"When there's no wind in your sail, row."
That was the message ASU women's basketball head coach Molly Miller sent when she was introduced in Tempe. That message has brought hope to a women's basketball program that has been searching for success.
After a 2024-25 season that saw the Sun Devils post a 10-22 record and a 15th-place finish in the Big 12, ASU ended another season without an NCAA Tournament berth.
Elsewhere in Arizona, GCU found a very different fate. A 32-3 season, in which the Lopes won the Western Athletic Conference, put then-GCU head coach Miller on the map.
In search of a new head coach, ASU hired Miller to lead the women's basketball program.
Since taking over, Miller has revitalized the culture of women's basketball in Tempe.
As a coach who has made waves in the off-court culture through team-bonding activities, it's the identity on the court that seeks to make life harder for opponents.
"Playing Arizona State should be like going to the dentist; no one wants to do it," Miller said at Big 12 Media Day. "You're going to go out there and you're going to play relentless. You're going to see a very selfless team."
Freshly celebrating the program's 50th anniversary, the season is set to kick off on Nov. 3, and the Sun Devils prepare for a new campaign with new expectations.
The Sun Devils are ranked 11th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, and a new roster in Tempe could take a step up from last season.
Only three players return to ASU, with 10 new players stepping onto the court, eight of whom transferred in during the offseason.
Gabby Elliot, a fifth-year guard, previously played at Clemson, Michigan State and Penn State before transferring to ASU. At Penn State last season, Elliot averaged 13.6 points per game, the same stat she posted as a freshman at Clemson.
Acacia Hayes, a senior guard, spent three years at Western Kentucky, scoring 12 points per game before becoming a Sun Devil.
While ASU boasts good guard play, the Sun Devils only have two centers on their roster, neither of whom has played a college game before this coming season. Timya Grice is one of three returning players after 2024-25 was her redshirt season, but it's the other center, Martina Fantini, who stands out on the roster page. Fantini, a freshman, is the only European player on the team, making the move from Florence, Italy, to play college basketball.
The theme of a lack of depth among centers continues to the forward position.
Only two players on ASU's roster are true forwards.
One of whom is Heloisa Carrera, a sophomore who is from São Paulo, Brazil, transferred in from Ole Miss after her freshman season, where she played 13 games and scored 1.7 points per game last season. The other forward on the roster is junior McKinna Brackens, who put up 9.8 points per game last season at UNLV.
The Sun Devils start the season with an opening pair of home games against Coppin State and Eastern Washington on Nov. 3 and 8 before taking a trip to California to play San Diego and Santa Clara on Nov. 13 and 16.
ASU then stays at home for six games before traveling to State College to take on Penn State on Dec. 9, before taking a trip to the Pacific Northwest to play Oregon State, then Gonzaga on Dec. 14 and 16.
The Sun Devils then begin conference play at home against Colorado on Dec. 21 before playing their final game of 2025 at Utah on New Year's Eve.
ASU continues through the winter, with game nine of Big 12 play being the first of two matchups against UA on Jan. 28.
Only four games sit between the Sun Devils second matchup with the Wildcats, with a date on Valentine's Day scheduled in Tucson between the two rivals.
ASU plays its final home game on Feb. 25 against BYU before finishing the regular season in Lubbock against Texas Tech on March 1.
The Sun Devils will then travel to Kansas City to compete in the Big 12 Tournament, set to begin on March 4.
With a good enough season, ASU has the opportunity to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season. With the Final Four set to take place in downtown Phoenix, a successful opening season in the Molly Miller era could produce a poetic close to the campaign.
Edited by Alan Deutschendorf, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at aswift10@asu.edu and follow @alexswiftsports on X.
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