Publication Date: Friday, March 05, 2004
MEN'S BASKETBALL
A shot at making history
A shot at making history
(March 05, 2004) No. 1 Stanford takes aim at 18-0 mark in Pac-10
by Rick Eymer
The Stanford men's basketball team will be up against history when it tips off against host Washington on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Assuming the top-ranked Cardinal (16-0, 25-0) got by host Washington State (certainly no picnic) last night, they could become the first team in Pac-10 history to finish the regular conference season unbeaten.
UCLA went 14-0 in 1977-78 when the conference was known as the Pac-8 and Lute Olson was coaching at Iowa and had never been to an NCAA tournament. Stanford coach Mike Montgomery was an assistant at Boise State that year, and Gerald Ford was serving out the final months of his presidency.
The Cardinal have been battling against the odds all season, so why stop now? In the past Stanford looked at every game as another opportunity for victory. This year, it seems, college basketball observers look at every game as Stanford's best chance to lose.
No matter what happens the rest of the way, it's been a positive season for Stanford. The Cardinal have achieved more than anyone had a right to expect, and still a national basketball pundit told a television audience that Stanford was the weakest of the four probable top seeds. The dude gave the nod to Duke, which then went out and lost on Wednesday night.
All Stanford - and St. Joseph's over in Philly - has done is win. Period. Respect? There was a nice piece in Sports Illustrated that was cool. The No. 1 ranking? Brought a lot of attention to the Stanford program. What does it all mean? A few lines in the history books.
The final chapter has yet to be written, but it's certainly been a good read so far. How does a team which has had its full lineup available for just eight games this season remain unbeaten? Have we even seen the real Stanford team yet?
Hang on to your hats, folks, this thing is just beginning to heat up. Does it get any weirder? Of course!
Forget that Josh Childress, Justin Davis, Matt Haryasz and Chris Hernandez have missed games because of injury. Add Nick Robinson, proud papa, to the list.
Robinson and his wife, Meagan, became parents for the first time on Monday when Annie Lee entered the world just in time to give the Cardinal family even more to celebrate.
"I feel like it's going to be a great March," Robinson said a month ago.
Annie Lee provided the month with a fine beginning. Robinson ("It was awesome," he said of his daughter's birth) and his teammates hope to end it planning for a trip to San Antonio as participants in the Final Four.
The last time Stanford reached the Final Four, in 1998, the tournament was also held in San Antonio. The Cardinal remember the Alamo, and hope to get a second chance at defending in the Alamo Dome.
First up, though, is a road trip through Washington. Stanford struggled in the state last season, losing to the Huskies and needing overtime to get by the Cougars. The Cardinal split two games in the NCAA tournament in Spokane.
Stanford took a 15-game winning streak against Washington State into Pullman, where they haven't lost since the 1994-95 season, on Thursday night. Overall, the Cougars are 31-22 against Stanford on their home court.
Stanford has won 12 of its past 13 against the Huskies, but are only 9-16 in its previous 25 trips to Seattle.
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