ASU men's basketball signs Trent Lockett

The Arizona State men¹s basketball team has inked Trent Lockett, a 6-5, 205-pound guard from Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minn., to a letter-of-intent, Arizona State coach Herb Sendek announced today. Rivals.com has him ranked as a top-75 player and a top 25 shooting guard, while Scout.com has him as the No. 18 shooting guard in the nation. He averaged 14.9 points per game for a Hopkins team that went 27-2 last year and was conference co-champion, as Hopkins has notched a 53-4 mark in his the past two seasons.

Lockett, coached by Marquise Watts of NetGainSports in AAU play and by Kenny Novak at Hopkins, averaged 7.5 points and was sixth man for 26-2 team in his sophomore year. Hopkins won state titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06 and is generally regarded as the best basketball program in the state and produced current Minnesota Golden Gopher standout Blake Hoffarber. Lockett also is an excellent athlete with a reported 38-inch vertical jump.

"Trent is a tremendous addition to our basketball program. He is a model student-athlete excelling in the classroom and on the court," says Coach Sendek, who is in his third year at ASU and has the Sun Devils ranked 15th by both the Associated Press and USA Today in the preseason polls. "He is a true gentleman, a real leader and an explosive athlete with a excellent mind for the game."

The early signing period runs from Nov. 12-19, while the spring signing period is from April 15-May 20, 2009. Arizona State was 21-13 last year in Herb Sendek¹s second year and returns two All-Pac-10 players from last year, senior Jeff Pendergraph (third-team) and sophomore James Harden (first-team). It opens its season this Friday, Nov. 14, in Tempe against Mississippi Valley State at 8:15 p.m. MT on Fox Sports Arizona and ESPN 860 AM.