[burger]

I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while.  Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire?  The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick.  I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well.  And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while.  Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory?  Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

I think he's doing a great job.  Take a look at this table: https://barttorvik.com/team-history.php?team=Stanford  Going back to 2008, which includes two Sweet Sixteen teams, Smith's teams have the two lowest turnover rates (TO% column) of any Stanford team (this year's number will go up once we hit ACC play, but they're off to a good start). After the Haase years, I was starting to assume that a ton of turnovers was a requirement for playing at Stanford.

Smith got to 21 wins last year with a somewhat haphazardly assembled squad of veterans from Haase and castoffs from bigger name programs (Blakes and Sellers). This year's was predicted to finish 17th in the ACC and they look better already.  The latest advanced projections have us finishing around 12th.  Exceeding expectations just wasn't a thing that happened under Haase.

As for making the tournament regularly, I'm not holding my breath.  The recruiting and transfer landscape has changed completely since the 00's.  I feel lucky every time we get a transfer or a high recruit.  But I'm a lot more optimistic than I was 2 or 3 years ago, and I'll take that for now.

[burger]

I haven't been paying close attention to MBB for a while.  Do folks seem to think that Kyle Smith was a good hire?  The results last year and this year seem to represent a significant uptick.  I thought we'd see a drop off after losing the team's top 3 scorers from last year, but so far, the team has been doing pretty well.  And the recruiting class Smith signed this Fall could be the best in a while.  Can Smith keep the team on the current trajectory?  Given the ever more difficult rules on transfers and NIL, and the resulting difficulty in keeping continuity, can Stanford ever get back to making the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis?

I think he's doing a great job.  Take a look at this table: https://barttorvik.com/team-history.php?team=Stanford  Going back to 2008, which includes two Sweet Sixteen teams, Smith's teams have the two lowest turnover rates (TO% column) of any Stanford team (this year's number will go up once we hit ACC play, but they're off to a good start). After the Haase years, I was starting to assume that a ton of turnovers was a requirement for playing at Stanford.

Smith got to 21 wins last year with a somewhat haphazardly assembled squad of veterans from Haase and castoffs from bigger name programs (Blakes and Sellers). This year's was predicted to finish 17th in the ACC and they look better already.  The latest advanced projections have us finishing around 12th.  Exceeding expectations just wasn't a thing that happened under Haase.

As for making the tournament regularly, I'm not holding my breath.  The recruiting and transfer landscape has changed completely since the 00's.  I feel lucky every time we get a transfer or a high recruit.  But I'm a lot more optimistic than I was 2 or 3 years ago, and I'll take that for now.