Why Don’t Grand Canyon and Arizona State Play Every Year?
· Yahoo Sports
One program that is blossoming into a legit mid-major contender; another is birthing a much-needed new era with a qualified head coach. A 20-minute drive away from one another.
Not a matchup in sight.
Visit playerbros.org for more information.
Grand Canyon University and Arizona State University have played just three times since GCU made the jump to Division I in the early 2010s.
In what seems like a slam dunk of a matchup, how have these two neighboring programs not found a long-term scheduling solution?
Administration Animosity
ASU and GCU were familiar with each other well before the feud began, playing on the men’s basketball circuit as early as the 1979-1980 season.
In 2013, Grand Canyon made the jump to Division I athletics, coming into effect in August 2017 after a four-year transition process.
That is when the Devils and Lopes would face off. Not on the court or field, but in the admin office.
Grand Canyon’s for-profit status at the time did sit well with Arizona State president Michael Crow.
“And so we’re not interested in increasing the stock value of a company. We are interested in playing college teams,” Crow told reporters in 2017.
GCU President Brian Mueller fired back with a response soon after, and the bad blood was boiling. While there was a rivalry brewing, it wasn’t worth duking it out on the hardwood, according to the schools.
Now, almost a decade later, times in college sports have changed. NIL, revenue models, you name it.
ASU and GCU had a home-and-home series in 2020 and 2021, meeting for a neutral-site matchup at the Suns arena as well in 2024.
Could there be more to come?
On The Rise in The Valley
In Phoenix, the Lopes have caught quite the attention. Since joining the Mountain West last season, Bryce Drew’s squad is the preseason favorite to win the MW after some big-time portal additions.
A few miles east, former Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett has taken over Sun Devil basketball, looking to reenergize the program after a lackluster finish from Bobby Hurley.
If these two programs continue to rise, a matchup between them would not only benefit the Phoenix area and the ASU and GCU fans, but the programs themselves. An opponent that could be a resume booster, just 20 minutes away?
“It’s a big difference in the WCC. You had to schedule that non-conference to make it as strong as you could, because you weren’t necessarily getting those Quad One games in league, but now you are in the Big 12,” ASU head coach Randy Bennett said. “You’re getting plenty of those Quad One games, and I would say you have to be careful. It depends on how confident you are with the team you have returning, but you have to be careful not to overschedule, and that’s a difference.”
Coming from 25 years at a mid-major, Bennett surely knows what position GCU HC Bryce Drew is in.
“The better the league does in the non-conference, the better it helps everyone in the league during conference season,” Drew said. “So we definitely wanted to go out and try to get some Quad One opportunities. We feel we have quite a few opportunities for Q1 games in the non-conference.”
As of Nov. 12, ASU and GCU are both labeled as Quad 2 opportunities. Fittingly enough, just one spot apart from one another in the NET rankings (GCU 71, ASU 73).
A Return To Neutral Site?
If this crosstown clash does return, could we see more games at the Suns’ arena?
The split-crowd atmosphere was one to remember when GCU and ASU met in 2024.
“I think it was a lot of great energy on both ends to start the season,” GCU coach Bryce Drew said postgame. “That environment was better than an NCAA Tournament game out there and it was fun to coach and fun to play in.”
On the other hand, home crowds are what make college basketball special, especially with the GCU Havoc.
GCU’s home crowd missed the chance to take in the ASU matchup at their own arena, with the GCU/ASU meeting in Phoenix in 2020 being closed off due to COVID.
The two would meet again in 2021, this time with a crowd, and in Tempe.
Whether it’s in Phoenix, Tempe or anywhere else: this new era of college basketball in the valley should hopefully bring back this “What Could Be” rivalry in the desert.