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Cal State Northridge comes to Maples on Tuesday at 8pm for a 1st round NIT game  - to be televised on ESPN2.  The last time a Cal State team visited Maples, it was Cal Poly.  Hopefully this game has a different finish.  Stanford is favored by 6.5, O/U is 154.5, implied score is 80.5-74.  The Matadors have a record of 22-10, 10-6 on the road.  They beat Cal Poly twice, split with UC Irvine (a #1 seed in the NIT), lost twice to UC San Diego (a #12 seed in the NCAA tourney), beat St. Bonaventure (possible next NIT opponent for the Stanford-CSUN winner), lost to USC.  CSUN finished the season losing 2 of 3 (to UC Riverside and to UCSB in the 2nd round of the Big West tourney, following a 1st round bye).  KenPom ratings are 82 for Stanford and 107 for CSUN.  Massey has Stanford at 75 & CSUN at 142, so a bit of a discrepancy between them.

Likely starters for CSUN are:
#8 Marcus Adams Jr. (6'8/195 So F) Leading scorer (16.1ppg on .526 shooting) and 3-point shooter (62-157). 4.9rpg.  Spent freshman year at BYU (after signing originally to play at Kansas), but only played in 1 game due to injuries.
#12 Scotty Washington (6'4/180 Jr G/F) 14.5ppg, 51-141 on 3s.  Played 3 years at Cal Baptist.
#7 Keonte Jones (6'6/192 Sr F) 13.0ppg on .503 shooting.  Leads in rebounds (9.2rpg) & assists (4.2apg).  2nd year starter at CSUN after 2 years at JC.
#4 PJ Fuller II (6'4/175 Sr G) 9.4ppg, 35-116 on 3s, 3.1apg.  Played previously at TCU, then Washington.
#11 Mahmoud Fofana (6'6/195 Sr F) 8.2ppg on .582 shooting, 5.1rpg.  Played at Santa Teresa HS in San Jose, then JC & Cal St San Bernadino.

The Matadors appear to use a pretty limited rotation - in their most recent game, 4 of the starters played 30+ minutes.  Subs averaging double digit minutes include:
#21 Grady Lewis (6'9/225 Jr F/C) 6.1ppg on .582 shooting.  Played 3 seasons at Cal St East Bay.
#0 Tyler Beard (6'2/180 Sr G) 3.3apg, played 2 seasons at Pacific.
#23 Jordan Brinson (6'2/170 Sr G) CSUN is his 5th school in 5 years.

CSUN led the Big West in FG percentage (.468), rebounds (40.3rpg), rebounding margin (+8.7), and assists (16.6apg).  They scored 80.6 points per game, second to Cal Poly.

One other notable stat - Keonte Jones & Mahmoud Fofana both fouled out of 5 games.  They each averaged 3 fouls per game - and Grady Lewis averaged 2.5 fouls per game playing only 13 minutes per game.  Stanford should be able to their size as an advantage against the Matadors, and even more so if they can get 3 of their biggest players into some foul trouble.

If Stanford can play at the level that they did last week in the ACC tournament (or at the level when they last played at Maples), this seems like a game they should win.

[skip75]

Cal State Northridge comes to Maples on Tuesday at 8pm for a 1st round NIT game  - to be televised on ESPN2.  The last time a Cal State team visited Maples, it was Cal Poly.  Hopefully this game has a different finish.  Stanford is favored by 6.5, O/U is 154.5, implied score is 80.5-74.  The Matadors have a record of 22-10, 10-6 on the road.  They beat Cal Poly twice, split with UC Irvine (a #1 seed in the NIT), lost twice to UC San Diego (a #12 seed in the NCAA tourney), beat St. Bonaventure (possible next NIT opponent for the Stanford-CSUN winner), lost to USC.  CSUN finished the season losing 2 of 3 (to UC Riverside and to UCSB in the 2nd round of the Big West tourney, following a 1st round bye).  KenPom ratings are 82 for Stanford and 107 for CSUN.  Massey has Stanford at 75 & CSUN at 142, so a bit of a discrepancy between them.

Likely starters for CSUN are:
#8 Marcus Adams Jr. (6'8/195 So F) Leading scorer (16.1ppg on .526 shooting) and 3-point shooter (62-157). 4.9rpg.  Spent freshman year at BYU (after signing originally to play at Kansas), but only played in 1 game due to injuries.
#12 Scotty Washington (6'4/180 Jr G/F) 14.5ppg, 51-141 on 3s.  Played 3 years at Cal Baptist.
#7 Keonte Jones (6'6/192 Sr F) 13.0ppg on .503 shooting.  Leads in rebounds (9.2rpg) & assists (4.2apg).  2nd year starter at CSUN after 2 years at JC.
#4 PJ Fuller II (6'4/175 Sr G) 9.4ppg, 35-116 on 3s, 3.1apg.  Played previously at TCU, then Washington.
#11 Mahmoud Fofana (6'6/195 Sr F) 8.2ppg on .582 shooting, 5.1rpg.  Played at Santa Teresa HS in San Jose, then JC & Cal St San Bernadino.

The Matadors appear to use a pretty limited rotation - in their most recent game, 4 of the starters played 30+ minutes.  Subs averaging double digit minutes include:
#21 Grady Lewis (6'9/225 Jr F/C) 6.1ppg on .582 shooting.  Played 3 seasons at Cal St East Bay.
#0 Tyler Beard (6'2/180 Sr G) 3.3apg, played 2 seasons at Pacific.
#23 Jordan Brinson (6'2/170 Sr G) CSUN is his 5th school in 5 years.

CSUN led the Big West in FG percentage (.468), rebounds (40.3rpg), rebounding margin (+8.7), and assists (16.6apg).  They scored 80.6 points per game, second to Cal Poly.

One other notable stat - Keonte Jones & Mahmoud Fofana both fouled out of 5 games.  They each averaged 3 fouls per game - and Grady Lewis averaged 2.5 fouls per game playing only 13 minutes per game.  Stanford should be able to their size as an advantage against the Matadors, and even more so if they can get 3 of their biggest players into some foul trouble.

If Stanford can play at the level that they did last week in the ACC tournament (or at the level when they last played at Maples), this seems like a game they should win.