The players came over to slap hands with the student-section.  One by one the players ran by, but it was Jeff Pendergraph's face that said it all.  The previous two seasons Pendergraph had suffered through consecutive losing season with ASU.  While he was certainly disappointed the Sun Devils were left out of the NCAA tournament, he was clearly ecstatic to finally feel like the big dog.

The Sun Devils have now advanced to the "elite" eight of the NIT after handling Alabama State and Southern Illinois with little problem.  ASU was given a #1 seed for the tournament, and have certainly been playing like one, trailing only at the beginning of the SIU game.  The Devils will now play the winner of Florida-Creighton on Tuesday.

Even though it's the NIT, Pendergraph, the rest of the team, and the Sun Devil fans have something to get excited about.  ASU is really starting to gel into a very good team.  It certainly looks like ASU has a chance to compete in the real Elite Eight next year.  That's for another day, though.  Right now, The Devils are just having fun marching their way to Madison Square Garden.

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