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Greatest Year Ever? - Papa John - 04-10-2014

For a long time, the three Stanford sports that I have followed most closely are women's and men's basketball and football (although I've also attended baseball, softball, women's volleyball and women's tennis, men's soccer games/matches over the years).

With regards to my personal Big Three, 2013-14 may be the greatest year ever, at least if measured by postseason results and final rankings. In fact, I believe that this year is the first time that all three sports participated in postseason play and ended up in the postseason rankings:

Football: Rose Bowl, #11, AP
Men's Basketball: Sweet Sixteen, #24 USA Today (AP does not have a postseason poll)
Women's Basketball: Final Four, #3 USA Today (AP does not have a postseason poll)

I'm surprised, not so much by the results, but by my own sense that this year, while very good, should have been even better. I suppose this comes from the manner by which all three teams ended their seasons, not to mention the regular season letdowns produced mostly by men's basketball, although football and even women's basketball certainly had their how-did-you-lose-to-that-team moments.

It's only in taking a step back that I understand that this was, and still is, a glorious year for Stanford sports, and I have a renewed sense of gratitude for the student-athletes, coaches, administrators and supporters.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Farm93 - 04-10-2014

Mmmmmm...let's go with No!

Stanford does not have a single NCAA team title, so the year could be the worst in almost 40 years.  And even looking just at football, Stanford did not win the Rose Bowl.

No NCAA team titles (yet) and no Rose Bowl win means it should not even in the running for greatest year ever.  The greatest year ever has to have at least one of those two things IMO.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Papa John - 04-10-2014

Fair enough Farm93, so what's your greatest year ever?

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Nan3cy - 04-10-2014

Not Farm93, but I remember a year when Stanford won six NCAA titles. And it wasn't just the quantity but the symmetry. IIRC, it was men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis. (Terry correct me if I'm off base on that.) I'm a little fuzzy on whether it was swimming - but I distinctly remember three pairs of championships.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - FarmBoy - 04-10-2014

It's too bad the manner of the season ending has skewed your view on "the big 3" sports. MBB in particular exceeded my expectations for how the season would end by several degrees (mid season I thought we were NIT all the way, so making it to the second weekend is a great end to that season, at least on paper, unless you were rooting for Dawkins to be canned.) WBB did about as well as they could, considering the talent gap vs. UConn (one reason I have a hard time investing too much emotion in WBB is that it seems rarely does the favorite not one. At least, relative to MBB.) Football was definitely a disappointment, although MSU is a worthy opponent. Still, I remember the football season for the thrilling victories, more than for the disappointing losses to Utah and US.C.

I'm getting a little anxious for the streak to be saved. Hopefully an unexpected team pull through on that one...

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - washingtonismoney - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 12:10 PM)FarmBoy link Wrote:It's too bad the manner of the season ending has skewed your view on "the big 3" sports. ....

But surely merely "exceeding expectations" doesn't qualify for "greatest year ever," the question posed by the original post.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - FarmBoy - 04-10-2014

I was responding to PJ's statement

Quote:I'm surprised, not so much by the results, but by my own sense that this year, while very good, should have been even better. I suppose this comes from the manner by which all three teams ended their seasons, not to mention the regular season letdowns produced mostly by men's basketball, although football and even women's basketball certainly had their how-did-you-lose-to-that-team moments.

I don't see where we "should have been even better." MBB exceeded expectations. WBB achieved expectations. Football, while very good, was not truly NCG, as shown in losses to Utah and US.C. A win over MSU would have been better, but I have a hard time arguing we "should have" beaten them.

As for the original topic, I agree this is not the "Greatest Year Ever" even though the "big three" all finished ranked and had great post-season appearances. I am used to Stanford winning 3-4 NCAAs a year, so not winning any precludes a "best year ever" no matter how well the "big three" performed.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - 2 for 2028 - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 12:10 PM)FarmBoy link Wrote:I'm getting a little anxious for the streak to be saved. Hopefully an unexpected team pull through on that one...

