ARIZONA STATE BASKETBALL

ASU men’s hoops firmly on bubble of making NCAA Tournament

Feb 28, 2023, 9:21 PM | Updated: 9:41 pm
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley calls a play in a 77-69 loss to USC at Desert Financial Arena...
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley calls a play in a 77-69 loss to USC at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 21, 2023. (Arizona Sports/Jeremy Schnell)
(Arizona Sports/Jeremy Schnell)

Arizona State men’s basketball finds itself firmly on the bubble heading into the regular season’s last weekend ahead of next week’s Pac-12 Conference Tournament.

ASU is coming off without a doubt its best performance of the year, an 89-88 upset of then-No. 7 Arizona on a half-court buzzer-beater from Desmond Cambridge Jr. at the McKale Center in Tucson.

And with the Sun Devils’ record now at 20-9 (11-7 Pac-12), head coach Bobby Hurley and Co. have two more Quad 1 games on the road against the L.A. schools to close out the season.

ASU will visit the No. 4 UCLA Bruins on Thursday at 7 p.m. and USC Trojans (NET ranking No. 46) on Saturday at 9 p.m., with both contests being broadcast on 98.7, the Arizona Sports app and ArizonaSports.com.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats (24-5, 13-5) are coming off the aforementioned loss, which only saw head coach Tommy Lloyd’s side drop one spot in the AP Top 25 rankings to No. 8.

As things stand, a little over half of all bracketologists around the country have ASU making the big dance, while all have Arizona as a top-3 seed.

With the help of BracketMatrix.com and the NCAA’s website, here’s a look at the NCAA Tournament résumés for both the Sun Devils and Wildcats ASU, and where they are being projected heading into a road set against the Washington schools this week.

Arizona State NCAA Tournament résumé

Overall record: 20-9

# of brackets included in BracketMatrix.com (out of 110): 60

BracketMatrix.com composite seed (average seeding): 11 (11.08)

Highest seed: 11

NET ranking: 61st

Quadrant 1 record: 4-3

Quadrant 2 record: 5-5

Quadrant 3 record: 4-0

Quadrant 4 record: 7-1

Arizona NCAA Tournament résumé

Overall record: 24-5

# of brackets included in BracketMatrix.com (out of 110): 110

BracketMatrix.com composite seeding (average seeding): 2 (2.31)

Highest seed: 2

NET ranking: 11th

Quadrant 1 record: 7-2

Quadrant 2 record: 6-3

Quadrant 3 record: 3-0

Quadrant 4 record: 8-0

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