All offseason, the ASU men’s basketball players talked about how their minds are set on making the NCAA Tournament this season.
Beginning Friday, the Sun Devils will start their audition for a trip to the Big Dance when ASU hosts Maryland-Baltimore County in its season opener.
ASU coach Herb Sendek is always wary of how long and gruesome a season can be.
Still, his team can’t let up, as Sendek said there are “seasons within a season,” and that every part is important.
“You have to understand that the college basketball season is a marathon,” Sendek said. “We’ll be talking about games here even next week, and you’ll hear people say, ‘Well, how is that going to affect our bid?’”
To prepare for that, Sendek has challenged his players physically and mentally over preseason practice.
“What we’re focusing our team on right now is just understanding what it takes to win and what constitutes winning plays,” he said. “It’s not just the spectacular, but it’s the simple, basic things, the fundamentals, the attention to great detail. Those are the things we’re really trying to zero in on as we approach Friday’s game.”
UMBC finished with an 8-23 record last season. Senior forwards Brett Roseboro and Chase Plummer anchor the Retrievers from the frontcourt and averaged a combined 21.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in 2012-13.
Sendek usually sets a game plan tailored to ASU’s opponent, but it’s difficult to do so for the first game of the season.
“The one thing about the first game of the year is that you come in like blind mice,” Sendek said. “It’s difficult. You could watch last year’s tape but not everybody does the same thing as they did a year ago, and (there are) personnel changes. You could look at how different we are a year ago in terms of our personnel. Hopefully, you have a good enough fundamental base that you can adapt to whatever the opponent does.”
ASU will use a lineup of redshirt sophomore guard Jahii Carson, senior guard Jermaine Marshall, junior wing Shaquielle McKissic, senior forward Jonathan Gilling and senior center Jordan Bachynski, Sendek said Wednesday.
Marshall will be starting his first game as a Sun Devil, but he had a couple hurdles to jump through over the offseason.
The transfer from Penn State didn’t arrive until August, because he needed to graduate from his previous school. Marshall also battled valley fever last month and sat out an entire week of practice, setting him back in his conditioning.
Marshall said the final practices before the opener have been great for him and he assured the media he should be fine on Friday.
“My wind is getting back, but right now, I would say I’m around 85 percent,” he said. “I’m never going to be comfortable where I am, period, but I’m not comfortable with where my wind is. Come game day, I won’t be thinking about that.”
All eyes will most likely be on Carson in the last season opener of his ASU career, but he said he feels more excited than anything.
“It’s just the start of the season for me,” Carson said. “I’m ready. I’m ready to get things jumping off. Friday’s just going to kick off just more of a bigger excitement for us, for me and the whole coaching staff. We have a new team, so we’re ready to see what we can really show.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
