January 14, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford moves up to No. 3

by Rick Eymer

What to expect inside Maples Pavilion on Saturday night: enough noise, pomp and circumstance to create a decibel level well above legal government standards.

The Stanford men's basketball team hosts California at 8 p.m. in its only game of the week and that alone should help break noise-a-meters in the area. Tack on Stanford's most-convincing win at Arizona ever - Saturday's final was 82-72 - and a No. 3 ranking, its highest since ending the 2000-01 season at No. 2, and there may not be enough ear plugs on campus to dim the outburst likely to take place.

Stanford (4-0 in the Pac-10, 13-0) is the highest-ranked undefeated team in the nation and that's after playing three of the top 25 teams in the nation, including top three teams like Arizona and Kansas. The Cardinal knew they would be good this season after they were picked to finish second behind Arizona, but this good?

Why not?

Stanford won without preseason All-American Josh Childress, and now the Cardinal are that much better with him. The way Stanford is playing these days, there doesn't seem to be a limit.

Last Thursday's slim 63-62 victory over host Arizona State showed Stanford it's still vulnerable, and the Cardinal understand there can't be a letdown in conference play.

"It's a long season and we want to be playing well in March," said Stanford senior guard Matt Lottich, who scored 17 points against the Wildcats on 6-of-8 shooting. "We know we can lose any game. We're a humble bunch. We're not going to get big heads. We'll get ready for Cal."

Lottich and his teammates know Arizona won't be going anywhere, even after its devastating loss. In fact, the Pac-10 is unpredictable. The last time a team finished undefeated in conference play, Mike Montgomery's career coaching record stood at 0-0 and neither Arizona schools had yet joined the conference. UCLA went 14-0 in the 1977-78 season.

The Pac-10 standings could look significantly different after the end of play on Saturday. Co-leader UCLA (4-0, 8-3) hosts Arizona State and Arizona (2-1, 10-2) this weekend, which makes for a volatile atmosphere around Pauley Pavilion, too.

Of course, the easiest thing is for Stanford to take care of its own business. The victory over Arizona makes it easier for the Cardinal to do just that.

Childress made a big difference in both games Stanford played last weekend. He tipped in the winning shot against Arizona State, and then came back to score 19 points against the Wildcats.

"It's great to get Childress back," said Lottich. "It's unfortunate Justin Davis got into foul trouble but he had 10 points and 10 rebounds in just 18 minutes. He did a lot when he was in there. But there's not going to be one guy doing it every night. We share the ball."

Childress came off the bench again, and was the major reason the Cardinal bench outscored its Arizona counterpart, 24-10. That also points to the depth and variety of weapons which Stanford possesses.

"There are not going to be many teams capable of beating them," said Arizona coach Lute Olson. "They are too experienced, too well-coached. They are solid at every position."

Five Stanford players reached double figures in scoring: Childress, Lottich, Davis, Rob Little (13) and Chris Hernandez (12).

Stanford led, 68-48, at one point in the second half on the way to its fourth- straight victory in Tucson.

"These are the games you dream about playing in," said Lottich. "There's no trouble getting ready to play. The coaches did another great job of preparing us for what they do. They came at us but we were able to hold off the storm."

Childress, whose rebound basket gave Stanford the win at Arizona State on Thursday, has yet to lose in the state of Arizona in his three college seasons.

"We try to live by the motto that we're road warriors and we're going to go out and play to win," he said. "We're going to come into anybody's house and play our game -- play hard, physical defense and try to win."

On Thursday, Childress -- in a move eerily similar to last year's game against the Dun Devils (when he scored in the closing seconds of a 58-57 Stanford victory) in Tempe's Wells Fargo Arena -- seemingly drew the basketball to him like a magnet in the closing seconds and scoring the go-ahead basket.

Stanford still had to survive an open jumper at the other end, which ASU's Jason Braxton missed at the buzzer to preserve the Cardinal's unbeaten mark.

Childress, , who scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, said it was the third year in a row he's had late rebound baskets at Arizona State.

"In that situation, it's do or die," he said. "You have to crash. There's no question. It would have done me no good to sit outside on the wing."

Stanford flittered away a 16-point first-half lead to fall behind by three with 2:35 left to play. Hernandez made two free throws with 1:45 remaining to open the door for Childress.

Lottich added 18 points, followed by Davis with 13 and Hernandez with 10. The top four scorers for Stanford combined to shot 20-of-38 from the field. The rest of the team was 3-of-15.

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