MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72

MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - Printable Version

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MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - skip75 - 12-01-2025

After stepping up the level of competition the past three games, Stanford hosts what will likely be one of their lowest rated opponents of the season. The Cardinal are favored by 17.5, and the over/under is 155.5. Implied score is 86.5-69. Hopefully they can use a game like this to build on the success of the prestigious Acrisure Invitational championship, iron out some of the inconsistencies, and continue to build depth by getting more minutes for the bench players.

The Pilots were picked in the pre-season to finish 12th (of 12) in the WCC. They are 5-3 (0-1 on the road). They are coached by Shantay Legans, who was a three-year starting point guard at Cal in 1999-2002.

Portland has an interesting roster. The starting five includes two Australians, a Slovakian, and two transfers from Trinity Valley CC in Texas. On the bench they have two more players from Australia, along with one each from the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, and the UAE. They seem to be pretty balanced statistically - in fact, two of their top three scorers come off the bench. But there is one player who leads in about every category. Joel Foxwell (#23 6'1/180 Fr G), from Melbourne, leads the Pilots in: scoring (15.8ppg), rebounds, (5.4/gm), assists (6.1/gm), 3s (2.1/gm on 39.5% shooting), and turnovers (3.6/gm). Foxwell spent last season as a development player for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League, the top professional league in Australia. Should be fun to see him battle it out with Ebuka Okorie.

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - needle - 12-01-2025

Tied at 10 after about four-and-a-half minutes in the first half.

It's too much to ask for the team coming off an emotional high to play 40 minutes at full intensity. I expect a close game well into the second half. After that, it will depend on poise, confidence and the shots going in (or out).

Yes, I'm very nervous about this one.

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - 2006alum - 12-01-2025

(12-01-2025, 08:10 PM)needle Wrote: Tied at 10 after about four-and-a-half minutes in the first half.

It's too much to ask for the team coming off an emotional high to play 40 minutes at full intensity. I expect a close game well into the second half. After that, it will depend on poise, confidence and the shots going in (or out).

Yes, I'm very nervous about this one.

The Massey 66th ranked team (us) should not be worried about defending home court against the 229th ranked team (them). If this is close down the stretch then we ought to be worried about our season as a whole...

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - needle - 12-01-2025

(12-01-2025, 08:24 PM)2006alum Wrote:
(12-01-2025, 08:10 PM)needle Wrote: Tied at 10 after about four-and-a-half minutes in the first half.

It's too much to ask for the team coming off an emotional high to play 40 minutes at full intensity. I expect a close game well into the second half. After that, it will depend on poise, confidence and the shots going in (or out).

Yes, I'm very nervous about this one.
The Massey 66th ranked team (us) should not be worried about defending home court against the 229th ranked team (them). If this is close down the stretch then we ought to be worried about our season as a whole...

Too early to put much stock in computer rankings, imo. Wouldn't shock me if Portland ends up rated higher than Montana State (Massey 177), for example (which, if you remember, had the lead against Stanford in the second half).

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - BostonCard - 12-01-2025

I assume the above posts were before Stanford went on a 13-2 run to take a 42-22 lead with 3:15 in the first.

BC

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - Nobadeer - 12-01-2025

LSJU up 51-31 at halftime, shooting 11 of 19 on threes which must be one of the program's best 3-point performances ever in a single half?

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - needle - 12-01-2025

Stanford shooting lights out against a team that's apparently missing a starting guard. Portland's perimeter defense pretty much non-existent, so don't be surprised if Stanford's hot shooting continues.

Giltay getting starters minutes in the first half with foul trouble for Okpara and Rohosy. Overall, he's done a lot of good things, including a steal (hopefully he gets credit for it in the box score). Just needs to get a little bit more under control to avoid foul trouble of his own.

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - Sam Leopold - 12-01-2025

I propose the nickname "Korn" for Jeremy Dent-Smith, on account of his resemblance to Jonathan Davis.

RE: MBB: Stanford vs. Portland, 7PM, ACCNX - Spiny_Norman - 12-01-2025

We get the A team of announcers - Ted Robinson and Mike Montgomery. A real treat. You will always learn some basketball listening to Coach Montgomery.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - 97fan - 12-03-2025

If you haven't been listening to Kyle Smith's post-game interviews with Troy Clardy and John Platz - available on the TreeCast feed - you should start doing so. Smith is candid, loose and interesting.

I'm reading between the lines a bit, but in the interview after the Portland game, Smith sounded *very* high on Oskar Giltay.
.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - old spanish trail - 12-04-2025

(12-03-2025, 05:10 PM)97fan Wrote: If you haven't been listening to Kyle Smith's post-game interviews with Troy Clardy and John Platz - available on the TreeCast feed - you should start doing so. Smith is candid, loose and interesting.

I'm reading between the lines a bit, but in the interview after the Portland game, Smith sounded *very* high on Oskar Giltay.
.

