Arizona State Basketball

Arizona State Basketball is officially on the national radar Thursday evening.

The Sun Devils (13-4, 2-2 Pac-12) travel to Tucson to take on the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats (17-0, 4-0 Pac-12) for a 9 p.m. ET tipoff to be broadcast on Fox Sports 1. 

The rivalry game comes hot on the heels of the "Territorial Cup" football game between the two teams last November. The Sun Devils handed the Wildcats a 58-21 whooping and the 'Cats are looking to return the favor tonight in front of their fans in McKale Center.

• Tip: 9:07 p.m. ET, January 17, 2013
• Location: McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.
• Television: Fox Sports 1 
• Commentators: Gus Johnson/Bill Raftery
• Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Phoenix) K-HIT 107.5 FM (Tucson)
• Line: Arizona by 14

The Sun Devils are 4-3 on the road this season and are 1-1 against ranked teams. The Sun Devils have beaten a No. 1 team only once in school history and it was on the road in Corvallis on March 7, 1981 against the Oregon State Beavers. The No. 5 Devils were led by future NBA players Byron Scott and Fat Lever and coached by the legendary Ned Wulk.

The two times prior to that game and the five times after, Arizona State has lost to the top team in the country—and the games were not even close. The Sun Devils have met the Wildcats as the No. 1 team three times prior to Thursday's game and have lost by an average of 23 points.

Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek is 7-8 against Arizona and 3-4 in Tucson. Arizona leads the series 144-80 and has won 30 of the past 38 matchups but Arizona State has won seven of the past 13 including a five-game stretch in 2008-2009. Prior to that streak, Arizona had won 24 of the last 25 and currently owns a two-game win streak over Arizona State.

The good news for Sendek's Devils is that he has Jahii Carson, and Carson plays extremely well on the road. Carson averages 21.3 points per game in road games and his four highest scoring games were on the road including a 40-point effort against UNLV earlier this year.

Senior Jordan Bachynski also leads all Division I players with 78 blocks this season and 4.59 per game. Out of 351 teams, Bachynski alone has more blocks than 274 of them.

The bad news is the Wildcats are seemingly unstoppable.

Coach Miller's Wildcats were met with adversity vs. Duke in Madison Square Garden and at Michigan—but prevailed in the end each time. In the past two weeks, they have held an opponent to 25 points and beat UCLA in vaunted Pauley Pavilion.

Everybody knows about Arizona's freshman phenom Aaron Gordon, but Coach Miller is looking for a strong team effort over individual performances—and he is getting it.

Nick Johnson is the leading scorer averaging 16.3 points per game with Gordon, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski close behind. Point guard T.J. McConnell is third in the Pac-12 in assists averaging 6.2 per game. He is also third in the conference in steals with 1.9 per game. That makes him a modern day Robin Hood by stealing and in turn giving it away.

McKale Center is also a very tough place to win, especially if you're Arizona State.

Under Coach Miller, the Wildcats are 67-11 at home and 31-7 in conference play. They have won 14 straight at home and will face their first ranked team next week when No. 21 Colorado comes to visit. 

This game could get ugly fast for the Sun Devils, but I expect it to be a lot closer than people think.

Prediction: Arizona State 72, Arizona 84

Arizona State's trip to China may give the Sun Devils the edge they need to make a run at the NCAA tournament in 2013.

The Arizona State men's basketball team will travel to China on August 9 to play an exhibition series of three games in an attempt to grow the Pac-12 and ASU brand oversees.

Here are the details of ASU's trip to China (via ASUNews):

Aug. 9-19 – ASU men’s basketball
Aug 12: ASU vs. Tsinghua University in Beijing
Aug 16: ASU vs. Fujian SBS (Chinese CBA pro team) in Zhaoqing
Aug 18: ASU vs. Fujian SBS (Chinese CBA pro team) in Nanning

While this trip is good for the growth of the Pac-12 brand oversees, it is also a chance for ASU to come together as a team and grow. The ASU football team has received a lot of attention over the summer, but people shouldn't sleep on ASU basketball.

The Sun Devils will be lead by sophomore point guard Jahii Carson and have a chance to return to the NCAA tournament if all the stars align in Tempe.

This trip to China will give the Sun Devils the edge they need to make that jump.

Head coach Herb Sendek told Doug Haller of azcentral.com that ASU's trip to China is a great opportunity and one the team has to take seriously:

As for the basketball part of it, the biggest thing is this gives us a chance to bond and come together. We’ll have three exhibition games. We’ll have 10 practices. We have to use those judiciously because guys typically aren’t in the same kind of condition they are once you start playing games in November. Plus, we don’t want to make the season too long to our detriment, so we really have to be judicious in how we approach this.

The Sun Devils looked like a NCAA tournament team up until the midway point of last season. At the end of January, ASU only had four losses and had just come off an upset, 18-point win over UCLA. Unfortunately for ASU though, the rest of the season was all-downhill from there.

