ASU doesn’t show up, eliminated by Stanford

Mom said, if you can’t say anything nice…well, you know how the rest of that saying goes. Arizona State just flat didn’t show up for their Pac-12 Tourney game here in Vegas against Stanford. Here are some of my takeaways. No silver linings, no excuses.

1) Bachynski, Carson, and Marshall didn’t play with much enthusiasm.
Maybe it was a coincidence that Jahii fumbled the opening tap and almost dribbled it off his leg (go check the tape).
Bachynski couldn’t finish around the basket and Marshall disappeared for large stretches of the game.

2) Good thing Bo Barnes and Jon Gilling bothered to show up.
I have not been much of a Gilling guy. Some games he drives me crazy with his decision making. Then there are moments like Thursday night where he gives the team a spark.

3)When a team becomes inconsistent in effort and winning, it’s a reflection on the coaching staff. Let’s not sugarcoat what’s been going on over the last month. Jekyll and Hyde teams have some underlying issues. I said after the win over Arizona that there should be no celebrating. There has been very little to like about this team since their OT win over the ‘Cats

4) We will be hearing the “lack of respect” line from ASU in the next week.
Since no one is going to give them a chance to do anything in the Tourney(there will be those who believe that they shouldn’t even make the postseason)We are going to have to endure hearing about how “no one is giving us a shot”. Fine…prove the doubters wrong(another line that we will hear).

5)The numbers don’t lie.
-2 offensive rebounds for the game!(0 coming from the 7″2 center)
-40-percent shooting 20-50 ick
-for all of the talk about Jahii Carson in Las Vegas, there was nothing to like Thursday night at the MGM. 4-13 shooting(scoreless at halftime)