Continuing on through the Pac-10 teams, today’s discussion was on Arizona St.

Ragnarok: Well, the obvious story around Arizona State is the return of DennisErickson to the Pac-10, and whether he can rebuild quarterback Rudy Carpenter’s shattered ego.  I say yes.  While that might not mean the Sun Devils are ready to de-throne the Trojans, it should mean a respectable finish in the middle of the Pac.  There’s no question Erickson can coach (at the college level, at least), so I’ll bet we’re about to find out just how badly former coach Dirk Koetter mismanaged ASU’s talent.

YellowFever: I’m a big fan of Dennis Erickson.  I’m not really sure why, but it’s probably because he coached the Rock on the 1991 national champion Miami Hurricanes.  Beyond that, it’s beyond me.  He seems like the consumate great college coach, mediocre to poor NFL coach.  Kinda like Pete Carroll, except he didn’t know when to quit.  As far as his team, he inherits Rudy Carpenter, who probably should have done a lot better than he did last year, and Ryan Torain, who I honestly hadn’t heard of until just recently either.  He put up some good stats - but for a mediocre team, which explains why I hadn’t heard of him until recently. 

HydroTech: I’ve been getting pretty high on Dennis Erickson too.  I think he’s going to make them a lot more competitive this year.  Even though Rudy Carpenter is pretty messed up in the head and lacking confidence, I think Erickson will be able to turn things around enough in Carpenter’s head to make him respectable.

Ragnarok: What I think will also help Carpenter’s confidence is a seriously back loaded schedule.  Other than a September matchup with Erickson’s former Pac-10 club, Oregon State, there isn’t a game I’d be really worried about on this schedule until Cal visits on October 27, at which time the team could have sleep walked its way to a 6-1 record and a national ranking.

I know we’ve said before that we don’t really care about our men’s basketball team, and, well, that’s because it’s true.  I’m not a fan.  But that might soon change, because how often does your alma mater recruit a 7′3" Chinese guy? 

 
RUN!  IT’S A GIANT ASIAN! 

At least Braun has shown he can recruit big guys, even if he has no idea how to develop them once they arrive on campus.  Also, he seems to have quite a proclivity for getting them injured.

"Zhang’s signing also provides insurance, as several Cal post players have incurred significant injuries in recent years, including four different players who had surgery in the last year. In addition to Hardin, they are 7-0 sophomore Jordan Wilkes (knee), 6-10 sophomore Taylor Harrison (knee) and 6-6 junior Theo Robertson (hip). Former big men Leon Powe (knee), Rod Benson (knee) and Sam Rayburn (knee) also missed all or part of seasons since 2004-05."

It’s easy to say that the most wildly optimistic result would be him being the next Yao Ming, a relatively good but not spectacular showing could make him the next Wang Zhi-Zhi, near the lower end he can hang out with Sun Ming Ming and beat up Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, and at worst, well, I’m not so certain that he didn’t come to Cal because he saw how this guy’s love life turned out.  As for me, I’m not going to be fully optimistic about our team until Braun manages to recruit this from China too.