Youth don’t kid around

PULLMAN – Maybe Pablo Picasso was right.

The legendary Spanish artist was once quoted as saying youth has no age. Or maybe the great Cubist painter had it backward. Because in the Pac-10 conference this season, this is the age of youth.

No team has aged quicker this season than Washington State’s foe Thursday, Arizona State. No team has relied on a single freshman more than Saturday’s opponent, Arizona.

ASU’s Sun Devils feature James Harden, a 6-foot-4 left-handed bull of a guard and, to a lesser degree, Ty Abbott, a 6-3 shooting guard who made a recruiting visit to Pullman before choosing to stay near his Phoenix home.

Last season, the Cougars (20-5, 8-5 in Pac-10 play) swept ASU but not without then-freshman Christian Polk hitting six 3-pointers in more than 30 minutes a game. This year Polk is playing about 8 minutes a game and played just 5 in WSU’s 56-55 win in Tempe.

“The crazy thing, Polk was their leading guard against us and he hardly played against us the first game,” said WSU senior Robbie Cowgill. “That just shows you how good they are, how good their guards are.”

Cougars coach Tony Bennett agrees.

“I think it shows you how much better they are,” he said. “They are just a much-improved team. Cal and Arizona State took the biggest jump in our league. … They are noticeably better.”

It starts with Harden. He’s averaging 18 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for ASU (16-8, 6-6). He leads the Pac-10 with 1.96 steals per game. He’s shooting 42.6 from beyond the arc. But his importance to ASU is more than just the numbers.

It also manifests itself in how he asserts himself in key moments. In the Sun Devils’ 72-68 upset of No. 7 Stanford last week, Harden scored ASU’s last four points of regulation and the first eight of overtime.

“What he did against Stanford, as a freshman, is one of the more impressive performances (ever),” Bennett said. “To take a team on his back and just take over the game late and then in overtime, he is just one of the best.”

But he’s not alone.

Abbott has supplied an outside threat for the Sun Devils, converting 2.42 3-pointers per game. He had eight in their 72-68 loss to Cal last Saturday, part of a career-high 30 points.

Then there is Jerryd Bayless, the Pac-10’s reigning player of the week. All the Arizona (16-9, 6-6) point guard has done is score more than 30 points in three consecutive games.

“All the freshmen in this league are all physically mature,” Cowgill said, mentioning Harden and Bayless specifically. “That’s so impressive how guys are so physically ready.

“And to be able to have, I don’t know if moxie is the word, but to come in as freshmen and take over games, in the Pac-10, the best conference in the country, put their team on their back, that’s very impressive.”

Bayless has had to do even more recently after Arizona guard Nic Wise went down with an ankle injury.

“He has to keep putting up numbers for us or we’re not going to win,” said Arizona interim coach Kevin O’Neill.

The three-game binge has raised his scoring average to 21.1 points per game, though Bayless still averages 4.43 assists. He’s hitting 84.9 percent from the free-throw line and has been there 159 times, most of any of the conference’s top shooters.

“He’s very aggressive, bull-in-the-china shop mentality,” O’Neill said. “Sometimes that ends up in charges and sometimes that gets him to the line.”

He’s also a premier defender, holding WSU’s Derrick Low to five points on 2-of-9 shooting in Tucson.

“I didn’t know he was that good defensively,” Bennett said. “He showed some grit and toughness. It was impressive he could play that well offensively and have that kind of (defensive game). It speaks a lot about how athletic and strong and physically fit he is, to play that hard on both ends. That’s what’s required at this level.

“When you have an elite-level guy doing that, you take your hat off to him. A lot of times, with elite guys, it’s pick or choose.”

As for Bennett, he can’t choose between the freshmen his team will be facing this weekend. They’re all too good.

“They’re all complete, they are not just one-dimensional,” he said. “It’s really a challenge with these guys, like Harden and Bayless, who can slash and really make plays off the dribble.

“I’m super impressed. I wish they would play like freshmen more.”