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ASU, ’Cuse want to prove they belong

DAYTON, Ohio — Bobby Hurley isn’t intimidated by the NCAA Tournament, of course, but the former Duke star usually doesn’t have to prove he belongs here.

Hurley, the explosive point guard who led the Blue Devils to back-to-back national championships in 1991-92, is the third-year coach of Arizona State, which plays Syracuse on tonight in a First Four play-in game. Both teams got at-large bids, so naturally there are some fans grumbling about their tournament worthiness.

“It was a very emotional couple of days,” Hurley said Tuesday. “Just a roller coaster leading into Selection Sunday and just playing different scenarios out, the tension and the anxiety about wanting to be in this field and that we deserve to play.”

Hurley previously coached at Buffalo, where he led the Bulls to their first ever tournament game, which was a quick one-and-done at the hands of West Virginia. So he’s looking for his first tournament win as a coach.

The Sun Devils got a couple of signature wins — Nov. 24 over then No. 15 Xavier and Dec. 10 over then No. 2 Kansas. But they barely reached 20 wins, limped to an 8-10 record in the Pac-12 and lost in the first round of the conference tournament.

The Orange also have the challenge of proving they should be here. The Atlantic Coast Conference squad was teetering on the bubble but was rewarded with the at-large big thanks to its difficult non-conference schedule and some key wins away from home, including at Miami and Louisville.

“We understand this is just the beginning,” Syracuse guard Frank Howard said. “We don’t want to get too high on this. We want to still have perspective and still understand what we’re here for. So we’re all just focused.”

The winner of the No. 11 seed game will face No. 6 TCU in a Midwest regional on Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The first game on Wednesday night pits North Carolina Central, winners of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament, and Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament champion Texas Southern, which comes in as the only First Four team with a losing record (15-19).

The winner gets West Regional No. 1 seed Xavier on Friday in Nashville.

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