LOS ANGELES - Eight players with no Pac-10 experience and three lost starters were enough for the West Coast media to position the Sun Devils near the bottom of the conference Thursday in the annual men's basketball media poll.
ASU was picked to be the seventh-best squad in the 10-team conference, receiving 185 points. The Sun Devils were just three shy of No. 6 UCLA.
The low ranking came as a shock to standout forward Ike Diogu, arguably the best player in the conference and key component of a team that made the NCAA Tournament last March.
"I don't really agree with it, but you just got to wait for game time," Diogu said.
"I would definitely pick us in the top three," the sophomore forward added. "I just feel like we can compete with anybody in this league. We're a really good defensive team and got guys that can score."
For the past two years, the Sun Devils have ended where the preseason poll projected them: seventh during the 2001-02 season and fourth last year. ASU hasn't received much respect in the history of the poll, with prognosticators envisioning ASU sixth or worst in 10 out of 15 years.
"This league is so balanced, you can be picked seventh and finish first," ASU head coach Rob Evans said. "What matters is that the team has continually improved. We have enough ability on our basketball team that we can play with anybody in the league."
Evans doesn't put much credit into preseason polls. While coaching at Mississippi, his squads were picked to end the season in the cellar in two seasons when they finished in the penthouse of the South Eastern Conference.
"It doesn't affect me at all. It doesn't affect these kids at all," Evans said of the low projections. "We're going to do the same thing we would do if we were picked first. We're going to work, play hard every night and try to win every game. It's no factor."
The Pac-10 history, at least when it comes to the annual preseason poll, differs from Evans'. In the 14 years a poll has been conducted, the team that is predicted to finish first has done so 10 times. The lowest team picked in the preseason poll to end up winning the conference was Oregon during the 2001-02 campaign. That year, the Ducks were projected to finish sixth and came away Pac-10 champions.
Last year, Arizona had the honor of being the preseason favorite, just as it does this year. The Wildcats received 26 of 35 first-place votes. The Stanford Cardinal was listed in second place and received seven votes for the top position. Other teams receiving first place votes included No. 3 California and No. 5 USC, with Oregon sandwiched in the No. 4 spot.
"I would have picked Stanford," Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. "I only said that because I think they have a little bit more coming back in terms of what they accomplished last year and having more leadership.
"The reality of it is, there is no clear-cut dominant team in this conference."
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
