[StanfordMatt]

In the NCAA tournament, Stanford should get a favorable first game - at home. I'd probably advocate starting one of Scott, Dugan, O'Haran for that first game holding back Matthews and Dixon for the better teams. However, if you go with Matthews in game 1 and get him out soon enough you could probably bring him back if you have to play until Day 4 like last year.

Personally, I'd start Dixon in game 1 and save Matthews for game 2. Hopefully, we start 2-0 and are in the driver's seat with two chances to win one more.

The thing that scares me about taking an even more aggressive approach and starting someone other than those two in game 1 is that this season's results have shown us that we're susceptible to any team in this scenario. If Santa Clara can put up 17 and 10, Sac State can put up 15, Bakersfield can put up 9, etc., any #4 seed will be capable of putting up 10+ against one of our B-list arms. That's a lot of pressure to put on our offense imo.

[StanfordMatt]

In the NCAA tournament, Stanford should get a favorable first game - at home. I'd probably advocate starting one of Scott, Dugan, O'Haran for that first game holding back Matthews and Dixon for the better teams. However, if you go with Matthews in game 1 and get him out soon enough you could probably bring him back if you have to play until Day 4 like last year.

Personally, I'd start Dixon in game 1 and save Matthews for game 2. Hopefully, we start 2-0 and are in the driver's seat with two chances to win one more.

The thing that scares me about taking an even more aggressive approach and starting someone other than those two in game 1 is that this season's results have shown us that we're susceptible to any team in this scenario. If Santa Clara can put up 17 and 10, Sac State can put up 15, Bakersfield can put up 9, etc., any #4 seed will be capable of putting up 10+ against one of our B-list arms. That's a lot of pressure to put on our offense imo.