Following an offseason where the program improved significantly on paper, ASU men’s basketball will be put up to the test this weekend as it faces Duke in Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley’s return to Durham, N.C.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!With the program making a giant jump to the Big 12 this season, Hurley and Arizona State secured a pair of five-star recruits in Jayden Quantaince and Joson Sanon who are projected to be game-changing stars. Adding BJ Freeman (Milwaukee), Basheer Jihad (Ball State) and Alston Mason (Missouri State) through the transfer portal as well as Austin Nunez returning to ASU after one season at Ole Miss, Hurley has the pieces of a team with a heap of potential.
While the Sun Devils had a previous scrimmage already and noticed there were a lot of areas that needed to be cleaned up, Hurley knows that this test against Duke will be on a whole other level.
“To take a look at what it looks like on top of the food chain very early, this is a Duke team that is going to be really good regardless of whatever hype there is around them, it is real,” Hurley said on Friday. “They got real players and my assistant coaches have briefed me about their first game, what they looked like. We have to be ready to play an elite team right away. I think it is a good gauge for what you have to still do and where you are.”
Duke boasts a roster full of many highly-regarded recruits year in and year out and this season is no exception.
Led by presumptive generational talent Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 recruit of the 2024 class, the Blue Devils have a stacked team of five-star recruits who will look to carry on the tradition of the program’s success. Khaman Maluach (No. 4), Isaiah Evans (No. 13), Kon Knueppel (No. 18) and Patrick Ngongba II (No. 21) are all top 25 recruits for this season along with Flagg, according to 247Sports.
In its first season without legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke went 27-9 last year and advanced to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.
Almost always a college basketball powerhouse, Duke will have many NBA prospects on display and Hurley praised the program for how it remains to be a factory producing talent.
“It’s strong, it’s what you’d expect Duke to do in the recruiting cycles and Flagg is deserving of all the things that people are saying about him, he’s got a chance to be special. It’s more than that though, they have a new team, they are very much like us in the ways of not as much retention,” Hurley said. “They had a high turnover, a lot of transfers and a high-level recruiting class. It’ll be interesting to see how it comes together for them.”
Though it will not officially count as a win or loss toward either program’s record, it will be a Brotherhood Run charity exhibition game inside Cameron Indoor Stadium where the proceeds raised from the event will go to Duke Children’s Hospital.
With the game being for a good cause, it will also help Hurley and his staff further evaluate his team before the season officially starts.
“You treat it exactly like a game like for our opener. The crowd in that environment, it adds a different flavor just having the crowd there. It’s one of the great places to play a road game… Their whole team, their program, the history of their program, the recruiting class they have, the recruiting class we have. There are a lot of subplots to this game,” Hurley said.
ASU and Duke clash on Sunday at 4 p.m. AZT. It will be televised on ACC Network and is on the radio station ESPN 620 AM (KTAR).
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