They'll have to perform better to beat Oklahoma tomorrow, but men's gym has advanced to the finals.

http://www.ncaa.com/championship/liveplayer/player?gameId=458754&date=2014/04/10

You're probably thinking of my favorite year, 1996/97 - Mick - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 11:54 AM)Nan3cy link Wrote:Not Farm93, but I remember a year when Stanford won six NCAA titles. And it wasn't just the quantity but the symmetry. IIRC, it was men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis. (Terry correct me if I'm off base on that.) I'm a little fuzzy on whether it was swimming - but I distinctly remember three pairs of championships.

Stanford did indeed win six championships three each by men and women in paired sports, but it wasn't swimming.  The sports were tennis, cross-country and volleyball (emphasis most definitely mine).  And to complete the symmetry, Stanford actually won a seventh championship that was not NCAA but ICYRA, co-ed sailing.  The ICYRA is collegiate sailing's governing body.  Incidentally, Stanford is currently ranked #1 in that sport:
http://www.sail1design.com/college-team-race-rankings/

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - BostonCard - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 11:54 AM)Nan3cy link Wrote:Not Farm93, but I remember a year when Stanford won six NCAA titles. And it wasn't just the quantity but the symmetry. IIRC, it was men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis. (Terry correct me if I'm off base on that.) I'm a little fuzzy on whether it was swimming - but I distinctly remember three pairs of championships.

That would have been 1996-97, my graduating year.  The three pairs of championships were Men's and women's cross country, men's and women's volleyball, and men's and women's tennis.  Men's and women's swimming won the next year.  That year, football blanked Michigan State in the Sun Bowl.  Stanford men's basketball made it to the sweet 16 (with the amazing game against Wake Forest) for the first time in modern history and the women's team reached the final four (losing a devastating game against Old Dominion by a single point).  Stanford baseball made it to the semi-finals of the college world series.  So it was a pretty good year for the big sports too.

BC

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Farm93 - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 11:54 AM)Nan3cy link Wrote:Not Farm93, but I remember a year when Stanford won six NCAA titles. And it wasn't just the quantity but the symmetry. IIRC, it was men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis. (Terry correct me if I'm off base on that.) I'm a little fuzzy on whether it was swimming - but I distinctly remember three pairs of championships.
Those 6 were sweet.  It was the pinnacle of the all-sports focus.  The football team was serviceable (the Sun Bowl 38-0 over Michigan State was amazing at least in the stands it was so fun to watch a shutout), the basketball program was riding high with Brevin Knight's Sweet 16 in San Jose.  And the Women went to the Final Four for the 6th time.  Importantly the football and men's basketball teams were achieving levels of success not accomplished in decades.

I also attended 4 of those finals.  (Women VB over Hawaii in Cleveland, Men VB over UCLA in Columbus, Stanford Women's Tennis winning on campus, and Stanford Men's Tennis surpassing the previous standard of 5 NCAA Team Titles at UCLA co-holder of the previous mark.)

That was a very, very good year.  I don't know about greatest ever, but it was much better than 2013-2014 that's for sure.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - cmp - 04-10-2014

On a related note, I wonder what the greatest year by any Stanford team is.  I recall that the Men's Tennis team not only won the National Championship in the late 70s but that they had beaten all top 10 teams in head to head matches sometime during the year.  That always struck me as a standard that would be awfully hard to ever match in any sport.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Papa John - 04-10-2014

Really thoughtful replies by everyone. In my original post, however, I was only referring to my own personal big three, and I agree that 1996-97 might give 2013-14 a run for its money. But, as sweet as it was to destroy Nick Saban's Michigan State's team in the Sun Bowl, I would take a Pac-12 Championship and a loss in the Rose Bowl. So I still stand by my claim that, for the big three, this year surpasses all others.

When one considers the big picture with all of the other sports--and assuming that all sports have equal value--then Director's Cup results would be one measurement. What if, instead of competing against all of the other Division I schools in 2013-14, this year's Stanford teams were competing against the past 20 years of Stanford athletics for the Stanford Cup? Anyone have time to figure that one out?

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - teejers1 - 04-10-2014

1996-97 was very sweet.

And tell me, was that the year that men's golf should have beaten Oklahoma State for the championship (and would have, if an unnamed player had made a very short putt on 18 in regulation)?  Or was that in a prior year?

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Spiny_Norman - 04-10-2014

(04-10-2014, 03:57 PM)teejers1 link Wrote:1996-97 was very sweet.