ASU finished the year by going 4-7 and bowing out of the Pac-12 Tournament in the second round. They did play in the NIT but lost in the second round to Baylor.

ASU's trip to China will give the team a chance to grow and bond. It should foster a sense of camaraderie that can help the Sun Devils avoid a late season collapse this year.

Carson told Craig Grialou of Arizona Sports that he believes this trip is just what the doctor ordered:

We're going to have to get close to each other, read some books, tell some stories or something because the Internet, Twitter and Facebook is not going to be available for us. I hope that gets us some more team camaraderie, so we can get that going during the season. Hopefully it's helpful.

UCLA made the trip to China last year. The Bruins had a rocky start to their 2012 season, but they finished the year strong and won the Pac-12 regular season title. 

While their trip to China wasn't the only reason they rebounded in the second half, it certainly didn't hurt.

ASU needed a killer instinct last year as nine of their 13 losses were by five points or less.

The Sun Devils' trip to China should give them a chance to come together and become a family. This, in turn, should translate to better chemistry on the court, which could be the difference between having nine losses by five points or less or nine wins.

All stats unless otherwise indicated come from ESPN.com

After getting off to one of the best starts in ASU basketball history and flirting with the possibility of playing in the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils are in no better shape than when the season started.

In fact, they are worse off.

Once again, the "X Factor" of the preseason is Jahii Carson. Last year, everybody was wondering if Carson was as good as the hype and if he could elevate the team to new heights. This offseason, nobody is questioning his ability, they are questioning his desire to stick with the program.

Carson was as good as advertised; he led the team in points (18.5), assists (5.1) and minutes per game (37.2). He also finished second in free throw percentage and third in steals and field goal percentage. His efforts were also tops in the league, leading the Pac-12 in minutes while finishing second in scoring and third in assists. 

He was named All-Pac-12 first team and Pac-12 Co-Freshman of the Year finishing with three 30+ point games and 15 additional games of 20 or more points. Every one of his 30-point games were away from his home court of Wells Fargo Arena.

That was all in the past. The biggest question is his future.

Carson submitted paperwork early last week for draft protection from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee, giving him an evaluation of his NBA potential without declaring for the draft.

The committee, made up of NBA executives, will provide feedback to Carson, allowing him to make a decision about his future before the NCAA's April 16 deadline for withdrawing his draft application and keeping his eligibility.

Carson's mother, Vanae, told Doug Haller of AZCentral.com that her son planned to explore his NBA options. But because of the NCAA’s rules regarding early draft entry, she also said there’s a good chance Carson returns for his sophomore season. Reason: There’s simply not enough time to assess Carson’s stock.

It seems unlikely that Carson will forego his college career and declare for the NBA draft, yet even if he does stay, can the Sun Devils improve over the 2012-13 season?

The heart and soul of the team, Carrick Felix, played his final game as a Sun Devil and leaves a gaping hole in the front court. Two incoming sophomores who received little playing time last season have a long way to go to fill Felix's shoes.

Eric Jacobsen, the 6'10", 245 pound forward from Chandler, Ariz. averaged 7.3 minutes per game and made little impact, scoring 1.7 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from the charity stripe. His large frame underneath enabled him to pull down as many offensive rebounds as defensive.

Another local product, Kenny Martin, a 6'8", 220 pound forward from Glendale, Ariz. played sparingly and only produced 2-of-11 from the field including a paltry 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

2013 freshman recruit, Egor Koulechov, from South Florida High School in Weston, Florida is ranked a 3-star prospect by Rivals and 247 Sports. The 6'5", 190 pound small forward will most likely be a backup for Jonathan Gilling.

Jacobsen will also be needed to back up center Jordan Bachynski now that senior Ruslan Pateev has graduated. In short, the front court is very thin—scary thin.

The backcourt of Carson and Evan Gordon will be a great starting duo, but beyond them, the bench is relatively sparse. Carson and Gordon were first and third last season in minutes; look for them to be first and second in 2013-14.

The time has come for junior transfer student, Bo Barnes, to step up and play the sixth-man for coach Herb Sendek's squad. Returning seniors Jarrett Upchurch and Dave Whitmore both averaged just over a minute in cleanup time last season and will be non-factors in the upcoming season.

Incoming freshman Chance Murray committed to Arizona State last September and is ranked a 3-star recruit by both Rivals and 247 Sports. The 6'3", 180 pound guard from Price High School in Los Angeles will be a welcome addition to the Sun Devil backcourt as he is ranked No. 160 on the 247 Sports Top 247 and the No. 14 recruit from talent-rich California.

All things considered, Arizona State's 2012-13 season was light years ahead of what people expected and that is due largely to the play of Jahii Carson and the renaissance of Carrick Felix. With Felix gone and Carson on the fence, the Sun Devils could quickly return to the bottom of the Pac-12 if the bench players don't improve.

Coach Sendek's seat is now officially on fire.

David is the Featured Columnist of Arizona State Athletics for B/R. Follow him on Twitter at @asudave.