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ASU Basketball: Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Top 4 Rankings
- Updated: December 29, 2016
Today, we unveil the Top 4 teams in the Pac-12 and break each one down, including ASU Basketball, who are riding high entering conference play.
The Devils in Detail women’s basketball coverage team of Sam Ficarro, Jordan Kaye, Gigi Micketti and Leah Soto put together a Pac-12 poll with conference season beginning this week. Earlier this week we released teams 12-9 and 8-5, and today we unveil the top four teams.
Just half of the teams remaining made the NCAA Tournament last season with the other two teams missing out on the postseason last season. These four teams has had a successful start to the season with these teams combining for a 44-4 record entering Pac-12 play.
All four of these teams are ranked in the latest AP Poll, a part of the Pac-12’s record-setting seven ranked teams in the poll. They have also combined for six Pac-12 Player or Freshman of the Week awards, with one player named espnW Player of the Week just this week.
Pac-12 play will feature a lot of intense and close games with not much separating the teams in the conference. The depth of this conference is arguably unmatched in the nation and we could potentially see a team with at least five conference losses win the conference.
It goes to show how much the Pac-12 has really improved over the last three seasons, in part to strong recruiting and each team willing to schedule a challenging non-conference schedule to set them up for better success in conference play and in March.
Without further ado, we resume our rankings with a team that finished as Co-Pac-12 champions last season.
4. Arizona State Sun Devils
Arizona State is coming off one of their best seasons in program history last season after finishing 25-5 in the regular season, and an impressive 16-2 record in the Pac-12 earning them a share of the Pac-12 title. ASU’s historic season ended in disappointment as they were upset by Cal in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament by Tennessee.
The end of the season also meant the departure of the highly successful senior class that featured guards Elisha Davis, Katie Hempen and Arnecia Hawkins.
This season, Arizona State sits with a 9-2 record. It was a shaky beginning to the season for head coach Charli Turner Thorne and the Sun Devils. After beginning the season with two dominant wins, they lost two straight on the road at Marquette and versus then-No. 6 Maryland in the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas.
The Maryland loss was a wake-up call for the Sun Devils as they lost that game 83-42. Since then, Arizona State is entering Pac-12 play with a seven game winning streak, including wins over then-No. 19 Florida and at Rupp Arena versus then-No. 15 Kentucky, getting back to basics of great defense and rebounding to set up their offense.
While three highly impactful seniors on- and off-the-court graduated, the pressure and leadership have fallen on the shoulders of forwards Sophie Brunner, Kelsey Moos and Quinn Dornstauder. All three got off to slow starts, but Brunner in particular has really turned it on. Brunner is leading the team averaging 11.6 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game on 58.4 percent shooting.
While Brunner is the go-to player for the Sun Devils, Arizona State is a well-balanced teams with each player on the roster contributing. Among those is the highly-touted freshman class.
Ranked in the Top 10 by espnW HoopGurlz, they have exceeded expectations in the early going with guards Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan leading the way. Richardson has done a great job filling for the injured guard …
