April 15, 2004
The Arizona State men's basketball program has signed two student-athletes in the spring signing period, head coach Rob Evans has announced. Tyrone Jackson (Fresno City College) and Bryson Krueger (Yavapai Community College) are expected to join the Sun Devil program for the 2004-2005 season.
"Tyrone and Bryson were recruited to make an immediate impact," notes ASU head coach Rob Evans. "We have had good success with our spring signees in the past few years and we have been able to fill needs. We feel that Tyrone and Bryson can help our backcourt and both were very well-coached in their careers. They have played against good competition and led their junior college teams to outstanding records."
In his senior year, Jackson led the team in scoring (23.9 points per game), rebounds (6.4) and steals (3.8) and is a two-time all-state player and two-time Central Valley Conference Player of the Year. The southpaw broke Lonnie Hughley's 40-year old Fresno City College career scoring mark with 1,541 points in 69 games, a 22.3 points per game mark. He shared state player of the year honors with two sophomores in his freshman year and also is the school's all-time assists leader with 493 (7.1 per game). He totaled 423 rebounds (6.1 per game), 271 steals (3.9 per game) and 129 blocks (1.9 per game) in his 69 career games. His career-high was a 50-point outburst against Modesto Junior College in a 120-90 victory on Jan. 21.
The Clovis West High School graduate was MVP at six tournaments and earned all-tournament honors 10 times including the 2003 California State Junior College Tournament when his squad advanced to the championship game. Fresno City College went 66-5 in his two years with a state runner-up finish in 2003 and two Central Valley Conference titles. The second CVC title gave the Rams three straight, a first in school history.
A 6-2 guard, Jackson was coached at Clovis West and at Fresno City College by Vance Walberg, as he was a high school teammate of 2004 All-Pac-10 selection Chris Hernandez of Stanford.
Krueger was a standout player at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix and a three-time McDonald's All-American nominee, averaging 16.5 points in his senior year. He was a three-time All-Region selection and was a second-team all-state pick by the Arizona Republic. He led Yavapai to the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference and Region I Championships this past season and averaged 15.8 points for the Roughriders, the third-best mark in the league and was the Region I Player of the Year.
Krueger was coached at Yavapai by former Oklahoma State and NBA player Brooks Thompson. He will have three years of eligibility beginning in 2004-2005.
ASU has had recent success in its spring signing period, as 2003 signee Stevie Moore finished 17th in the Pac-10 in scoring this past year at 12.7 points per game and was eighth in the league in free throw shooting at 81.4 percent. He also made 48 three-pointers, the most by a Sun Devil since Eddie House hit 73 in 1999-2000.
Curtis Millage, a 2001 spring signee, ended his career with 853 points, the eighth-best among two-year players in ASU history, and averaged 15.9 points per game in 2002-2003 (tenth in the Pac-10) as the Sun Devils advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished 20-12. Jamal Hill signed with ASU in the spring of 2002 out of San Jose City College and posted double-digits in scoring in 24 of 59 career games and finished his career as a 79.1 percent free throw shooter, fifth-best among Sun Devil two year players.
The 2004 spring signing period for basketball runs from April 14-May 19.
2004 Arizona State Men's Basketball Spring Signees Tyrone Jackson 6-2/210 Fresno City College Bryson Krueger 6-7/200 Yavapai Community College2003 Arizona State Men's Basketball Fall Signees Craig Austin 6-10 El Camino High School (San Diego, Calif.) Tim Pierce 6-7/190 Hercules High School (Oakland, Calif.)