Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley expected to return for 11th season, AP source says

By Canadian Press on March 11, 2025.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Bobby Hurley is expected to return for his 11th season coaching Arizona State, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press, and by Tuesday night he already was discussing the changes he intends to make going forward.

The person had spoken about Hurley’s future on condition of anonymity before the Sun Devils faced Kansas State in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament, where they were unable to rally down the stretch in a 71-66 loss to the Wildcats.

“I think we have full commitment from ASU, and we put the team together,” said Hurley, who insisted that NIL money and other resources were sufficient enough for his Sun Devils to have been competitive in their first year in the Big 12.

“We were supported and we were able to go get elite guys in the portal, and we brought in high-profile freshmen. Unfortunately for the freshmen, they both at different stretches had a significant injury they had to go through, and both of those guys were a big part of what we were doing. We just have to do a better job of having more options in case something happens to a key player that you try not to miss a beat, or you can overcome it. I didn’t do the best job.”

The Sun Devils were playing their fifth consecutive game Tuesday night without standout freshman Jayden Quaintance, who had been dealing with a right knee injury. Adam Miller returned from a strained oblique to face the Wildcats, but he still appeared to be slowed by the injury, then dealt with some cramping problems that limited him in the second half.

The result was a shortened rotation of seven players that basically summed up the season.

Arizona State had high expectations at the start of it, but Hurley was down to six scholarship players as the injuries piled up and leading scorer BJ Freeman was dismissed for conduct detrimental to the team in late February.

“I had the highest expectations with the caliber of players we had, the people, the character of my teammates,” said Alston Mason, who led the Sun Devils with 17 points against Kansas State. “But with the injuries and everything, it made things a lot more difficult, and gave us a challenge that was hard to overcome.”

Hurley has one year left on his contract in a tenure that’s included three trips to the NCAA Tournament but also losing records in four of the past five seasons. That includes a 14-18 record last season and a 13-19 finish to this season.

Hurley arrived in the desert with plenty of fanfare in 2015 after leading Buffalo to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. A two-time national champion at Duke and the NCAA’s career assists leader, Hurley had the Sun Devils going in the right direction by his third season, leading them to consecutive NCAA Tournaments in 2018-19 — a first for a program often overshadowed by rival Arizona since the 1980-81 seasons.

Arizona State matched its highest ranking in 2017, reaching No. 3 in the AP Top 25 after a 12-0 start.

The Sun Devils appeared to be headed to their third straight NCAA Tournament in 2020 before the pandemic wiped out the end of the season. Arizona State took a step back amid the pandemic the following season and has yet to find its footing again.

“You need a deeper team. You can’t expect to play against the caliber of opponents we’re playing against with the athletes and physicality and the schedule,” Hurley said, when asked about the lessons learned from his first season in the Big 12.

“You’re going to play BYU, then you have Colorado and three days later you’re at Kansas. Your reward is you get Baylor at home,” Hurley continued. “There’s a lot of heavy hitters in this league. You got to have depth. You got to have more players and more options. More physicality. Those are certainly things I would say off the top of my head.”

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Skretta contributed from the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.

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John Marshall And Dave Skretta, The Associated Press

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