Stanford University was founded in 1885 by California senator Leland Stanford and wife Jane, “to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization.” The former railroad magnate and 8th governor of CA and his wife lost their only child Leland, Jr. to typhoid in 1884 and decided that building a university was a fitting memorial, thus Leland Stanford Junior University was born and admitted students in 1891. Stanford has an 8,180-acre campus (“The Farm’), an endowment of $36.5B, an enrollment of 17,246 students (7858 undergrads).
Their sports nickname was Indians until 1972, when Native American students forced a student senate vote and, after the admin rejected “Robber Barons,” the nickname became the Cardinal (Harvard is the Crimson, so ‘Harvard of the West’ is the Cardinal). Unofficial mascot is the Stanford Tree. Stanford tops the nation with 130 NCAA team & 529 individual championships. Winners of 29 consecutive NACDA Director’s Cups & 296 Olympic medals (150 gold, 79 silver, 67 bronze).
Stanford basketball began in 1913 (1549-1175, .569), 1942 NCAA Champion, 2 Final Fours (last 1998), 17 NCAA tournaments (last 2014), 13 conference titles (last 2004), 1 Pac-12 Tournament title, 45 NBA draft picks (14 1st round), 5 players currently in the NBA (Brook & Robin Lopez, KZ Okpala, Dwight Powell, Ziaire Williams). Retired jersey: No. 7 Hank Luisetti (1935-38), AP All-American First Team: Luisetti, Casey Jacobsen, Donald Burness, Josh Childress, Brevin Knight, Todd Lichti. Naismith Hall of Fame – Hank Luisetti, George Yardley (1947-50), Jim Pollard (1940-42)
Winningest Coaches: Mike Montgomery 1987-2004 (392-168), Howard Dallmar 1955-75 (256-264), Everett Dean 1939-51 (167-120), Johnny Dawkins 2009-16 (156-115)
Current coach Jerod Haase is 119-115 in 8 seasons. He was a star player at Kansas, but played his freshman season at Cal, starting in the backcourt with Jason Kidd. It’s ironic that Stanford’s coach played at rival Cal, while Cal’s coach Mark Madsen played at Stanford.
SC is 130-129 all-time vs Stanford and has won 6 of 7 at Galen.
Stanford is 7-6, (2-1), NET 98, KenPom 73 and coming off wins at ucla (59-53) and vs No. 4 Arizona (100-82, school-record 16 threes). Wins: CSUN, Sac State, Eastern Washington, USD, Idaho, No. 4 Arizona, ucla. Losses: Santa Clara, RV Arkansas, Michigan, Northern Iowa, SDSU, ASU.
Stanford Scoring: 78.2 ppg (+4.6), 47.7% FG, 37.1% 3FG, 9.2 3’s/g, 73.0% FT
Rebounds: 35.9 pg (-0.3), 17.8 assists, 12.9 TOs (-1.7), 13.5 ppg off TO, 5.6 steals, 3.0 blks
Stanford Leaders:
5 players in double digits: Kanaan Carlyle 14.0 ppg (50.0% FG, 50.0% 3FG, 88.2% FT), Maxime Raynaud 13.9 ppg (54.2% FG, 22.2% 3FG, 82.1% FT), Brandon Angel 12.1 ppg (59.8% FG, 41.7% 3FG, 82.6% FT), Spencer Jones 12.0 ppg (44.2% FG, 43.9% 3FG, 71% FT), Michael Jones 10.7 ppg (53.3% FG, 37.5% 3FG, 64.7% FT)
Rebounds - Raynaud 9.4 pg, Assists – Jared Bynum 6.6, Steals – S. Jones 1.1, M. Jones 1.0, Blks – Max Murrell 1.2 pg
SC is 7-7, (1-2), NET 93, KenPom 70. Wins: K-State, CSUB, Brown, Seton Hall, EWU, AL State, Cal, Losses: UCI, OK, Gonzaga, LBSU, Auburn, Oregon, Oregon St
SC scoring: 77.9 ppg (+3.2), 45.9% FG, 35.4% 3FG, 8.4 3’s/g, 71.9% FT
Rebounds: 36.3 pg (+0.9), 15.8 assists, 14.0 TOs (-0.5), 15.4 ppg off TO, 6.8 steals, 4.7 blks
SC Leaders:
Big 3 Scoring: Boogie 18.5 ppg (45.8% FG, 43.3% 3FG, 42 made 3’s, 72.9% FT), Isaiah 14.9 ppg (49.3% FG, 27.9% 3FG, 67.6% FT), Kobe 11.0 ppg (39% FG, 30.4% 3FG, 76.7% FT)
Rebs – Kobe 5.0, Josh 4.5, Assists – Isaiah 4.4, Boogie 3.5, Steals - Kobe 1.9, Boogie 1.5, Blks - Josh 34 (2.30 pg)
Pregame
Walking to the arena I wonder whether the Cal game was a fluke or whether our team sustains the momentum against Stanford. Outside Founder’s Room, the usual suspects are checking in and getting meal/dessert tickets and table assignments. Some pass on the check-in and head for the bar.
Rashad Moore, Asst AD for Major Gifts, is the emcee and will introduce our speaker. To get the crowd ready he says “Hey, we are undefeated in 2024!” Well, I guess we are with our lofty 1 game win streak – haha. The guest speaker was Asst AD of Basketball Operations Michael Swets, in his 8th year with Enfield. He earned a BS at Boston College, serving as a basketball student manager under coach Al Skinner for 3 yrs. He got an MBA at Providence, where he served as GA for 2 yrs and comes to SC after 4 yrs at Towson (MD). Until his hire he'd never set foot in CA and didn’t know if he would like it. Now, he wouldn't go back to the east coast. If you’re wondering what an Ops director does: Swets coordinates travel, handles the budget, works non-conference schedules, oversees the team managers, coordinates daily schedule, interfaces with other departments and community outreach organizations.
