of poverty persists.
It isn’t so much that UA has recruited better under Sean Miller than ASU has most recently under Herb Sendek, it is that the collective conscious eventually permeates.
The only way to escape the perpetual reality is through unyielding faith and support—the foundation of successful programs. For those ASU alumni, students and fans who plan on using basketball ticket vouchers as bookmarks, Sendek deserves better than that — believe in Herb.
And not because of a lack of alternatives.
While a 10-game Pac-10 losing streak and the prospect of a one-conference-win season would bring many to their knees, Sendek gets up — he’s made a career out of quick turnarounds.
While each of his three coaching tenures have produced positive trend lines in winning percentage and post-season appearances, Sendek has faced three losing seasons in his coaching career (either taking over a program or as the presiding coach) and answered with three winning ones.
In an era when the traditional powers have lost their way, our friends to the south seek to impregnate ASU fans with the idea that our program squandered the opportunity to become a fixture in the conference. If Sun Devil fans want see their team become one of “them,” they must protect themselves against poisonous propaganda.
Fickle sickness has always plagued the Valley sports scene.
But the situation is not as dire as the record suggests.
While Miller has produced excellent recruiting classes in his brief tenure, remember that the horse UA will likely ride into the tournament was a three star recruit: sophomore Derrick Williams.
To some fans, if they can be so considered, underclassman performance in 2011 is soap in the eye: irritating to the point of distraction, clouding the vision for 2012 and washing away credibility.
Support for Sun Devil athletics is often tested and regularly failed.
This time it is not apathy, it’s the fear of disappointment and attachment. If only to say “I told you so” next year, the time to become a fan is now.
Reach the columnist at nick.ruland@asu.edu
