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Polar Opposites: The gap between Arizona and ASU Basketball has never been wider

by on Feb. 11, 2011, under Sports

Not even Sheriff Lute owned the Territory like this.
Photo by Val Cañez/Tucson Citizen

Some fans want their biggest rival to be really good so there can be more at stake when the teams play. They want both teams to be playing for conference championships, high tournament seeds and elite bowl games.

Not me.

I want one-sided dominance in the rivalry. The game means something every time, in and of itself. So when ASU is down, I want them way down. I want my guys to be the best and their guys to be the worst.

In other words, what we have right now.

If you’re wondering how things have been going for ASU, take your current feelings about Arizona Basketball and turn them upside down. As the Wildcats and Sun Devils prepare to do battle on the hardwood you may have noticed there’s a slight gap between the two teams in the standings. And by “slight” I mean “as huge as possible.”

Arizona is in 1st place. Arizona State is in last place. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Has it ever happened before? Has one school ever held all the bragging cards in this great state of ours?

The worst ASU ever finished during Arizona’s 11 Pac-10 championship seasons was 7th and the Sun Devils did it three times: 1988, ’89 and ’90. The UA’s best finish during ASU’s three 10th-place seasons was 3rd in both 2004 and ’07.

It’s not a surprise that the Devils’ two biggest positive-gap years occurred pre-Lute Olson. ASU was #2 in the conference compared to Arizona’s 6th in 1980 and Arizona State finished tied for 3rd during the Ben Lindsey debacle in 1983 that led to the Cats’ only dead-last Pac-10 finish.

In football it’s interesting that for both sides the biggest gap during the Pac-10 era happened under the current coaches. Dennis Erickson led ASU to a 1st place tie in 2007 while the Wildcats finished in 6th. Mike Stoops produced the biggest standings difference when the UA finished tied for 2nd in 2009 compared to the Devils’ 9th place finish.

So this basketball season has the chance to become historic stuff. Just in case the Cats needed some extra incentive for Sunday.

For the record, forget the record; ASU can absolutely win this game. The Sun Devils have been competitive in their last four games. This will be their biggest home crowd since…the last UA game. ASU won it’s “bowl game” in Tucson this year. Can the basketball team win their version of the Final Four? If the Wildcats want history they’ll have to earn it.

Sean Miller has the chance to do something Lute never accomplished. Arizona in 1st, ASU in last.

Excuse me while I go stare at the standings and smile.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell may be trying to mask unresolved issues following the football loss. Join in the group session on Twitter and Facebook.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 12:48 AM and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Charlie W

    I love it. And I love that picture. Let see, back row:
    Corey Williams, Joe McClean, Miles, ??, Reggie Geary
    Front row:
    Luuuuuuuute, Ray Owes, and Damon

  • Charlie W

    Okay, cheated. The ?? was Ben Davis (if not mistaken).

    • http://uasports.net Scott Terrell

      Well done!  That is the ’94-’95 team when Stoudamire was a senior and Simon was a freshman.

      • Charlie W

        Yeah, thought it was wierd seeing Miles with that group.

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  • Chris

    Are there words in the English language that I can use to express more efficiently than, “I totally, completely, most-assuredly agree”?  I want ASU to lose by, like no less than 32948hh77hg7 points each night.  That’s not even a number, but if it was it would be HUGE.
    My favorite games to watch are ones when we eviscerate teams, totally OMGWTFPWN.  I’d rather listen to Fran Drescher sing the entire Chinese phone book than watch an ASU win vs the UofA.
    I know IMB has built a super computer that they are going to use to compete on Jeopardy.  I’d like to have that thing so I could re direct it’s computational power to start counting to infinity.  I’d put the current calculated number on a website so I could use it to copypasta the URL into links for the number of points I want the UofA to beat ASU by.
    I’m a huge UofA fan, but I’m also a huge UN-ASU fan.  Great article, man!

  • Carlos J. M.

    I’m with you Scott. I like things just the way they are tonight. THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA in 1st and ASU in last.

    People who say they want to see the Devils as strong as the Cats and good enough to beat both visiting teams to the state of Arizona, just like UA, I think are just doing their best to sound diplomatic, polite, professional. And for what? ASU’s an in-state rival who really couldn’t care less for UA or anything Tucson or southern Arizona, for that matter. They’ve proven this with their attitude and words regarding Steve Kerr’s slain father, Bobbi Olson’s death, Lute’s illness, the Old Pueblo’s close proximity to Mexico, etc., etc., etc.

