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Palo Alto Online

It's a dead end for Stanford men

by Rick Eymer

Tomorrow arrived a little sooner than the Stanford men's basketball team anticipated. Stanford coach Mike Montgomery probably didn't want to think about next year until sometime during the second week of April.

That's all changed now that the Cardinal's season ended with an 87-73 loss to Maryland in the NCAA West Regional final. The future is staring the basketball program in the face.

What does the future hold for Stanford?

"A little depends on what Jason Collins does," said Montgomery. "If Jason stays, we have a real anchor in the middle. We would probably not have to make many adjustments to what we have.

"But, we lose significant people when you look at the minutes that Ryan Mendez, Mike McDonald and Jarron Collins were playing. Obviously, we are going to have new people that are going to have to play that you haven't seen before. We are really not sure what the look of next year's team will be right now, but we won't be as experienced, certainly, and won't be as big physically without Jason. If he stays, we will be as big, if not bigger, but it might have a little different look."

Watch for Julius Barnes to step in as the point guard, All-American Casey Jacobsen remains at the other guard, with Justin Davis, Curtis Borchardt and Teyo Johnson the frontrunners to take over for Mendez and Jarron Collins. The same trio could fill in for Jason Collins, should he decide to leave for the NBA. As for next season's freshmen class?

"We wouldn't recruit them if we didn't expect them to make a significant contribution," Montgomery said. "It doesn't really make sense to recruit kids that can't play. I think this year was a good recruiting year in terms of what we needed and their ability to come in and contribute."

Next year's freshman class seemingly fits exactly where Stanford will be losing players. Josh Childress (6-7), who is finishing up at Mayfair High School in Lakewood, is considered the top small forward on the West Coast, and third in the nation. Chris Hernandez (6-2) out of Clovis West High of Fresno is considered the top point guard in the West. Robert Little (6-10, 265) is an all-state center from Paul IV Catholic High in Fairfax, Va.

Will that team be good enough to surpass one of the best seasons ever in school history? Stanford (which finished this season with a school record 31 wins against three losses) has established a rather potent program, meaning every year is a potential championship season.

"There are guys going to the library to look up Stanford as I speak," said Montgomery. "Nothing wrong with making it to the Elite Eight. They know it's hard to win a championship, and it's hard to make it this far."

While Stanford still hasn't won an NCAA basketball championship since 1942, the Cardinal are in a position to contend for one on a consistent basis.

For that, credit Montgomery for taking the program to the next level. He was able to recruit the likes of Todd Lichti, Adam Keefe and Brevin Knight, but it wasn't until he began to build a team around those type of players that Stanford entered the national spotlight.

Stanford has been in the NCAA tournament every year since 1995, but it wasn't until the likes of Tim Young and Mark Madsen joined the team that the Cardinal ever advanced very far. Lichti played in exactly one NCAA tournament game, Keefe was 0-2 in his Stanford career (though the team won the NIT title in 1991 with him). With Knight, the Cardinal went 4-3.

Montgomery realized Stanford would never compete consistently relying on one player. As he built a team around Knight, the Cardinal stopped putting the weight squarely on the shoulders of one player. It's been that way since 1995, and Stanford's 13-7 record in postseason play during that period attests to that fact.

Next year's team won't revolve around Jacobsen, though he'll be vital to the team's success. Jason Collins, Barnes and maybe one of the incoming freshmen will also have to play a major role.

Stanford didn't make it this year because they lacked the speed to counter Maryland, much as they lacked the speed to counter North Carolina last year. Montgomery pays attention, and Barnes, Hernandez and Childress are the results.

This year's seniors know how Maryland, which reached the Final Four for the first time, feels. They were around when Stanford made its initial trip to the final weekend of the season. The rest of the Cardinal roster hasn't been there yet. They'll try to establish their own tradition next year. Maryland reached the Promised Land thanks to its tough-to-beat 58 percent shooting from the field, including an amazing, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime 9-of-13 from 3-point range.

Maryland made 32 of 55 shots while Stanford, which hit 57 percent from the field in its three previous tournament games, shot just 23-of-56 for a season-low 41.1 percent.

"We never got in a groove, we never got confident, and there you have it," Jacobsen said. "I think it was Maryland's offense that did us in. We could not stop them from scoring."

Mendez led Stanford with 18 points. Jacobsen added 14 points and nine rebounds; McDonald had 12 points and seven assists, and Jason Collins scored 12.

"It seemed like the guys were just a little bit too relaxed," Mendez said. "When you look in their eyes, there should be a look, `There's no way we're going lose this game.' I just thought that sometimes that look wasn't there."

Except for a 7-0 run at the start of the second half, Stanford was never in control against a bigger, quicker Maryland team.

"We got ourselves in too big a hole," said Jacobsen. "At no point in this game did we have control."

"Every time we seemed to make a play, they had an answer. They disrupted our offense," Montgomery said. "It was frustrating. It was like we were constantly playing out of a hole."

The Cardinal shot a season-low 41 percent, while giving up a season-high 87 points. Their loss was their first in 20 road games this season, including an 8-1 mark on neutral courts.

"It's killing me," said McDonald. "We went out there with the purpose to get to the Final Four and we didn't do that."

"It's not the way I wanted to end my career," Mendez added. "But, it was a ton of fun. This season, I was in a dream world for a couple of months. I was like 'Wow.' But, now I wake up and it's all over."