Nevada will be front and center in the Valley sports scene over the next ten days and change. Arizona State football will be in Las Vegas for their bowl game on the 15th. Before we get to football in the middle of the month, the focus should be on college basketball. Nevada, coached by former ASU assistant Eric Musselman”Muss”, plays both Arizona State and Grand Canyon University this week. Musselman v Hurley on Friday night in LA and Majerle Sunday afternoon in downtown Phoenix. I am intrigued.
Arizona State is the only Pac-12 basketball program to be ranked in this weeks AP Top 25.
GCU is putting the pieces together for a team that I believe will get over the hump at this years WAC Tourney in Vegas. March Madness awaits the ‘Lopes
Nevada is ranked 6th in the nation. They are the top scoring team in the country. They remind me of the great Loyola Marymount teams from the early 90’s. The late Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, and company. A little bit like the Suns “7 Seconds or Less” teams…
Arizona State has a “December to Remember” schedule. After Nevada, on the road at Georgia and Vanderbilt, home to Kansas, and ending the month of December with Princeton. What a great schedule…
Steve Wilks save his job on Sunday? I don’t think so. Wilks was brought here to coach a different team than the one he’s got now. He had a veteran parts at quarterback and offensive coordinator. Sam Bradford was going to be the bridge for Josh Rosen and Mike McCoy was going to design an offensive that would be able to score. Neither happened. Wilks is in a complete rebuild. He was brought in to transition this team from non-playoffs the last two years, to competing for postseason. Have the Cardinals had bad luck. Sure. They could’ve won games against the Bears, Seahawks, and 49ers, they didn’t. Best to cut bait if they don’t see this turning around under Wilks. Take the PR hit and move on…
So my preseason winners for next high school football season. Chandler, Centennial, Saguaro, Northwest Christian and Thatcher. I think I had the same five back in 2014. Just kidding. The point is, you don’t know how many parents are going to transfer their kids out of programs just so they can go to one of these football powerhouses…
