OKLAHOMA CITY - Kyle Dodd sat at the end of the bench, a towel covering his head, in the waning minutes of his collegiate career, but he wasn't even suppose to be here in Oklahoma City - in the NCAA Tournament.
Dodd and his five fellow seniors came here much the way they came to Tempe - with little fanfare outside the Valley - and accomplished more than what was expected.
The Sun Devils ruined many brackets around the country on Thursday with a win over Memphis, and the six seniors who finished their ASU careers Saturday were not expected to bring the Sun Devil program to the level at which it now rests.
"I'm extremely proud of the seniors. Not many people gave them a chance to get to this point and then they got farther," ASU coach Rob Evans said after his team's 108-76 loss to second-seeded Kansas at the Ford Center.
Dodd and fellow seniors Donnell Knight, Curtis Millage, Chris Osborne, Shawn Redhage and Tommy Smith felt hours of hard work and sweat simply melt away with the final buzzer Saturday. But their mark on this program will live on for years to come. After an eight-year absence from the tournament, the Sun Devils are poised to be an annual participant.
"I'm pretty sad my career at ASU is over, but at the same time, I'm excited about where the program is headed," Smith said.
Redhage echoed Smith's comments.
"I've had a great ride trying to get this program to where it should be," he said. "It's better than when we got here."
So true. When Redhage arrived on the Tempe campus four years ago as part of Evans' first recruiting class at ASU, a point-shaving scandal from eight years earlier was just coming to light.
"They all had the opportunity to go other places and they came to ASU when it wasn't kosher to come to ASU," Evans said. "Once they got here, they held up their end of the bargain."
While freshman Ike Diogu and junior college transfer Millage were the finishing touches to get the program back into the field of 65, the four-year seniors were able to accomplish so much.
ASU posted 66 wins and averaged 16.5 wins per season the past four seasons.
In 1999-00, ASU recorded just its fourth 19-win season in 17 years.
In 2000-01, the Sun Devils swept both Oregon schools for just the second time in two decades.
In 2001-02, ASU beat four NCAA Tournament teams and advanced to the NIT.
And in 2002-03, the Sun Devils posted their first 20-win campaign since the 1994-95 season.
"We got the program to where it needs to be," a red-eyed Dodd said. "They're going to be winning for a long time."
Reach the reporter at christopher.gabel@asu.edu.