He says the team is re-energized and having their best practices of the season. They are sharing the ball, hitting the boards and playing good defense. He says if they do that in the games, we will be fine. Asked about Kijani and AP not playing last game, he said that it is very difficult to play 11-12 players every game and that shortened rotations would be determined by practice and production in games. Stanford has shown it can win in a variety of ways – scored 100 in beating AZ and won a rock fight against ucla. We will try to slow them down, control their 3-pt opportunities and limit them to one shot per possession. They have a big they like to keep out on the perimeter – so we need to move him around a little bit.
The starters will be the same as the Cal game: Boogie, Kobe, Isaiah, DJ, Josh. Bronny is still on a minutes restriction and he doesn’t know when the doctors will lift it. Someone asked if Lebron would be at the game. He said he couldn’t be sure, but the Lakers weren’t playing today.
There is a pretty nice crowd (6481 announced), classes resume Monday and the student section is nearly full. The Song Girls are back from the Holiday Bowl, but Crash is not – where’s the dedication man? -haha. DJ Mal-ski engages with the crowd and ensures everyone will be ‘loud and proud.’ There are a handful of NBA scouts here.
Lebron sneaks into the arena during the national anthem sung by an accomplished 15-yr old vocalist. After the game starts, I spy 3-time Beach Volleyball All-American Sara Hughes, actor Jason Bateman and soccer star Trinity Rodman.
The Game
Stanford strikes first with the 3-ball, but Boogie answers with one of his own. Boogie was on fire in this game, hitting 5 3’s in the first half and three 3’s in the second. The defensive intensity from SC was present from the start and would pay dividends.
Kobe got his MOJO back getting 2 threes, 2 steals, and a blocked shot in the first 12 minutes! It's amazing how one made 3-ptr can make such a difference to a player's confidence. In the last game against Cal, Kobe went scoreless in the first half with 2 TOs, but in the second half he made a 3 and you could see the confidence in him rise, which led to 3 more consecutive 3's, with Kobe talking a little smack as he ran back and making the symbol for ice in his veins! Apparently, that game was not a one-off as he came to play in this game looking like the player voted Preseason Pac-12 Defensive POY.
Collier followed the Wooden mantra of ‘be quick, but don’t hurry’ in this game. He was calm and under control and led his team to victory. After a 7 assist, 0 TO game vs Cal, he followed up with 4 assists and 2 TOs against Stanford.
After 3 ties and 3 lead changes, SC led 39-35 at the half. Both teams shot well:
SC: 42.8% FG (15-35), 53.3% 3FG (8-15), 20% FT (1-5)
Stanford: 44.8% FG (13-29), 46.2% 3FG (6-13), 100% FT (3-3)
At halftime, DJ Malski conducted the t-shirt toss with the Trojan Dance Force and was assisted by Trinity Rodman and Malski’s 5 yr old daughter. At the end, Malski walked up to the Pac-12 Network broadcasting table and gave Bill Walton a t-shirt to toss and Walton stood up, stretched, loosened up his arm and flung the t-shirt into the crowd, drawing a small ovation. Not to be outdone, Malski took his last remaining shirt and fired it 5 rows deep into the upper deck – very impressive arm for a deejay – hah.
Coming out of the locker room down four, Stanford brought energy and great shooting (made 7 of 9 threes) to cut the lead down to 1 pt six times (41-40, 43-42, 45-44, 47-46, 63-62, lastly 66-65 at 8:02 left). They tied the game at 61-61 with 9:46 on the clock, but they never led. SC finished the game with their largest margin of 14 points, winning 93-79.
Stanford shot 53% overall and 59% from behind the arc, but SC forced them into 18 TOs (13 steals), converting those TOs into 25 pts. SC had a season-low 6 TOs and 10 fouls against Stanford.
SC had more pts in the paint 34-26, pts off TO 25-10, second chance pts 14-2 and fastbreak pts 20-2! Stanford shot well, but SC’s turned defense into offense regularly this game. Oh, Stanford’s big Raynaud was held to 4 pts!
The Big 3 lived up to their name! Collier led all scorers with a career high 26 pts (9-15 FG, 3-4 3FG, 5-8 FT, 3 reb, 4 assts, 1 steal), Boogie had 22 pts (8-14 FG, 6-8 3FG, 5 reb, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 blk), Kobe had what Enfield said was his best game of the season: 21 pts (9-18 FG, 2-4 3FG, 1-1 FT), 5 rebs, 5 assts, 5 steals, 2 blks and zero TOs! He was my Player of the Game, although Collier hit some big shots at the end to lock this win down.
For the game:
SC shot 47.8% FG (32-67), 56% 3FG (14-25), 62.5% FT (15-24)
Stanford shot 52.7% FG (29-55), 59.1% 3FG (13-22), 80% FT (8-10)
SC moves to 8-7 (2-2). Enfield gets win number 212 (trailing Sam Barry (260), Forrest Twogood (251), Bob Boyd (216)).
Stanford falls to 7-7 (2-2) and plays at Oregon State next.
Next up for SC is Washington State at Galen on Wednesday night.
Fight on! Beat the Cougs!
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