ASU FOOTBALL
Dec 25, 2024, 6:45 AM
BY
ArizonaSports.com lead editor
There have been a few scandals in Arizona’s local sports scene this year relative to the past. But mostly, teams have fallen short of expectations or blown past them. It’s been all about ball.
Speaking of ball, ASU football has played a lot of good ball.
Overall in the Valley, there haven’t been ugly or embarrassing things out in the news cycle.
Oh, the Arizona Coyotes? Yeah, Arizona already paid a price: losing our hockey franchise (but at least shedding a rotten ownership group with it).
An elf on the shelf can probably report to Santa that we’ve been good. Right?
We think so. Good thing, too, because Arizona sports fans are going to be asking for quite a lot this Christmas.
Are y’all getting greedy? Maybe. Do you deserve it? Yes.
What’s on our teams’ wishlists?
It’s important to realize where you’ve come from. Arizona State football had to regroup and reset after the Herm Edwards era, and hometown boy Kenny Dillingham not only had his pulse on the town but the pulse on recruiting and then connecting with good football talent.
Was the Big 12 not as good as it wished it was? For sure.
Do not apologize for anything, Sun Devils. In fact, ask for more.
This season is already a wild success, but a Peach Bowl win against No. 5 Texas would not only validate everything (we shouldn’t need validating at this point) but give the program another bit of juice as it hopes to become a generational program rather than a one-hit-wonder.
Finding a franchise first baseman was on the wish list for sure, but toss Josh Naylor in our stocking because the big ol’ present we want under the tree is a place we know we can watch baseball beyond 2027.
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field lease agreement expires then, and the team will need local governmental support to find an avenue toward funding an update to their downtown Phoenix home.
The election served as a pinch-point because of the turnover among local elected officials, who must work with the D-backs to find a solution. There were naughty, not nice letters sent between outgoing Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers and Diamondbacks CEO and president Derrick Hall to end 2024, where it looked like negotiations about a lease extension took a hit.
We don’t know what the election changed, but Hall has pointed to the New Year as a deadline for a solution.
We would very much like to keep our MLB team in town, Santa, please.
Please lay out your complaints about the Phoenix Suns’ recent lack of availability in the comments below. We know.
Fan reaction to this year’s club has attached the similarities to last year’s dire situation. I get it.
But the returns in 2024-25 when Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal have all been healthy have been much better. It’s again important to have the perspective of the years 2011-2019 to try to enjoy a competitive basketball team with two Olympians leading the way.
Maybe these Suns have their flaws. Spending money doesn’t mean the boys in the locker room are jiving like that 2021 Finals squad. So all we ask is for this iteration to reach the playoffs healthy so we can at least see out this vision before resigning ourselves to more pain.
The Cardinals have taken a big step forward, don’t get it twisted.
A next step toward success comes down to basic roster improvement. It’s clear this front office is banking on player development keeping their upward trend, and it starts at the top with Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. finding ways to get better. Learning each other will go a long way, but it might take time like that Murray-to-Trey McBride connection in its third season.
Time is an enemy, however, with the playoffs out of the picture in 2024.
The Suns have shown that spending all the money you can does not amount to wins, but there’s a lot of room to hope the Cardinals do a little more financially to elevate the roster to league-average in terms of on-paper talent.
General manager Monti Ossenfort has already shown he’s aware that handing out contracts to leaders like Budda Baker and James Conner is a priority. Linebacker Kyzir White is next, but whether this team can accept that it’s time to spend a little more liberally in free agency will be something to watch.
Do they want this group to plateau and then peter out? Or do they want to seriously give it a shot via talent injection this coming offseason?
One last thing, dear Santa Claus: College basketball.
We began the season with three super intriguing teams from Tempe, Tucson and Phoenix. As the New Year gets closer, it looks more likely we’re dealing with three bubble teams rather than three squads who could sniff the top 25.
Arizona State hung with Gonzaga and went on a run before falling flat against a very good Florida squad. Can the Sun Devils’ freshmen in Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon avoid hitting a wall? Because they are the most talented pieces on the Sun Devils.
The Arizona Wildcats have blown out bad teams and never beaten a good one, and you can be sure Tommy Lloyd is going to be on the hot seat even if this is a middle-tier Big 12 squad by season’s end.
Then there’s Grand Canyon, which has a win against Stanford but couldn’t get over the top against power opponents like ASU and Georgia. Finding that next gear after a successful NCAA Tournament appearance isn’t so easy.
Follow @kzimmermanaz
Kevin Zimmerman
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