Stanford returns to action after a break for final exams. Hopefully this will be a "shake off the rust" game against a smaller, less athletic team heading into Saturday's game vs. #10 Oregon. But I also figured the Cal Poly game was a "shake off the first loss vs. GCU" game against a smaller, less athletic team.
Stanford is favored by 13-1/2 over the Warriors from the Metro Atlantic Athletic League. Merrimack is 6-5 against a schedule considerably stronger than what Stanford has faced. They are led by #0 Adam "Budd" Clark, a 5'10"/155 lb soph guard, leading the team in scoring (19.7 ppg) & assists (5.2/game). Clark was the MAAC Rookie of the Year last season and he has been the MAAC Player of the Week twice already this year. He is currently one of 50 players on the watch list for the Lou Henson award to be presented to the top mid-major level basketball player in the nation.
The Warriors have had the same starting line-up in all 11 games. Besides Clark, they start: two 6'4" guards - #3 Matt Becht (7.5ppg) & #5 Devon Savage (9.6 ppg and their most prolific 3pt shooter at 26-80); and two 6'7"/215 forwards - #11 Bryan Etumnu (5.9ppg & 5.0rpg) and #40 Sean Trumper (9.5ppg & 5.8rpg).
FWIW, Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology includes Merrimack as a 16 seed automatic qualifier as MAAC champ. Also in as AQs are Grand Canyon as a 12 seed and Norfolk State as a 15 seed. It also has Oregon as a 3 seed. The ACC has only 4 teams in (Duke as a 2, Clemson 6, Pitt 7, & UNC 9, with SMU as the 5th team out). This trails the SEC (13 teams), Big 10 (10), Big 12 (8), & Big East (5).
Another FWIW - I ran across a Syracuse fan site (https://www.nunesmagician.com/2024/12/16...cer-league) with an ACC MBB power rating. It currently has Stanford ranked 8th behind Duke, Clemson, Pitt, SMU, UNC, Wake, & NC St. The comment for Stanford is "Maxime Raynaud will be first team All-ACC ... and no we're not talking about men's soccer." It also has Cal at #15 with the comment "Lost to Cornell so you can't be ranked much higher than this right now."
Stanford is favored by 13-1/2 over the Warriors from the Metro Atlantic Athletic League. Merrimack is 6-5 against a schedule considerably stronger than what Stanford has faced. They are led by #0 Adam "Budd" Clark, a 5'10"/155 lb soph guard, leading the team in scoring (19.7 ppg) & assists (5.2/game). Clark was the MAAC Rookie of the Year last season and he has been the MAAC Player of the Week twice already this year. He is currently one of 50 players on the watch list for the Lou Henson award to be presented to the top mid-major level basketball player in the nation.
The Warriors have had the same starting line-up in all 11 games. Besides Clark, they start: two 6'4" guards - #3 Matt Becht (7.5ppg) & #5 Devon Savage (9.6 ppg and their most prolific 3pt shooter at 26-80); and two 6'7"/215 forwards - #11 Bryan Etumnu (5.9ppg & 5.0rpg) and #40 Sean Trumper (9.5ppg & 5.8rpg).
FWIW, Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology includes Merrimack as a 16 seed automatic qualifier as MAAC champ. Also in as AQs are Grand Canyon as a 12 seed and Norfolk State as a 15 seed. It also has Oregon as a 3 seed. The ACC has only 4 teams in (Duke as a 2, Clemson 6, Pitt 7, & UNC 9, with SMU as the 5th team out). This trails the SEC (13 teams), Big 10 (10), Big 12 (8), & Big East (5).
Another FWIW - I ran across a Syracuse fan site (https://www.nunesmagician.com/2024/12/16...cer-league) with an ACC MBB power rating. It currently has Stanford ranked 8th behind Duke, Clemson, Pitt, SMU, UNC, Wake, & NC St. The comment for Stanford is "Maxime Raynaud will be first team All-ACC ... and no we're not talking about men's soccer." It also has Cal at #15 with the comment "Lost to Cornell so you can't be ranked much higher than this right now."