[washingtonismoney]

It's almost an impossible bar to think that Stanford could ever get to the level, consistently, where a recruit feels like they're going against NBA talent in practice. There's only a handful of programs that can make that case, so it's not a reasonable goal, in my opinion.

You hear variations of this view all the time -- that Stanford shouldn't have very high expectations, in essence, for MBB -- on fan forums and frankly I think it's very strange: 
1) Of course there's a brobdingnagian gap between "perennial power" and "whatever it is Stanford is doing right now." For example the school could qualify for the tournament more often than not, which is hardly an outlandish ask. 

2) That said, foreclosing on excellence seems pretty strange to me also. Villanova is one of the most successful schools in the country. There are more. Meanwhile, archetypal NBA-talent-accumulator Kentucky hasn't made the Final Four since 2014-15. It's hardly a closed cartel at the top.

[washingtonismoney]

It's almost an impossible bar to think that Stanford could ever get to the level, consistently, where a recruit feels like they're going against NBA talent in practice. There's only a handful of programs that can make that case, so it's not a reasonable goal, in my opinion.

You hear variations of this view all the time -- that Stanford shouldn't have very high expectations, in essence, for MBB -- on fan forums and frankly I think it's very strange: 
1) Of course there's a brobdingnagian gap between "perennial power" and "whatever it is Stanford is doing right now." For example the school could qualify for the tournament more often than not, which is hardly an outlandish ask. 

2) That said, foreclosing on excellence seems pretty strange to me also. Villanova is one of the most successful schools in the country. There are more. Meanwhile, archetypal NBA-talent-accumulator Kentucky hasn't made the Final Four since 2014-15. It's hardly a closed cartel at the top.