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Things will be quite different for Arizona State men’s basketball, but is different always good?
When former ASU head coach Bobby Hurley was originally hired back in 2015, the former legendary Duke guard brought his name value to Tempe, but had only two years under his belt as a college head coach.
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11 years later, Randy Bennett moves his boxes into the Desert Financial Arena offices. Just an unknown guard in the 1980s, playing at Mesa Community College and San Diego, before embarking on a 41-year coaching run, including 25 seasons as a head coach, before coming to ASU.
Their playing careers may be a great motif for the bigger picture of the two coaches coaching styles.
Hurley knew how to get talent in the door, such as locking down consensus 5-star prospect Jayden Quaintance and other top-rated recruits. This is a man who has walked the walk, backing up his ability to talk the talk. Hurley was a two-time NCAA champion with Duke, a Final Four MVP in 1992 and earned multiple All-American honors while his No. 11 was retired in Durham.
However, he did this as a player. Not a coach. Your number hanging in the rafters only holds so much weight when your team is getting run off the hardwood below it (Exhibit A: ASU vs. Duke Exhibition in 2024).
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In 11 seasons with ASU, Hurley never made it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He finished eighth or worse in-conference in eight of his 11 seasons, including three straight losing seasons from 2023 to 2026.
Doing this with top recruits? That is what they like to call “Doing Less With More”.
Meanwhile, almost 750 miles west of Tempe, a Mesa native has been doing more with less.
Randy Bennett took over the reins for Saint Mary’s College in 2001, inheriting a 2-27 team in a mid-major conference.
In the 25 years since, Bennett led the Gaels to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Sweet Sixteen run in 2010, four conference tournament titles and seven regular-season conference championships.
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But while the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/randy-bennett-attempt-something-bobby-195450650.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-23 19:54:00
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