New-look Sun Devils aim to overcome injuries and low expectations

Yes, but: That gives the Sun Devils a chance to surprise people.

• "I don't feel like we're a team that is at the bottom of any league, but it is a brutal league, a very good league. They had to pick somebody last," head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters last week.

The intrigue: It's hard to predict what the Sun Devils will look like because nearly the entire roster is new after losing 10 players to the transfer portal at the end of a disappointing 2024-25 season.

• Guard Trevor Best is the only returning player on ASU's roster.
• Hurley reloaded with some key additions like guard Vijay Wallace, one of the top junior college transfers in the country; point guard Moe Odum, who came in from Pepperdine and is viewed by many as the team's best player; and forward Allen Mukeba, who arrived from Oakland.
• And Hurley brought in seven international players, like 7-foot-1 Senegalese center Massamba Diop, who'd been playing professionally in Spain, and Belgian guard Noah Meeusen.

Threat level: The season hasn't even started, and injuries are already taking their toll on ASU.

• Wallace, a projected starter, suffered a season-ending ankle injury in a preseason game against Texas A&M on Oct. 26.
• Meeusen, also a projected starter, sprained an ankle in practice a few days later, though he's expected to miss only a few weeks.

What he's saying: "It's hard to judge," Hurley said of his revamped roster. "My team is still a little bit mysterious, just in terms of not having a lot of film, and then some of the guys we have from overseas."

What's next: ASU opens its season at home Tuesday against Southern Utah.