Arizona State is heading into the 2026-27 season with a completely different feel.
The Sun Devils are coming off another missed NCAA Tournament appearance, and the program hasn’t earned a bid since the 2022-23 season. Since joining the Big 12 in 2024, they still haven’t gotten back to the tournament.
The biggest change came after the 2025-26 season, when Arizona State decided not to renew Bobby Hurley’s contract. Hurley, hired in April of 2015, spent 11 seasons trying to lift the program after years of mediocrity. Instead, the Sun Devils never became a consistent postseason team under his watch, and he finished 185-167 (.526) at the helm.
Now the Randy Bennett era is set to begin.
Arizona State announced Bennett as its next head coach soon after moving on from Hurley, and the hire brings one of college basketball’s most respected coaches to Tempe. Bennett spent the last 26 seasons leading Saint Mary’s (CA), where he built a long, steady run of success.
He guided the Gaels to seven West Coast Conference regular season titles, four conference tournament championships and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances. Bennett also won West Coast Conference Coach of the Year seven times, and his Saint Mary’s record ended at 589-228 (.721).
Bennett, an Arizona native, now gets a new challenge with the Sun Devils.
The roster looks just as different as the sideline. Bryce Ford is the only returning Arizona State player from last season, and he should play a major role again.
The 6-foot-4 guard spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Toledo, then appeared in 27 games for the Sun Devils last year, starting 20 of them. He averaged a little more than 22 minutes per game and scored just under seven points a night.
Beyond Ford, Arizona State has loaded up on transfers, and several of them followed Bennett from Saint Mary’s.
One of those is Paulius Murauskas, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from Lithuania. He explained his decision to come to Tempe by saying, "I want to finish my college journey with the people who made the last two years so amazing and helped me become who I am now as a person and a player".
Murauskas was a huge producer for the Gaels last season, averaging 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 48.2% from the field. He earned First-Team All WCC honors twice.
Dillan Shaw is another Saint Mary’s transfer joining the Sun Devils. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 7.5 points over 33 games last season.
Arizona State also added 6-foot-5 wing Emmanuel Innocenti, who started 29 games for Gonzaga a year ago and averaged six points while shooting 46.9%. Another name to watch is 7-foot center Ben Defty, who comes in after two seasons at Boston University. Defty averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds last season.
All told, eight of Arizona State’s 13 rostered players are from overseas. With a new coach and a rebuilt roster, the Sun Devils will try to turn that fresh look into a return to the NCAA Tournament.
In Other News...
Baylor Faces Its First Real Test In A Big 12 Road Stage
Arizona States first Big 12 home stretch brings a familiar kind of early-season pressure, with Baylor coming to Tempe in a game that already feels like a marker for both programs. The Sun Devils are 2-1 overall and unbeaten in league play so far, while Baylor arrives at 3-1 and in the same spot in the conference standings, which gives this one an immediate edge as both teams try to separate themselves before the schedule starts to tighten.
The coaching chatter around the matchup has centered on Baylors defense and the challenge of handling Arizona State in its own stadium, where the Sun Devils can lean on the home crowd and the rhythm that comes with playing in familiar surroundings. For Baylor, this looks like the kind of road test that can tell you a lot about where a team really stands, while Arizona State gets a chance to defend its turf against a conference opponent with the same early league record and plenty to prove. [Read more 🡒]
ASU Faces An Early Test After Its Strange Bye Week
Arizona States bye week did not look much like a bye week at all. After traveling more than 10,000 miles to play in London, Kenny Dillingham said the Sun Devils had to deal with weather, travel fatigue and a stripped-down practice schedule that left them with only one full practice before turning the page to Baylor. For a team trying to stay sharp in conference play, the timing of the unusual break made preparation a little more complicated than usual.
The schedule shuffle comes with added urgency because the Sun Devils are also trying to move forward without senior tight end Khamari Anderson, whose season-ending injury removed another veteran presence from the lineup. Dillingham pointed to his leaders as the key to carrying the group through the rest of the season, and that responsibility feels even heavier now as Arizona State heads into an early conference test after an atypical week of rest and recovery. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Faces A Real Test Against Baylors Biggest Strength
Baylor heads into its road trip to Arizona State with a clear priority on defense: slow down quarterback Cutter Boley and make the Sun Devils play uncomfortable football. Boley has been efficient through the air, and that puts real pressure on a Bears defense that has shown it can get to the quarterback. If Baylor can turn the pocket into a mess, it gives the visitors a chance to control the game before Arizona States passing attack finds a rhythm.
The other side of the equation is where the matchup gets trickier for Baylor. The Bears have to find enough consistency on offense to avoid leaning too heavily on the ground game, especially if the running threat gets bottled up. With recent results in the background and both teams carrying specific strengths into the matchup, this one feels like a test of whether Baylor can match Arizona States firepower with enough balance of its own. [Read more 🡒]