February 27, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Special class of seniors

by Keith Peters

Throughout the years, the Stanford men's basketball team has bid farewell to some outstanding senior classes.

In 1941-42, All-American Don Burness and his fellow seniors led Stanford to a 12-game win streak, a 28-4 record and the NCAA championship.

In 1988-89, Todd Lichti and Howard Wright joined with their fellow seniors to lead Stanford to a 26-7 record and its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1941-42.

In 1998-99, Arthur Lee, Tim Young, Peter Sauer and Kris Weems highlighted a senior class that led the Cardinal to their first-ever Pacific-10 Conference championship.

In 1999-00, Mark Madsen helped lead Stanford to its first No. 1 national ranking in school history and sparked a defense ranked No. 1 nationally.

In 2000-01, Michael McDonald and Ryan Mendez helped lead the Cardinal to a school-record 31 victories and their best record (16-2) in Pac-10 history.

That brings us to the present and current seniors Justin Davis, Joe Kirchofer and Matt Lottich. It's an nationally unheralded trio, to say the least. Not an All-American between them. Or even a first-team All-Pac-10 choice.

Yet, they are part of a Stanford team unlike any other Stanford team. With an expected victory over Oregon State last night achieved, the nationally No. 1-ranked Cardinal will take a 24-0 record (15-0 in the Pac-10) into Saturday's season home finale against Oregon at 4 p.m.

While Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery perhaps has had more talented senior classes, this one remains special.

"Obviously, they've achieved a great deal of success," Montgomery said of the trio, which will be honored Saturday in a pre-game ceremony.

No previous team at Stanford ever has gone this deep into the season undefeated. No previous team ever wrapped up a Pac-10 title with four games to play. No previous team ever played 15 conference games without at least one loss.

The Cardinal can equal their most Pac-10 wins ever (16) by beating Oregon on Saturday. For Davis, Kirchofer and Lottich, it's the final home game of their careers.

"It's been a special year all around," Kirchofer said Tuesday. "It's the last game before the renovation of Maples Pavilion. I'll never come back to the old Maples Pavilion again, with its bouncy floor still here."

Beginning Monday, an era in Stanford athletics will end. Maples Pavilion, home to Stanford basketball for 36 years, will undergo a $30 million renovation. The project is expected to be completed on Jan. 1, 2005, just in time for the Pac-10 season. Included in the renovation will be a new floor, a new center-hung scoreboard and new lower-bowl seating in addition to a new, covered concourse area outside the pavilion.

"It's going to be a special night for the seniors -- for Justin, Joe and myself," Lottich said. "It won't quite hit us like the end of season, when everything is over. We've formed strong relationships and it will be hard to say goodbye."

Montgomery acknowledged that Saturday will have some special meaning.

"It's the last game in Maples," he said. "They'll be tearing it apart starting Monday, so it has some sentimental value there, I suppose. It's the last time Maples' floor will be there.

"Senior Night is always a little sentimental anyway. It's the last time they'll be playing here, in front of their friends."

Oregon (7-7, 12-9), which played at Cal on Thursday night, would like nothing better than to ruin it for Stanford's seniors, ruin their perfect record on television (ABC-7) and stop the Cardinal's ongoing run toward the first 18-0 season in Pac-10 history.

Oregon had Stanford on the ropes last month in Eugene before the Cardinal averted a knockout punch by rallying from 19 points down in the second half with a dramatic 83-80 victory, one that may go down in history as the program's greatest comeback. In addition to avenging that frustrating defeat, the Ducks' need a sweep in the Bay Area this weekend to keep their very slim NCAA tournament hopes alive.

"So, Oregon has a lot of incentive to play for," Montgomery said.

As do the Stanford seniors, who began their final season playing on the nation's 19th-ranked team and hope to finish it as the No. 1 squad and, perhaps, undefeated.

There's no talk around Stanford these days about losing a game in order to remove any pressure there may be heading into the NCAA tournament for a 10th straight season.

"We're not going to try and lose a game," Montgomery reiterated rather emphatically. "We're going to try to win every game. I think it would be a tremendous feat to win every game, a tremendous accomplishment."

Achieving that feat would be even more remarkable given the fact Stanford has shuffled its lineup throughout the season like a deck of cards due to injuries.

Junior forward Josh Childress missed the first nine games of the season with a stress reaction in his left foot. Davis has missed seven straight games with a partial tear of his medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Sophomore forward Matt Haryasz sat out two games with a sprained ankle. Junior guard Chris Hernandez missed two games due to two bulging disks in his lower back. That's a minimum of 15 games played without Stanford's true starting lineup on the floor.

Once Davis returns, perhaps as early next week when Stanford concludes its Pac-10 season at Washington State and Washington, only then will the Cardinal have everyone available for the first time in nearly a month.

Through it all, Montgomery has received inspired performances and play from his various lineups. One night it's Hernandez scoring 22 second-half points against Oregon and another it's Childress scoring a career-high 36 against USC.

Tying it all together has been the unselfish play of everyone.

"We're not a dominant basketball team," Montgomery said. "We a good basketball team that knows how to play and win together."

Said Lottich: "The unselfishness is a big part of our game, and why we've been so successful."

At 24-0, who's to argue?

Childress has been named one of 20 finalists for the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award, and one of 16 finalists for the Adolph F. Rupp Award, also symbolic of the nation's top college basketball player.

Hernandez is among 16 finalists for the inaugural Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, which recognizes the best point guard in all three NCAA Divisions.

For results of last night's Stanford-Oregon State men's game and Cardinal-Oregon women's game, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com today.

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