[Spiny_Norman]

I like our road to the Final 4. We should have been a 1 seed but can use that snub as motivation.

Stanford's opening game is no gimme. Norfolk State was 3rd in the country in scoring defense (53 points/game) and 6th in TOs forced (21.3/game). The toughest match ups for Stanford are teams that play pressure defense and force Stanford into turnovers or bad shots. That's how they lost to Mississippi last year. 21 TOs, shot less than 33%. Iowa State and Maryland are better match ups in this respect. Iowa State is 254th in scoring defense and Maryland is 324th. By the way, Stanford is one of the worst in the country at forcing TOs, 345th in the country (11.33/game). But Iowa State is even worse at 347th.

I don't know if the seeding is motivation or not. I don't know what motivates this team. I think they want to play hard each game. I think they try to play hard each game. But that means that it is hard to find a higher gear against a quality opponent which is what you need to be successful in the tournament. It might be that the team is just physically beat down at the end of a long, tough season.

[Spiny_Norman]

I like our road to the Final 4. We should have been a 1 seed but can use that snub as motivation.

Stanford's opening game is no gimme. Norfolk State was 3rd in the country in scoring defense (53 points/game) and 6th in TOs forced (21.3/game). The toughest match ups for Stanford are teams that play pressure defense and force Stanford into turnovers or bad shots. That's how they lost to Mississippi last year. 21 TOs, shot less than 33%. Iowa State and Maryland are better match ups in this respect. Iowa State is 254th in scoring defense and Maryland is 324th. By the way, Stanford is one of the worst in the country at forcing TOs, 345th in the country (11.33/game). But Iowa State is even worse at 347th.

I don't know if the seeding is motivation or not. I don't know what motivates this team. I think they want to play hard each game. I think they try to play hard each game. But that means that it is hard to find a higher gear against a quality opponent which is what you need to be successful in the tournament. It might be that the team is just physically beat down at the end of a long, tough season.