Dec. 16, 1997
New Coach Has ASU off to 6-3 Start
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Although he took over an unsettled program after the surprise retirement of Arizona State coach Bill Frieder, Don Newman came in expecting to win. He hasn't been disappointed.
Or surprised.
"I'm certainly pleasantly impressed," Newman said Tuesday. "I applaud the attitude, the spirit, the kind of family, the mode that we are starting to generate, but it doesn't surprise me that these guys are capable.
"I mean, when you look at Jeremy Veal, Ahlon Lewis, or you look at the desire of a Mike Batiste or Bobby Lazor, you've got a good core there."
Newman's biggest victory was an 87-79 upset of Cincinnati in the Preseason National Invitation Tournament. But the biggest game for the program may have come in the NIT semifinals, when the Sun Devils took No. 2 Kansas to overtime before losing 90-88.
With four home games remaining before starting the Pac-10 schedule next month, Arizona State is 6-3.
Frieder's last team also started 6-3, but finished 10-20 after losing its last 11 in a row. Then Frieder's proverbial bad luck manifested itself again in August, when 6-foot-8 Okeme Oziwo broke his leg in a car accident and was forced to sit out the season.
Also dampening the optimism is the fact that Arizona State has beaten just one of four big-name opponents while fattening its record against three Big Sky Conference teams, Wagner and Delaware State.
But Newman doesn't foresee a second tailspin, even if Lazor and Batiste are the only big men on his roster. He said the players have learned to block out future opponents and concentrate on the team at hand - in this case, Texas A&M on Friday night.
"You've got to be afraid to become a .500 ballclub," he said. "I don't want this team to see .500, and I don't think they want to see .500. We've got to keep chasing that carrot and kind of keep looking over our shoulders, saying, `Who's gaining on us?' and hopefully prevent that."
They've also adjusted to a three-guard lineup that features Veal, a 20.7-point scorer, and Eddie House as shooters and Ahlon Lewis distributing the ball.
Lewis is averaging 8.6 assists and set a school record with 16 in an 87-76 win over Northern Arizona on Dec. 3.
"Whatever happens, there's going to be a lot of basketball played with Sun Devil hoops that's going to played with guys 6-4 and under on the floor, and we've got to throw in some wrinkles," Newman said.
"We have to spread the floor. I've got some new things that are going to be going in for the January (Pac-10) schedule."