We were in Oklahoma City the last time the ASU men's basketball team took the floor in the wonderful event known to all as March Madness.
Led by Ike Diogu, the Sun Devils got stomped by a championship-level Kansas team in the second round after upsetting Memphis a few days earlier.
That would have been 2003, or six long years and a ton of missed jump shots ago (though the kid in the photo, point guard Derek Glasser, has gone a long way toward correcting that perennial problem for the Devils.)
Now, at last, ASU is back on the big stage and about to face the Temple Owls in a first-round NCAA game down in Miami (Florida, not Arizona).
The sixth-seeded Devils are not the type of team that usually blows out opponents, so expect a very tight, low-scoring contest that will go down to the last few minutes.
We are excited that, finally, much of the nation will get to see Pac-10 Conference player of the year James Harden do his thing. He is a marvelous player, and should shine on the big stage.
The game starts about noon and can be seen on KPHO, Channel 5. Prediction: ASU 67, Temple 62.
