[donkey687]

It seems like we have a recent trend going back to the Dawkins days of Stanford finishing the season with a whimper and going from a bubble team to a team out of the tournament.  This clearly is not a good reflection of our coaching but the reality of our roster with less turnover may be the cause.  Transfers are becoming so prevalent that roster turnover is extremely high in college basketball.  Stanford's roster turnover is much lower. Thus, Stanford has a continuity advantage at the beginning of the season which goes away as the season progresses. Other teams get better and gel while Stanford stagnates.  That is my theory.

I also think that Stanford benefited this year by the Santa Clara county mandated road trip adventure. It helped bring focus to the team and keep it together. The team's performance has declined since we returned to Maples.  It also shows how valuable Oscar is.  We lose Davis, Wills and Williams for an extended period and the team didn't skip a beat and maybe even played better. We lose Oscar for a couple games and we crap the bed. He is very solid. 

On another note, it is perplexing to me that Williams is a lottery pick.  I would not make a good NBA scout as my eyeball would say that Delaire is a better prospect than Williams.  I remember feeling the same way about Russel Westbrook and Zach Lavine however after a less than impressive freshman years at UCLA so it shows you what I know.

[donkey687]

It seems like we have a recent trend going back to the Dawkins days of Stanford finishing the season with a whimper and going from a bubble team to a team out of the tournament.  This clearly is not a good reflection of our coaching but the reality of our roster with less turnover may be the cause.  Transfers are becoming so prevalent that roster turnover is extremely high in college basketball.  Stanford's roster turnover is much lower. Thus, Stanford has a continuity advantage at the beginning of the season which goes away as the season progresses. Other teams get better and gel while Stanford stagnates.  That is my theory.

I also think that Stanford benefited this year by the Santa Clara county mandated road trip adventure. It helped bring focus to the team and keep it together. The team's performance has declined since we returned to Maples.  It also shows how valuable Oscar is.  We lose Davis, Wills and Williams for an extended period and the team didn't skip a beat and maybe even played better. We lose Oscar for a couple games and we crap the bed. He is very solid. 

On another note, it is perplexing to me that Williams is a lottery pick.  I would not make a good NBA scout as my eyeball would say that Delaire is a better prospect than Williams.  I remember feeling the same way about Russel Westbrook and Zach Lavine however after a less than impressive freshman years at UCLA so it shows you what I know.