Prior to Thursday's game vs Utah, Stanford was treading water with 7 wins in 13 games since the resumption of play after January 1. But after the loss to Utah, many (most?) readers of this board presume that the ship is sinking and no amount of bailing water will keep it afloat. That theory will be tested on Saturday when the Cardinal take on the Buffalo at Maples. This will be the final home game for those players who will be ending their Stanford careers at the conclusion of the season--unless Stanford somehow makes the NIT and is assigned a home game.
Since losing 5 out of 6 in late January, Colorado has gone on a four-game win streak versus Oregon State (2x), Utah and Cal. The Buffs are 17-9 (9-7) and are sitting alone in sixth place and still have an outside shot at earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Besides Saturday's game at Stanford, CU has home games versus the Arizona schools and an away game against Utah, so a 3-1 finish is certainly feasible. (Oregon inexplicably lost to ASU and has a tough finishing schedule.) But unless there are multiple upsets in the conference tournament, the Pac-12 will have three teams in the NCAA tournament and, in my opinion which doesn't count, Oregon, Colorado, and maybe WSU will be slotted for the NIT.
At this moment, Stanford 15-11 (8-8) is in a virtual tie for 7th with fading-fast WSU. After Colorado, Stanford finishes at Cal and then the Arizona schools, so I'd like to say that a 10-10 conference record is likely, but it doesn't feel that way after the manner in which the Cardinal folded down the stretch versus a Quad 3 opponent. And Colorado will be a much tougher opponent than Utah. The Buffaloes are 1st in conference play in 3-pt FG %, 2nd in FT % and 4th in rebounding margin. On the bright side for Stanford, CU is 11th in turnovers committed (Stanford is 12th) and 8th in turnovers forced (Stanford is 10th). So Stanford has a chance if it gets an emotional bump from senior/underclassmen-leaving night and avoids the dreaded passes-to-nobody.
Stanford lost 76-80 at Colorado back in late November, but it's really difficult to project those results onto Saturday's contest. Having said, the first meeting between the teams was, non-clinically speaking, schizophrenic. Stanford jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first half, Colorado led by 5 at halftime, then Stanford took a lead, then Colorado, then Stanford, then Colorado pulled away at the end. Sr Forward Evan Battey led CU with 22 in that first game, although the Buffs top scorer in conference play is So Forward Jabari Walker (15.9 ppg). Jabari is the son of former NBA player Samaki Walker and was on the Pac-12 all-freshman team last season. Tristan da Silva, brother of Oscar, also starts for the Buffs.
Having written the above, I note that ESPN's BPI, for some unexplained reason, gives Stanford a 71.2% probability of winning. So forget what I said and let's Beat the Buffaloes--which are really bison!
Since losing 5 out of 6 in late January, Colorado has gone on a four-game win streak versus Oregon State (2x), Utah and Cal. The Buffs are 17-9 (9-7) and are sitting alone in sixth place and still have an outside shot at earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Besides Saturday's game at Stanford, CU has home games versus the Arizona schools and an away game against Utah, so a 3-1 finish is certainly feasible. (Oregon inexplicably lost to ASU and has a tough finishing schedule.) But unless there are multiple upsets in the conference tournament, the Pac-12 will have three teams in the NCAA tournament and, in my opinion which doesn't count, Oregon, Colorado, and maybe WSU will be slotted for the NIT.
At this moment, Stanford 15-11 (8-8) is in a virtual tie for 7th with fading-fast WSU. After Colorado, Stanford finishes at Cal and then the Arizona schools, so I'd like to say that a 10-10 conference record is likely, but it doesn't feel that way after the manner in which the Cardinal folded down the stretch versus a Quad 3 opponent. And Colorado will be a much tougher opponent than Utah. The Buffaloes are 1st in conference play in 3-pt FG %, 2nd in FT % and 4th in rebounding margin. On the bright side for Stanford, CU is 11th in turnovers committed (Stanford is 12th) and 8th in turnovers forced (Stanford is 10th). So Stanford has a chance if it gets an emotional bump from senior/underclassmen-leaving night and avoids the dreaded passes-to-nobody.
Stanford lost 76-80 at Colorado back in late November, but it's really difficult to project those results onto Saturday's contest. Having said, the first meeting between the teams was, non-clinically speaking, schizophrenic. Stanford jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first half, Colorado led by 5 at halftime, then Stanford took a lead, then Colorado, then Stanford, then Colorado pulled away at the end. Sr Forward Evan Battey led CU with 22 in that first game, although the Buffs top scorer in conference play is So Forward Jabari Walker (15.9 ppg). Jabari is the son of former NBA player Samaki Walker and was on the Pac-12 all-freshman team last season. Tristan da Silva, brother of Oscar, also starts for the Buffs.
Having written the above, I note that ESPN's BPI, for some unexplained reason, gives Stanford a 71.2% probability of winning. So forget what I said and let's Beat the Buffaloes--which are really bison!
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)