Arizona State men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley sees offseason work paying off

Bobby Hurley sat at a podium at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas fielding questions from reporters moments after his team was bounced from the Pac-12 tournament in the first round by Utah. It marked the end of the worst season in the Arizona State coach's nine-year tenure.

There was speculation as to whether Hurley would stay at the school seemingly lacking the resources to compete in the Pac-12. Forget about the Big 12, premier college basketball conference, where the school is headed this coming season. But Hurley spoke with a determined tone, emphasizing what was needed to right the ship. He didn't sound like a coach ready to abandon the mission.

That was three months ago.

Wednesday afternoon, he spoke to the local media after putting a new group of players through the paces at Weatherup Center. He sounded confident about the caliber of athletes he was able to bring to Tempe.

Hurley's recruiting class is tabbed fourth nationally and first in the Big 12, according to 247Sports. So the Sun Devils' boss is excited about the chance for redemption after a 14-18 showing last season.

"We worked really hard in the offseason with fundraising and the portal and looking for high school guys," Hurley said. "We really got after it, did the best we could to try and put together a team that has potential. There's a lot of optimism. A lot of good things have happened so far.

"We're not entirely complete yet, a couple guys short that will be joining what we're doing here so we're excited about what we're putting together."

It will mark the third straight year in which Hurley is turning over the roster, but that's becoming common in the age of the transfer portal and NIL. Two years ago, the newcomers jelled and the Sun Devils won 23 games. Last year that was not the case.

The talent Hurley has landed most notably includes five-star center Jayden Quaintance, who turns just 17 later this month.

The Sun Devils have only three returning players, one of whom is guard Adam Miller, who came here last year from LSU. Asked what he thought about Hurley's offseason acquisitions, Miller was quite blunt.

"Don't (expletive) with Bobby Hurley," he said. "You think he's down and out and he comes back. Kudos to Coach. He can compete with anybody. Don't mess with Bobby Hurley.

"I think he had a different mindset going into this offseason. He kept telling me, 'I'm going to bring you some help. I just need you to lead,' and as I am at home getting ready to come back, I see more guys and more guys and so now it's up to me to lead these guys and for these guys to find their niche for Coach Hurley. Bring some fun to the Valley, bring some fun to Tempe."

The Sun Devils are at 12 scholarship players, one fewer than they can use. The 12 now include the coach's son, Bobby, who had been a walk-on. Bobby got his undergraduate degree in three years and was not going to play this season but had a change of heart.

Asked about coming back, the younger Hurley said: "I'm only 20. I don't want to get a job yet."

The coach said it is getting harder to fill the scholarship allotment because those lower in the pecking order see their place and end up going elsewhere. There are only 200 minutes in a game to go around.

Twice in recent months, Hurley landed a marquee player only to have another recruit decommit as soon as word got out. When he secured Quaintance, 6-foot-11 center Jaden Smith bailed, eventually landing at Fordham.

Then, when 6-5 shooting guard Joson Sanon, a four-star prospect ranked No. 22 nationally, switched his pledge from rival Arizona to ASU, Sammie Yeanay decommitted from ASU and opted to move across town to Grand Canyon.

Hurley says that's part of the game now. No one wants to accept a bench role, let alone redshirt.

"You should have 10-11 guys you're going in thinking can play (some amount of) minutes because you have to be mindful of injuries and what can happen throughout the year and to protect yourself," Hurley said. "After that it gets scary trying to keep players happy. And now with no restrictions, trying to convince someone you think is really good: `Hey come over here and just not play this year and redshirt.'

"In this climate it's becoming more difficult to do that. So yes, we're at the number we could get to where guys come in and think they're going to be competing and have the chance to play."

Hurley said he probably won't use that last scholarship unless it is a quality player he can land soon. He doesn't want to try to work a player into the mix at the last minute. He did that last year with Jose Perez, who didn't arrive until October, long after the team had commenced with summer work and had rotations established.

A couple of players have been slowed by minor ailments and Sanon has yet to arrive, fulfilling one last AAU basketball commitment. But Hurley is confident this team will come together.

"We've recruited good people, good guys," he said. "They seem to get along well together. They're very focused. Some of our premier portal guys have one year left so they have to make this year work. They're not thinking about what they did in the portal financially, they're looking at their future as pros potentially."

Hurley is eager to see how this talented group performs.

"We have high school guys with tremendous reputations that are on NBA draft radar that are going to come in here with something to prove and motivated to do more beyond this year," he said.

"There are players that don't want to go through another season like last year. They have their own individual reasons why they want to make this a winning situation. So I like what we put together, the components of it, everybody's approach so far."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley sees offseason work paying off