Being completely honest with ourselves, since WWII Stanford basketball has been a complete mediocrity except:
1989, when a fabulous team puked on its shoes in Albany
1997 - 2004 save a little too much coming up short as a high seed, getting crushed by Kansas, etc.
2008 with the Lopez Brothers, a good surrounding cast, a lucky shot and Mitch Johnson thrown under the bus
2014 which proved to be a fluke and they were actually pretty mediocre
To be generous, the golden years could be expanded to a baker's dozen (1995 - 2008), during which Stanford went 18-12 in the tournament. Despite four Sweet Sixteen appearances, two Elite Eight appearances and one Final Four, that doesn't sound all that golden when compared to one of the truly elite programs of recent decades.
This isn't the new normal; this is just the normal. Monty's seven year itch was the aberration. I think even he saw the end of it and bailed.
I also think Stanford/Bay Area fans bore easily. (Warriors fans seem to be the exception.) Stanford football has never been better. Yet they play in front of maybe 25,000 actual people in actual seats. Stanford WBB is generally what, 40% full? When Stanford MBB was just taking off with Brevin, I used to wait in line two hours for GA seats and loved doing it. I bought season tickets and held them through about 2002. Lots of empties in the upper corners with people sitting games other than Arizona, Cal, UCLA and UCONN out.
Went to the Big Game slaughter a few years ago. A Rose Bowl was on the line. (Arizona did beat Oregon.) Seas of empty seats on a gloriously sunny day. I brought four Midshipmen with me that day as they were in town for a game against SJSU the night before. (That game was a triple overtime thriller.) They were psyched to go to a "real" football game. Even better - a real rivalry game. (Huh, you guys play Ohio State, Notre Dame, and bucket-list Army? OK sure. Real.) They even infiltrated the student section wearing 30 year old T-shirts out of my closet (Retro!). The verdict. "Wow, pretty dead."
1989, when a fabulous team puked on its shoes in Albany
1997 - 2004 save a little too much coming up short as a high seed, getting crushed by Kansas, etc.
2008 with the Lopez Brothers, a good surrounding cast, a lucky shot and Mitch Johnson thrown under the bus
2014 which proved to be a fluke and they were actually pretty mediocre
To be generous, the golden years could be expanded to a baker's dozen (1995 - 2008), during which Stanford went 18-12 in the tournament. Despite four Sweet Sixteen appearances, two Elite Eight appearances and one Final Four, that doesn't sound all that golden when compared to one of the truly elite programs of recent decades.
This isn't the new normal; this is just the normal. Monty's seven year itch was the aberration. I think even he saw the end of it and bailed.
I also think Stanford/Bay Area fans bore easily. (Warriors fans seem to be the exception.) Stanford football has never been better. Yet they play in front of maybe 25,000 actual people in actual seats. Stanford WBB is generally what, 40% full? When Stanford MBB was just taking off with Brevin, I used to wait in line two hours for GA seats and loved doing it. I bought season tickets and held them through about 2002. Lots of empties in the upper corners with people sitting games other than Arizona, Cal, UCLA and UCONN out.
Went to the Big Game slaughter a few years ago. A Rose Bowl was on the line. (Arizona did beat Oregon.) Seas of empty seats on a gloriously sunny day. I brought four Midshipmen with me that day as they were in town for a game against SJSU the night before. (That game was a triple overtime thriller.) They were psyched to go to a "real" football game. Even better - a real rivalry game. (Huh, you guys play Ohio State, Notre Dame, and bucket-list Army? OK sure. Real.) They even infiltrated the student section wearing 30 year old T-shirts out of my closet (Retro!). The verdict. "Wow, pretty dead."
Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working .I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work. Peter Gibbons