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So Arizona State doesn’t run. So what?

Herb Sendek would like to get one thing straight: Arizona State doesn’t run the Princeton offense.

OK, so the Sun Devils don’t run like North Carolina or push it as often as Pac-10 rival Washington. But the coach maintains that they ditched “the elephant in the room” a long time ago. Or at least that’s what he’s trying to tell recruits.

“It’s actually kind of funny,” Sendek told the Arizona Republic. “We ran it my last year at NC State and we ran our own version of it. What people typically like to do is they like to say we ran it and we played slow. Yet my last year at NC State, we were in the top three in the league in scoring with Duke and North Carolina. And now we’re not running it at all ... It’s actually amazing. (In recruiting), schools really try to use it against us.”

It’s a nice story Herb, but I’m not buying it. Perhaps ASU doesn’t average 55 points a game (last season they were at 66.7 points per game, right at the D-I average and eighth in the Pac-10), but they don’t push the pace, either. (They also finished second and third the last two years in the conference standings.)

According to kenpom.com, the Devils’ adjusted tempo under Sendek has never been higher than 62.5 possessions per game, and that was last season. In 2008-09, it was 60.0. That puts them near the bottom of the tempo D-I rankings.

Still, the Sun Devils do score. Their adjusted offensive efficiency the last three seasons has been 111.5, 118.5 and 109.3, all of which ranked among the top 60 most efficient offenses. Hey, some people don’t just run around jacking up shots.

That’s not Herb’s style.

Mike Miller’s also on Twitter @BeyndArcMMiller, usually talkin’ hoops. Click here for more.