    And still some believe that if they claim certain ties and friendships to the “more civil” sect of Maroon and Gold worshippers, like Phoenix media-types, Devil coaches, officials within the ASU Administration and Athletic Department, as examples, that things are, or soon will be, somehow magically better. Yet we have the Arizona Republic who saw fit to not send anyone to cover the UA-Iowa football game of this past season, but sure jumped at the opportunity to incite and prolong the spat between Coach Stoops, Barbour, Bass and Robinson.

    So you tell me what’s up? As for me, I’ll just continue to hate – I mean absolutely hate – the Devils. My favorite team is and always will be THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Wildcats and whomever happens to be playing ASU. Period.

  • Shadow

    A lot of credit should go to Xavier University, that great training ground for basketball coaches.
    Look at the history, Ned Wulk came to ASU from Xavier, Miller came from Xavier, Matta (coach of OSU) was also one of Xavier’s coaching prospects that we passed on to the Big Ten, X supplied Prosser to Wake and the list goes on.
    Where would your programs be were it not for that little Jesuit University in Cincinnati.
    Musketeers rule!

    • Vegasallen®

      “A lot of credit should go to Xavier University”
      What? Earth to Shadow….Ummm, last time I checked  Xavier didn’t have any classes to teach head basketball coaching.

  • Steve C

    Scott, I agree with you and most of these posters; I want the Scummies to be in DEAD LAST  PLACE and the U of A to be CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS; any and all sports. 

    Chris, there are words in the English language for what you want – googolplex comes to mind.  That would be 10 to the 10 to the 100th power; a higher number than there are atoms in the universe, and a far higher number than the number of seconds since the universe supposedly began.  Yeah, I would settle for the Cats beating ASU by that much.  Especially if it were a shut-out.

    Besides, their uniforms are so butt-ugly!!

    • http://uasports.net Scott Terrell

      Chris, Carlos, Steve,

      I welcome your equally one-sided enthusiasm.  So for a game score prediction we have:

      Arizona googolplex
      ASU zero

      Works for me!

  • aznemesis

    If things like RPI and its component SOS didn’t have an influence on NCAA tourney seedings, you might have a point.  Wanting to see ASU last in conference is one thing.  Wanting them to be so horrible that they drag down Arizona’s RPI is self-defeating.  It’s not based on civility.  It’s based entirely on self-interest.  Having a half-way decent travel partner in the PAC-10 is also a matter of self-interest.  If ASU is horrible, the opponents can spend the bulk of their time worrying about the Arizona game that weekend.  I always want Arizona to beat ASU.  I just don’t think it’s in the ‘Cats best interest for ASU to be a drag on the RPI.

    • Johnny A

      AZnemesis,
      While your comment completely makes sense, it unfortunately infringes on my desire for ASU to be utterly destroyed by any and every team that they come up against.  While it might be in the team’s/conference’s best interest for ASU to be at least decent, I would wholeheartedly rather see them decimated every time they step on the court.  The satisfaction I would garner from that completely outweighs all of the benefits you outlined above.  Additionally, I’m confident that the Cats will continue to improve and have 25+ wins seasons for years to come, despite the abysmal performances ASU will hopefully put on display.

  • Carlos J. M.

    aznemesis: Can I ask you where you’re from? Do you at all recall the names Frank Kush, Ned Wulk or Jim Brock? Those guys were once coaches at ASU, and they and their teams would from time to time lay into the UA Cats pretty good. They preached disdain and utter dislike – oh hell, h-a-t-r-e-d – for UA. They, their assistants, athletic department officials, administrators and fans, including those in the media, would do what it took – whatever it took – to beat UA, and then talk it up. Shoot, they would spend the entire week prior to a contest and the whole year afterward talking it up. Kush to this day can’t stand UA, its coaches, its players, its fans, the school or Tucson.

    ASU people love nothing more than to belittle the UA, even as they themselves are being dominated by, yes, the UA. These guys won’t only talk about your socks not matching or your hairstyle being a little different or your mother wearing combat boots. They’ll talk about your mother and father in ways that’ll make a Middle Schooler and High Schooler cringe and then blush. They’ll make ugly references to Nogales, Tucson and something they love to call Brown Town, as if to say they are one and the same, bad – very bad – places in which to raise a family and as far away from anything Phoenix-like as there is around anywhere. They find humor in illness, death and sexual orientation. You connect the dots.

    You’re right though, aznemesis. It has nothing to do with civility. It has everything to do with not needing this kind of help. Coach Miller & Co. can and will do fine without these clowns.

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