Sept. 13, 2013
As ASU football heads into arguably the toughest and most hyped four-game stretch in program history, ASU basketball is getting some little-noticed publicity.
The Sporting News released its college basketball preseason All-America teams this week, and Sun Devils sophomore Jahii Carson is among the guards on the second team. The 5-foot-10 Carson is coming off a season in which he led ASU in scoring and assists (18.3 points and 5.0 dimes a game) en route to co-Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors with UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad, the 14th overall pick in June's NBA draft.
Carson has already stated via Twitter his intention to leave school after this year, and while his size might limit his draft stock, getting ASU -- which went to the NIT last year after finishing with just 10 wins in 2011 -- to the NCAA tournament would be another highlight on what's already an impressive resume.
Carson isn't the only in-state player on the list, but he is the only one with a college hoops resume to speak of. Joining the ASU point guard on the second team is incoming Arizona freshman Aaron Gordon, a mega recruit who is already being talked about as a potential top-10 pick in next year's draft.
A five-star forward out of San Jose, the 6-foot-8, 215-pound Gordon put on a show at the McDonald's All-American Game over the summer, and the hype train is only gaining steam. For its part, The Sporting News had this to say:
"The Blake Griffin comparisons are fun, but Gordon is a much better all-around player now than Griffin was as a freshman at Oklahoma."
No pressure or anything.
Gordon is one of four freshmen to appear on either the first or second team, joining first-teamers Andrew Wiggins of Kansas and Jabari Parker of Duke and fellow second-teamer Julius Randle of Kentucky.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Scout ranked those players as the top four players overall -- in order: Wiggins, Randle, Parker, Gordon -- in the 2013 recruiting class. And NBA Draft Express has all four players going in the top seven in its 2014 mock draft, with Gordon currently pegged at No. 4 overall. Carson, by the way, is 18th.
The Sporting News also published its preseason top 25, with Arizona coming in at No. 5. Kentucky was No. 1, followed by Michigan State, Louisville and Duke.
-- Matt Swartz
