Arizona basketball roundtable: Is Bobby Hurley good for the UA/ASU rivalry?

He can’t be bad for it, right?

Thursday night, Bobby Hurley will make his second trip to Tucson as head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Hurley’s not exactly a soft-spoken guy, and for a school like ASU, he may be exactly what they need when trying to create more of a rivalry with the Arizona Wildcats within the state.

But what do we think of him from an Arizona perspective? Does he make the rivalry better?

Well....

---

Steve Apter: Yes, he’s a better recruiter than Herb Sendek and a picturesque model of douchebaggery. I like my ASU decent, beatable, and hilariously frustrated in defeat. He’s got the sideline demeanor of Mike Stoops.

---

Brandon Hill: I think mostly yes. When he first got the job I thought it would be great for the rivalry and the conference in general. Big name, sexy pedigree. But largely his tenure has been summed up by the lines from Macbeth: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Hurley needs to produce more on court success (7-15 in conference so far at ASU) to garner more shine to the rivalry at large. But as it stands he’s good for some sideline melt downs if nothing else.

---

David Potts: Yes, because he’s a psychopath. He gets thrown out of games! He talks about how teams need to go to Tucson to get their wins after losing to New Mexico State (!!!) at home earlier this season! He’s highly entertaining and largely harmless, which is exactly what I want in my rival’s head coach.

---

Ryan Kelapire: I don’t think Sean Miller and Arizona’s players really care what he says, so in that regard I don’t think there’s much effect. I think Hurley is making it more fun for fans though, especially Arizona fans who can now mock Hurley and the Sun Devils every time they lose to Arizona.

---

Alec Sills-Trausch: I guess?? It’s slightly ironic that the only thing keeping this “rivalry” afloat right now is a coach that likes to go off on temper tantrums tangents that are supposed to fire up your team but become bulletin board material for the other squad. The only way Hurley is good is if he gets ASU to a respectable level where losing to them isn’t a reason to go on a weekend-long bender.

---

Jason Bartel: I think Steve actually nailed it. ASU’s getting closer to that “decent” level, but they’re still easily beatable, and provide some great entertainment. Sean Miller will rarely provide us the amount of entertainment Hurley has, so at least we always have that to look forward to when these two teams get together.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://ift.tt/2il9M0d
via IFTTT