Me too.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - TrumpCard - 12-04-2025

I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while. Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire? The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick. I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well. And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while. Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory? Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - Spiny_Norman - 12-04-2025

(12-04-2025, 12:13 PM)TrumpCard Wrote: I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while. Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire? The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick. I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well. And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while. Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory? Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

This fan (me) thinks that Kyle Smith is a fantastic fit at Stanford and was an excellent hire. His teams play smart, organized and (in general) fundamentally sound basketball. He has a good eye for talent and seems to do well at developing players. He has also done well at persuading players to come to Stanford and to stay - with one notable exception (Oziyah Sellers who took big money to play at St. Johns this season).

I have no idea what success his teams might have. But I feel that the program is in the hands of a capable, experienced coach who will give Stanford a good shot at rising above the mediocrity we have seen in the last 10 years or so. I'm bullish on Kyle Smith.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - SkiBum80 - 12-04-2025

(12-04-2025, 12:24 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:
(12-04-2025, 12:13 PM)TrumpCard Wrote: I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while. Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire? The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick. I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well. And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while. Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory? Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

This fan (me) thinks that Kyle Smith is a fantastic fit at Stanford and was an excellent hire. His teams play smart, organized and (in general) fundamentally sound basketball. He has a good eye for talent and seems to do well at developing players. He has also done well at persuading players to come to Stanford and to stay - with one notable exception (Oziyah Sellers who took big money to play at St. Johns this season).

I have no idea what success his teams might have. But I feel that the program is in the hands of a capable, experienced coach who will give Stanford a good shot at rising above the mediocrity we have seen in the last 10 years or so. I'm bullish on Kyle Smith.

Fully agree, well said.

Three specific things I credit Coach Smith with doing:
1) pushed Maxime and the team in general to focus more intensity on Defense. This refocus actually led to Maxime having arguably his best ever college season under Coach Smith
2) emphasis on ball control basketball. Under the Haasian era it seemed common to have games with A/TO under 1.00. This year under Coach Smith we are so far at average of 1.24.
3) Led us to our first postseason games in a long time, the NIT. If anyone poohpooh's the NIT then how come we didn't even make that for so long under prior coach?

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - burger - 12-04-2025

(12-04-2025, 12:13 PM)TrumpCard Wrote: I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while. Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire? The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick. I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well. And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while. Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory? Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

I think he's doing a great job. Take a look at this table: https://barttorvik.com/team-history.php?team=Stanford Going back to 2008, which includes two Sweet Sixteen teams, Smith's teams have the two lowest turnover rates (TO% column) of any Stanford team (this year's number will go up once we hit ACC play, but they're off to a good start). After the Haase years, I was starting to assume that a ton of turnovers was a requirement for playing at Stanford.

Smith got to 21 wins last year with a somewhat haphazardly assembled squad of veterans from Haase and castoffs from bigger name programs (Blakes and Sellers). This year's was predicted to finish 17th in the ACC and they look better already. The latest advanced projections have us finishing around 12th. Exceeding expectations just wasn't a thing that happened under Haase.

As for making the tournament regularly, I'm not holding my breath. The recruiting and transfer landscape has changed completely since the 00's. I feel lucky every time we get a transfer or a high recruit. But I'm a lot more optimistic than I was 2 or 3 years ago, and I'll take that for now.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - TrumpCard - 12-04-2025

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad to hear there's a basis for optimism! I hope the university can come up with enough NIL money to keep Okorie on the team. I'd like to see what Smith can do with him as a Super Soph when the Diaper Dandies arrive in 2026.

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - BostonCard - 12-04-2025

Thanks for sharing. If you look at the individual player stats, you see that Okorie has the highest PRPG! (Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage!) of any player in a Stanford uniform since 2008, exceeding Brook Lopez, Charon Randle, Landry Fields, Tyrell Terry, and Máxime Reynaud). We will, of course, see if he can maintain it over the entire season, but that is good for third in the conference, behind just Duke Frosh Cameron Boozer and Boopie Miller from SMU.

Now, that being said, the prospects for the team when we go to the ACC conference are dim. WE are currently projected to end the season in 14th of 18 teams in the ACC with a 7-11 conference record and just a 1.3% chance of making the tournament.

So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road is long.

BC

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - Papa John - 12-05-2025

(12-04-2025, 06:13 PM)BostonCard Wrote: So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road is long.

with many a winding turn that leads us to who knows where...

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - PalmTree - 12-05-2025

(12-05-2025, 12:13 PM)Papa John Wrote:
(12-04-2025, 06:13 PM)BostonCard Wrote: So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road is long.

with many a winding turn that leads us to who knows where...

Though, from a BB perspective, let's try to keep travelling down to a minimum, K? ;-)

RE: MBB: Stanford 94 -- Portland 72 - SkiBum80 - 12-05-2025

(12-05-2025, 12:13 PM)Papa John Wrote:
(12-04-2025, 06:13 PM)BostonCard Wrote: So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road is long.

with many a winding turn that leads us to who knows where...

Almost seems as if you're leaning into a particular Lennon/McCartney song. If so, we know where it leads. To your door.