Pac 12 Preview ASU

Pac 12 Previews: Arizona State University

Last Season: The Sun Devils were 26-7 and 16-2 in Pac 12 Play. It was a great season for ASU who advanced to the NCAA tournament. However after losing the first game of the Pac 12 tournament ASU lost to Tennessee in the 2nd round of the NCAA.


The Coaching Staff:
Charli Turner Thorne returns for her 19th season as the Head Coach, and has taken the Sun Devils to the NCAAs 7 of her last 9 years of coaching. Charli sat out the 2012 season on a sabbatical.

Amanda Levens is one of two Associate Head Coaches. She is a former outstanding player with the Sun Devils and returns for her 4th season. At age 29 Amanda was named the Head Coach at Southern Illinois.

Meg Sanders is the other Associate Head Coach and returns for her 13th season. Meg was a HS teammate of Cheryl Miller, played on the National Hand Ball team and like Charli was the Head Coach at Northern Arizona.

Jackie Moore is in her 4th year as an Assistant at ASU. She has been an assistant at Miami of Florida, Boston College and Nevada.



The Losses:
ASU lost 8 players although 3 of them played just 67 minutes total. However the other 5 losses include 3 of their top scorers and a total of 105 minutes per game or just over 52%.
Katie Hempen averaged 9 points and was their top three point shooter by a wide margin. Katie hit 65 three at 43%. Katie started every game.
Arnecia Hawkins started most games averaging 22 minutes and 9 points.

Elisha Davis started every game leading the team with 29 minutes per game and averaging 8 points. Davis also averaged 5 assists per game double the 2nd leading assist maker and had a very good 1.9 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.

Peace Amukamara averaged 3 points per game. Eliza Normen ended an injury filled career averaging 2 points per game.



The Additions:
Reili Richardson is a 5-11 Frosh Guard, ranked # 54. Maybe an under raked player, she could play a lot as a frosh.

Courtney Ekmark is a 6-0 Jr Guard who transferred from UConn and will redshirt this season. A top ranked player out of HS she averaged about 2 points in 9 minutes in her two seasons at UConn. Brother will be at Stanford this year and try to walk on to the Men’s Basketball team.

Kiara Russell is a 5-8 Frosh Guard, ranked as the # 23 Point Guard.
Robbi Ryan is a 5-9 Frosh Guard, ranked # 53.
Sydney Goodson is a 5-8 Frosh Guard.
Sara Hattis is a 6-4 Post a graduate of Texas. Sara played Basketball and Volley ball at Texas before graduating and coming to ASU. She didn’t see a lot of action at Texas but should add good depth. Her brother, Henry, is on the Stanford Football team.

Jamie Ruden is a 6-1 Frosh Forward, ranked # 22. While she is a power player she is also a good three point shooter.




The Schedule: Non-conference games include Maryland, St John’s, probably Florida, Boston U against Head Coach Katy Steding and Kentucky. Kentucky has only 7 players for this season plus a transfer who can practice but must sit out the season. For conference play the Sun Devils play Oregon and Oregon State at home and only play Colorado and Utah on the road.



The Team:
Three starters return lead by Sophie Brunner a 6-1 Sr Forward/Post who led the team in scoring and rebounding with 11 points and 7 rebounds per game.
Quinn Dornstauder is a 6-4 Sr Post who averaged 10 points and 4 and a half rebounds per game. Quinn is Canadian and has lived in France.
Kelsey Moos is a 6-0 Sr Forward who averaged 5 points and 6 rebounds per game.

Sabrina Haines is a 5-10 Soph Guard who averaged 5 points per game and is the leading returning three point shooter, alas with just 15.
Armani Hawkins is a 5-10 Soph Guard who missed most of her frosh season.

Kianna Ibis is a 6-1 Soph Forward who averaged 3 points in just 8 minutes last season. Ibis was named All State in Nebraska for three years.
Charnea Johnson-Chapman is a 6-3 Soph Post who played just 6 minutes per game last season.

I would expect newcomers Richardson, Hattis and Ruden to get solid minutes.


Predictions: While some very good players back the newcomers Hattis and the frosh must play right away. Of course with CTT you know the Sun Devils will be very good.


2017 Recruiting: None yet but with 7 coming in this season and all but Hattis returning it will be a small class.