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The Arizona State Sun Devils are playing hot at the right time. 

ASU won seven of their final eight games heading into the Pac-12 tournament, where they enter as the No. 7 seed and will play Stanford after previously defeating them 65-56 over the weekend. 

Five of Arizona State's seven wins in that stretch have been by three possessions or more. 

"It's encouraging that we're playing at a pretty high level," Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley said during his media availability on Monday. "Everyone that's going into this tournament has hope and aspirations of trying to win games."

Arizona State has flipped a switch from earlier in the season where they lost nine of 11 games, playing better on both sides of the ball. Players such as guard Marreon Jackson and center Enoch Boakye have made major contributions lately. 

The Sun Devils have developed quite the hype train, but they're not printing the championship shirts yet.

"We're not entitled to anything this week, we have to earn it," said Hurley. "I think over the last few weeks we have demonstrated different ways how to win and hopefully that continues this week."

The Sun Devils are expected to defeat the Cardinal in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday prior to a second-round meeting with Arizona, the conference's No. 1 seed that has a first-round bye.

ASU's lone path to the brackets of March Madness rests within a Pac-12 tournament victory, as each conference tournament champion is automatically awarded a seed in the NCAA tournament. 

The Pac-12 offers a gauntlet with teams such as Arizona, USC, UCLA and others needing to be slain before being able to cut down the nets as champions in Las Vegas. 

"I think they believe in themselves. They know they're playing well and they're getting ready to play and getting ready for business," said Hurley.

Arizona State has big dreams for the coming week, but first must get past Stanford in the first round. The Sun Devils will begin their quest for a conference title on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. Arizona time.