And tell me, was that the year that men's golf should have beaten Oklahoma State for the championship (and would have, if an unnamed player had made a very short putt on 18 in regulation)?  Or was that in a prior year?

Teejers, are you perhaps conflating two separate years in which the golfers finished 2nd?

In 1995 Stanford tied Oklahoma State after 72 holes but then lost in a playoff.  That team included Notah Begay, Casey Martin and Tiger Woods.
In 2008 Stanford lost by 1 shot to UCLA.  I believe that Rob Grube missed a short putt on the 72nd hole.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - StanFan88 - 04-10-2014

I believe that in 1986-87, Stanford men's tennis went undefeated and won the NCG with an unreal lineup: Dan Goldie, Jim Grabb, Patrick McEnroe, Derrick Rostagno, John Letts, and Eric Rosenfelt.  Goldie was already ranked in the Top 200 in the World.  Grabb would win at least one Grand Slam doubles title and represent the US in Davis Cup doubles.  McEnroe & Rostagno both rose to Top 20 in their careers (both Top 10 not sure?).  It was sick the way they simply dominated the entire season.

That same year, my roommate was part of the undefeated national champion men's water polo team which featured multiple future Olympians.  I got to see a lot of that year up close & personal.

Baseball won its first of back-to-back national championships.

It was Mike Montgomery's first year as head coach.  Team was barely above .500 but there was a change in attitude even at that early stage.

Of course, after that many years my facts may be entirely incorrect but that's what I vaguely remember.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Nan3cy - 04-10-2014

Thanks for the corrections re: men's and women's volleyball. I had a feeling I was off somewhere...
(And how I missed volleyball I don't know, since that's one of my favorite sports to watch in person.)


Re: Greatest Year Ever? - magnus - 04-11-2014

(04-10-2014, 07:56 PM)Spiny_Norman link Wrote:[quote author=teejers1 link=topic=9825.msg87579#msg87579 date=1397170650]
1996-97 was very sweet.

And tell me, was that the year that men's golf should have beaten Oklahoma State for the championship (and would have, if an unnamed player had made a very short putt on 18 in regulation)?  Or was that in a prior year?

Teejers, are you perhaps conflating two separate years in which the golfers finished 2nd?

In 1995 Stanford tied Oklahoma State after 72 holes but then lost in a playoff.  That team included Notah Begay, Casey Martin and Tiger Woods.
In 2008 Stanford lost by 1 shot to UCLA.  I believe that Rob Grube missed a short putt on the 72nd hole.
[/quote]

Also, Tiger left school after 1995-1996.

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Cardinal96 - 04-11-2014

I think the best ever Stanford men's tennis team was not during the McEnroe years.  I believe it was the 1998 men's tennis team that had Bob Bryan, Rob Bryan, Paul Goldstein and others.  That team was so dominant I don't think they lost a single game in the postseason (sweeping everyone 4-0). 

Re: Greatest Year Ever? - Farm93 - 04-11-2014

(04-10-2014, 02:24 PM)Papa John link Wrote:So I still stand by my claim that, for the big three, this year surpasses all others.
As you noted at the beginning those are YOUR big three.  They are not THE big three.  In NCAA terms baseball and hockey are probably right there with women's hoops nationally. And 20 years ago baseball was definitely bigger than women's hoops.

My guess is that you will discover as this thread grows that Stanford does not have a big three.  That's part of the reason that Stanford has done so well in so many sports.  Some Stanford fans may have a big one (football).  Many others probably have a big 6-10.  For example, given Stanford's success in water polo, tennis and women's volleyball, I believe Stanford's big (insert number here) really should at least include those 5 programs.  And the idea that Stanford's big ~30 NCAA sports are having NCAA championship-free seasons just can't be ignored, even for fans of the big one.

While I personally love your big three, even there the collection of results from those three are not really that exceptional even by Stanford's low standards in the big three.  And it is really hard to accept the idea that Men's Hoops one lucky weekend is enough to elevate the season of mediocre play into consideration for Stanford's greatest year ever for the three.  In 96-97, everything was clicking in the big three (four including baseball) and people were very happy with the year over year progress in those three/four sports.  That just isn't true today.