January 16, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

There's room to improve

by Rick Eymer

In the 1976 film, "Stay Hungry," Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, Joe Santo, an Austrian body-builder, tells Craig Blake (played by Jeff Bridges) the secret to his success is to "stay hungry."

Bridges went on to play the President in a future movie and Schwarzenegger reached the pinnacle of California politics.

Stanford men's basketball coach Mike Montgomery hopes that same advice will help his team stay focused the rest of the season as the No. 3 Cardinal (4-0, 13-0) point toward the Pac-10 title and a deep NCAA tournament run into March.

"I hope we can maintain the same disposition and stay hungry," Montgomery said on Tuesday as Stanford prepared to meet visiting California (2-2, 6-7) on Saturday at 8 p.m. "We can't be complacent. There are areas we can get better. Twenty turnovers (in the 82-72 victory over Arizona last week) indicate things can get better. We're striving to be as good as we can be."

Stanford is riding high in the Pac-10 standings, tied with UCLA after four games but that logjam is likely to change this weekend when Arizona (2-1, 10-2) travels to Pauley Pavilion for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday. The Bruins are in the bottom of the conference in scoring offense at 68.5 while the Wildcats are the top offensive team at 86.2.

Meanwhile, two of the top three defensive teams meet at Maples Pavilion where Stanford takes on a young but talented Bears squad.

"They're young but they have a lot of guys," said Montgomery. "Cal players are all capable of having a big game because they are all talented. (Freshman Leon) Powe has caused a lot of problems for people."

Stanford has caused problems for everybody it has played this season. This year's team is off to the fourth-best start in school history. A win on Saturday would push it into a third-place tie with the 1936-37 squad that finished 25-2.

This year the team is off to such a great start that Josh Childress, who was the Pac-10 Player of the Week for his efforts in the road sweep of the Arizona schools, comes off the bench. Nick Robinson has been playing well enough to keep his starting role even after Childress returned from a stress reaction in his left foot that caused him to miss the season's first nine games.

"It's nice to have Josh back. He's certainly a major factor in our success. He's pretty close to what he can do," Montgomery said. "Fatigue affects him but he's pretty comfortable out there. Starting is not really an issue. He's one of the best in the conference, and probably one of the best in the nation. That should be enough."

Childress became the third different Stanford player (joining Matt Lottich twice and Chris Hernandez) to earn Player of the Week honors.

"Things are not bad right now," said Montgomery. "There's not much to be unhappy with. We emphasize that when we play hard and focus on doing our job we can be pretty good. Anything less than that puts us in jeopardy against anyone we play."

Stanford has won 11 of the past 13 games it's played against Cal but Montgomery doesn't like to leave anything to chance. While the Cardinal will be heavily favored to extend their winning streak, Montgomery will try to keep his troops' attention on the immediate future and not let them drift off to the rematch with Arizona on Feb. 7 or beyond.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us," Montgomery said. "It starts Saturday with Cal. We need to have a great level of effort and energy. Without that we can be average in a hurry."

With five players averaging in double figures, Stanford has plenty of weapons from which to choose. It's the balance Montgomery has always strived to achieve, which means the Cardinal both have to depend on one or two players to carry the burden.

Nine different players have recorded at least one game of 10 points or more. Justin Davis has three of Stanford's four double-doubles this season (along with Childress).

"This is a great group to work with," said Montgomery. "They work hard and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. There's not much selfishness and there's real good leadership. When they're all on the same page, we're pretty good."

Cal comes into the game following its 74-62 victory over Arizona State but the Bears have lost three of their last five and have yet to put two wins together.

Powe is the Pac-10 rebounding leader, while three Stanford players - Davis, Rob Little and Matt Haryasz - are among the top 20.
Women's basketball

Seventh-ranked Stanford will try to maintain its undefeated Pac-10 record when it travels to Berkeley for a 7 p.m. game tonight.

The Cardinal (6-0, 13-2) are coming off a convincing victory over Arizona, which is currently tied for second with USC in conference play.

The Bears lost two games at home last week to the Arizona schools but are 7-3 at Haas Pavilion.

Stanford has a five-game winning streak against Cal and has won 20 of 21 overall. The Cardinal have not lost in Berkeley since Feb. 12, 1993, having won the last 10 trips across the bay.

Nicole Powell, who averages 22.5 points and 11.0 rebounds, was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time last week. In 100 career games, she has scored double figures in 84 of them.

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