[gailtate]

You do realize that Notre Dame and Stanford are two programs directionally diverging, don't you? 

The OP was making a point about consistency, not trajectory.

BC

You keep splitting hairs this way you'll look like Shaw, Kojak and Charles Barkley in no time.

Let' face this. Stanford could do a whole lot worse than to try to emulate the overall consistency AND trends of the programs I cited. Those are the "blue-blood" programs that are, far more often that not, in the hunt for big post-seasons, year in and year out. Your cherry-picking of specific seasons underscores my overall point: Shaw is arrow-down; those other outfits are smack in the thick of yet another trophy chase, per usual. Anybody's guess what the picture will look like at holiday time but I wouldn't bet the farm (so speak) on Shaw raising much of a trophy on the sideline. The Axe, maybe. And for a lot CardBoard devotees, that's really all that ever matters.

[gailtate]

You do realize that Notre Dame and Stanford are two programs directionally diverging, don't you? 

The OP was making a point about consistency, not trajectory.

BC

You keep splitting hairs this way you'll look like Shaw, Kojak and Charles Barkley in no time.

Let' face this. Stanford could do a whole lot worse than to try to emulate the overall consistency AND trends of the programs I cited. Those are the "blue-blood" programs that are, far more often that not, in the hunt for big post-seasons, year in and year out. Your cherry-picking of specific seasons underscores my overall point: Shaw is arrow-down; those other outfits are smack in the thick of yet another trophy chase, per usual. Anybody's guess what the picture will look like at holiday time but I wouldn't bet the farm (so speak) on Shaw raising much of a trophy on the sideline. The Axe, maybe. And for a lot CardBoard devotees, that's really all that ever matters.