Bobby Hurley Dishes on Remy Martin’s Return

As promised when he was hired, Bobby Hurley has recruited and developed the guard position extremely well as head coach of Arizona State. 

As one of the best college point guards of all time, one of the Sun Devil head coach’s best representation of Guard U has been protegé Remy Martin. Like Hurley was as a player, Martin has been the quiet pulse of the Sun Devils who is fine if others may get more notierity than he does, but ultimately there is no doubt who the leader of the team is.

After a first team All-conference season last year, his third year as a featured player on the Devils’ roster, Martin tested the NBA waters but opted to return to Tempe for his senior season on Sunday.

Year 4. pic.twitter.com/mKUgWpJ7ry

— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) August 2, 2020

It was a conflicting time for Hurley. He has been open about enabling his players to realize their NBA dreams, but also certainly wants as many opportunities to make history with them at the collegiate level. However, the main source of conflict for Hurley in this situation was the fact that Martin did not get to show NBA executives what he could do on college basketball’s biggest stages in advance of the draft.

“A part of me was upset for him that he didn’t get the stage he needed,” Hurley told media on Wednesday. “I think in the Pac-12 tournament and the NCAA tournament, would have put him in a better position to be recognized as a draft pick.”

Martin and Allonzo Verge, who also declared for the NBA draft this offseason and has since returned to the program, did not get the typical opportunities to go through the draft process. The draft has been pushed back to October 16 and the combine has yet to be schedule, meaning both players did not get the typical feedback draft prospects receive when determining whether to return to college or take the next steps in their careers.  

“I think he realized the best way for him to enhance his own brand and personal value was to come back,” Hurley said. “There’s a lot of things he could accomplish individually: being a potential All-American, have a chance to be Pac-12 Player of the Year, go down as one of the greatest Sun Devils in the history of the program.”

Martin also valued what this year’s ASU team could accomplish, and they certainly have the roster to make some serious postseason runs. Not only would he get another year with fellow vets like Verge, Kimani Lawrence and Taeshon Cherry, but the Sun Devils also currently have the No. 7 recruiting class coming to Tempe this year with two top-30 high school signees in Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley. 

Early prediction on Arizona State's 20-21 starting five:

Remy Martin, Alonzo Verge, Josh Christopher, Kimani Lawrence, Jalen Graham https://t.co/0enwI3k1ax

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 2, 2020

It was important for Hurley to let his point guard get to that conclusion on his own, though.

“I wanted him to realize that he shouldn’t view this process as a disappointment, and I think our conversations got better and better over the last week leading into his decsion,” Hurley said. “That’s when I started to get a sense that he was starting to lean towards coming back, but we really gave him his space as a program and allowed him to go through the process and make the best decision for him.” 

Together, Hurley and Martin have accomplished plenty together at ASU. What heights can the program take with another year?