by Doug Haller - Nov. 24, 2008 04:29 PM
The Arizona Republic

He's not supposed to be here. Not after last year, when he led the Arizona State basketball team in scoring and the Pac-10 in steals. The trend says such a player cashes in. He enters the NBA draft.

James Harden stayed.

Everyone demands an explanation, which Harden finds puzzling. Truth is, he just didn't think he was ready, which means last season's youngest Pac-10 player made a decision that required maturity beyond his years.

"I didn't ask around; I just asked myself," Harden said. "You can only be truthful with yourself. I'm not saying I don't have the talent to go to the NBA, but there are a lot of things you need along with talent. I just thought I needed to come back to mature as a person and a player."

Harden's return has ASU poised for a breakout its fans haven't experienced in years. Entering this week's 76 Classic in Anaheim, the No. 14 Sun Devils are 3-0 behind their preseason All-American. Harden, a sophomore guard averaging 25 points and 6.7 rebounds, already has new career highs in points and assists, and it appears he's just getting started.

Credit his determination. Assistant coach Lamont Smith, who joined the program in May, noticed Harden was the last player on the court, shooting with kids, during a summer camp. Sophomore guard Jamelle McMillan once entered Wells Fargo Arena at night to get in extra shooting, only to find Harden, who has a key, already there.

"James has a strong desire to want to be good," said assistant coach Scott Pera, who coached Harden at Artesia High in Lakewood, Calif. "For him, what's interesting is he didn't walk in (to high school) athletic. He wasn't jumping around the gym, running a 4.4. He didn't rely on athletic ability back then. He relied on fundamentals."

Harden played varsity as a freshman. His confidence soared after nailing a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win a game in a holiday tournament, but he remained unselfish. He led the team in charges taken his freshman and sophomore seasons. The next year, in a game against Brook and Robin Lopez, both future NBA first-round draft picks, Harden took four in one game.

By then, college recruiters had taken notice of his all-around skills, no one more than Washington coach Lorenzo Romar.

"Each time (I saw him) I thought, 'You'll become an instant contender (if) this kid joins your team,' " Romar said. "He knew how to play with the ball and without the ball. It was almost like he was a puppet master. He just fixes the game the way he wants it to be fixed. And he doesn't make it too obvious that he's in control."

Losing Harden to ASU "was one of the top two or three disappointments in recruiting that I've ever dealt with as a head coach or as an assistant coach," Romar said.

Even Harden admits his decision to attend ASU took time to grasp. At the McDonald's High School All-American game, he recalls looking at teammates, thinking 'You have guys who are going to the North Carolinas, the UConns, then you have James Harden, Arizona State," a team that had won only eight games the previous year.

"But this was a chance for me to come into a Pac-10 program and try to do something," he said.

He surprised himself last year. Harden counted on contributing, but not so much, so soon. He scored 22 points in his second game, starting a string in which he reached double figures in 17 of 18 games.

Pera made sure Harden understood the significance. In his ASU office, he kept a printout of the nation's top nine freshmen. Included were Kansas State's Michael Beasley, Southern California's O.J. Mayo, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless, UCLA's Kevin Love, Memphis' Derrick Rose and Indiana's Eric Gordon. Each week Pera had a team manager update the statistics of each player in 11 categories.

"I just wanted to make sure James knew where he stood among all those guys," Pera said. "You have to remember, as good as he's been, when he first arrived, he wasn't getting much national attention. It was just about nil."

By season's end, Harden ranked first only in steals, but he was the only player among the nine not to rank lower than sixth in any category.

"To be honest, I really wasn't surprised," said Mayo, who left USC after his freshman season and became the NBA's third overall pick. "All summer prior to our freshman season, we worked out in LA together. We were really hanging tight, working out really hard. James is going to keep getting better. The sky's the limit for him."

Harden averaged 17.8 points and became the fifth freshman in history to lead the Pac-10 in steals. Everyone seemed to be amazed but him.

"He is so unselfish, he is so team-centered, you couldn't ask for a guy with his talent quotient to be better in those areas," ASU coach Herb Sendek said.

Harden, 19, describes himself as "just kind of a smooth guy." On the court, he always seems to know what's coming. He seldom panics or shows frustration, even when the situation calls for some. Last week against San Diego State, Harden was pushed out of bounds, landing on his back. No whistle, no foul. Before getting up, he rolled the ball away from an official and got a technical foul.

"A terrible call," said former Villanova coach Steve Lappas, who worked the game as an analyst for CBS College Sports. "How did he end up out of bounds on the floor? But James stayed very calm. I watched him the whole game, and he never showed emotion."

Off the court, that demeanor works against him. His mother, Monja, wasn't too pleased to find out her son was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated the day before it hit newsstands.

"He called me as I was on my way home from work," she said. "He said, 'Mom, I'm going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.' I said, 'What?!' He had taken that photo like a month before, so he had known for a long time. For whatever reason, he just decided not to tell me."

Perhaps Harden does this to stay grounded. To keep distractions at a minimum. He knows what's at stake this season. Everyone is watching him. Everyone is looking for limitations - His right hand! His mid-range game! - because that's what happens to the country's best players. They're dissected.

And to Harden, none of that matters. He came to ASU to help revive the program. To help the Sun Devils contend for a Pac-10 title and return to the NCAA Tournament, a place they haven't dribbled in five seasons.

"I don't want to be one of those guys who just leave college, go to the NBA and never get to experience the tournament," Harden said. "The NBA is always going to be there. Just to get to the tournament would be a dream come true. That's what we're trying to do here."