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Monday, January 28, 2013
 Arizona State's tournament chances
By Joe Kaiser

 As far as statement wins go, Arizona State's dominating 18-point victory over UCLA on Saturday was about as big as any in the Pac-12 this season. Could it ignite the Sun Devils towards a serious run at the NCAA tournament? Lets take a look.

At 5-2 in conference, ASU is tied for second with UCLA and Arizona in the loss column behind Oregon. And on a positive note, the Sun Devils have a chance to build on their big win over the next five games: at Washington State, at Washington, vs. Cal, vs. Stanford, at Utah.

Things get tougher from that point on, as they still have to play at Colorado and finish with road games at UCLA and Arizona in two of their last three games of the regular season. But if the Sun Devils keep momentum going in their favor and win the next five games, they'll improve to 10-2 in conference play and be 21-4 with six games remaining.

Of those six games, home matchups vs UW and WSU and a road contest at USC all look like probable victories. That'd put them at 24 wins heading into the Pac-12 tourney, even if they fail to win any of the big road games mentioned above. And at that point, one would have to think the Sun Devils and their talented roster that includes Carrick Felix, Jahii Carson and Jordan Bachynski would have an solid chance of making the NCAA tournament.

Eamonn Brennan
Watch out for the Sun Devils
"It's a good win in its own right, but it's made doubly impressive by the fact that UCLA is coming off its own uber-impressive victory Thursday night at Arizona. Maybe the Bruins were tired. They certainly looked it. But it would be folly to take any credit away from ASU, which was led by a 40-minute performance from Carson (who has more 20-point games than any other ASU freshman in school history, save James Harden and Ike Diogu), a 22-point, 15-rebound performance (on 10-of-12 shooting, no less) from center Jordan Bachynski and a defensive performance that held hot-shooting UCLA to just 25-of-72 from the field (and just 5-of-24 from 3). The win moves Arizona State to 16-4 and 5-2 in the Pac-12, a stunning turnaround from the depths the program sank into in 2011-12. Sendek has turned things around quickly, and it would be a mistake to dismiss Carson and friends anymore."