Arizona State has had two distinctly different halves to its season, and fortunately for the Sun Devils, they’re in the middle of the better half at the right time.

ASU started 0-8 but has won five of its last eight and three of the last four, including a 24-11 season-ending win over a red-hot Lehigh team.

The Sun Devils will be riding a wave of confidence and enthusiasm on their way to Tulsa for the upcoming Big 12 Championships.

“Every season, every year has great things, things that you expected, and then challenges,” said longtime Arizona State coach Zeke Jones. “There's always that feel of you can do better, but you're certainly grateful that you've had great success in some ways. 

“So it's another season like that. However, right now, we're getting all the pieces put together. We always knew that we could be here and have a good team, but we've had to wait for this.”

Jones said he doesn’t feel pressure to win dual meets but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win. 

“I want to win everything. We want to win everything every time. However, I'm not going to sacrifice an individual or team results at the end of the season for a beginning or mid-season dual meet,” he said. “And so it hurts. It doesn't taste good when you know you could do better and you leave three kids out of lineup. We've been leaving three and four kids out of the lineup, but we have looked at the bigger picture. 

“Now that we're getting all those pieces put in place, you can see the results. We're getting it all together and the kids are getting better at wrestling, too. Our results show it over the last decade that we get significantly better as the season goes on and we're doing that same thing again.”

Not A Panic Room

The intangibles of the rally as the postseason nears have been sticking to the plan, following the training and competition cycles and a good coaching staff with Jones, Lee Pritts, Frank Molinaro and Eric Thompson.

“I call it four head coaches,” Jones said. “I'm telling you, Lee, Frank and Eric, those guys know how to coach. So when we get data from a Saturday dual meet, we go into the beginning of the week with a really clear expectation of the team training or the team skills we need to work on, and then the individual coaches go and work specifically on each wrestler’s area of concentration.”

Another intangible, Jones said, is the new world of new people in the lineup every year. 

“You know, the one-year kids,” he said. “I think we're mastering the energy of the kids who have been in the program, who are developing through it, and then a kid that kind of comes in ready-made.”

He cited David Szuba and Colton Hawks, the transfers from Rider and Missouri, respectively, as part of the new Sun Devil way. Szuba, now #11, upset then #10 Nathan Taylor of Lehigh last weekend.

“David is a high-character, strong Christian, very motivated, excited and great teammate, and a father of two, right?” Jones said. “He's just bringing a great energy. Colton Hawks, another outstanding kid, just great energy. The guys love him, and he just brings a great element. And then you’ve got the Nicco Ruizes and the Pierson Manvilles and the Larkins (Kyler and Kaleb) … they're not fifth-year kids, but they are all just gelling together. So I'd say that, and the energy, might be the intangibles.”

The 10 Men To Tulsa

Neither Kaleb Larkin (157) nor Pierson Manville (141) wrestled against Lehigh because of precautionary reasons, but they’ll be set for the Big 12s.

The lineup looks like this, according to Jones: An’ee Vigil at 125, #5 Kyler Larkin at 133, #22 Manville at 141, Benji Alanis at 149, Kaleb Larkin at 157, Ruiz at 165, a lean toward Cael Valencia and Shay Addison at 174 and 184, and Hawks at 197 and Szuba at 285.

Jones says the Sun Devils earned NCAA allocations at six weights for the conference and he hopes they can steal at least another two spots.

“The way we're wrestling and the kids we have, I feel confident we can steal two from 125, 174, 184, 197; they're not going to get an allocation,” he said. “They beat top-10, top-15 kids, so there's no doubt they can steal. We have the ability to steal four, but just the law of averages, I'll go with two. 

“So I think the expectation is seven or eight. Can we get eight or nine? Absolutely. I feel confident we can get our five or six and then get to that seven or eight, realistically. And that gets us set up for Cleveland.”

The Postseason Pressure Is … Off

There’s no need for pressure, Jones said, just go wrestle.

“I don't know if I feel any pressure as much as I just believe we go out and wrestle our best and get better at wrestling over these next two weeks,” he said. “And, really, it's just making sure we stay healthy and get our guys out there, and I think they're going to perform really well.”

The Sun Devils, as of late, have been postseason performers with top-10 finishes the past four seasons. 

“That’s something we’ve always been pretty good at — outperforming our seeds and really being in the mix,” Jones said. “We just need to have good rounds, one at a time, and just really focus on the rounds, who we have in that moment, and just preparing for that round. And when that's over, we move on for the next one and push it as far as we can.”