MIAMI  It is fitting that Arizona State guard James Harden is a southpaw because no one gets more left-handed compliments.

Harden is the Pacific-10 player of the year, a first-team all-American who projects as a top-five pick in the N.B.A. draft. He also leads the country in unflattering praise.

“Coming in, he was kind of chubby,” his teammate Ty Abbott said.

The Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins said: “He’s deceptive. He looks fat.”

And Harden himself acknowledged: “I’m old school. I’m not the fastest guy or the quickest guy.”

From choosing Arizona State over blue bloods like Duke and U.C.L.A. to a game long on nuance and short on explosion, the 6-foot-5 Harden is the epitome of an unconventional player. But in two years in Tempe he has managed to reshape his body, revive the Sun Devils program and position himself as a top pro prospect.