Publication Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2004
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Key will be
Key will be
(March 10, 2004)how Stanford
reacts to loss
by Rick Eymer
The Stanford men's basketball team has a new challenge to face this week, and it has nothing to do with its 75-62 loss to Washington on Saturday.
"Everyone is waiting to see how we'll react to this loss," said Stanford senior guard Matt Lottich. "We'll find out Thursday."
Stanford (17-1, 26-1) suffered its first loss of the season, and fell out of the top spot in the nation, in Seattle. The Cardinal didn't fall too far though, winding up No. 2 behind top-ranked St. Joseph's, the lone unbeaten team left in the nation.
Stanford hopes to regroup in time for the Pac-10 tournament, which opens Thursday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with the top-seeded Cardinal facing No. 8 Washington State at 12:15 p.m.
"We know this is a whole new season now," said Stanford junior forward Josh Childress. "It's one and out and we have to be at our best at all times. We're going to try to have a nine-game winning streak."
Should Stanford win the next nine games it plays, the Cardinal would bring home the NCAA championship trophy from San Antonio.
First up is the tournament, and a familiar foe. The Cougars gave Stanford everything it could handle before Lottich's miraculous 3-point shot at the buzzer lifted the Cardinal to a 63-61 victory over Washington State on Thursday.
"That was a special moment for myself," said Lottich, "and we proved to ourselves we can stick around and with our backs to the wall, we can perform."
After the loss to Washington, Lottich can't wait to get back on the court again.
"It's a good opportunity for us because we don't want to go into the tournament with a loss," he said. "Everybody talks about the value of a loss. We're still trying to find that value. Maybe it will get us to play harder. We always knew we're not invincible y any means."
Stanford wouldn't even mind if Washington were its opponent at same time in the tournament.
"I'm excited about the possibility of playing Washington again," said Childress. "There's not one guy on this team who thinks Washington is a better team than us. We just let one slip away. We lost and there's nothing more to it."
In the great scheme of things, the loss did nothing to scar Stanford, except to erase that zero in the loss column.
The Cardinal are still the Pac-10 regular-season champions, still have the second-best record in the entire country, and they're still likely to get one of the four No. 1 regional seeds when the NCAA announces the bracket next Sunday sometime after 3:30 p.m.
"It was a little disheartening to lose because we knew we didn't play our best," said Stanford center Rob Little. "Now we have a brand new challenge with the Pac-10. The regular season is over and now is the time to go undefeated."
What Stanford didn't get was a special place of honor in conference history books. The Cardinal won't be the first team to win 18 regular-season games, or go undefeated since the 1977-78 UCLA Bruins went 14-0. Instead, they will share with six other teams who finished conference play with a 17-1 record. Stanford joins Arizona (five times) and Oregon State in that privileged club.
Stanford won its 11th conference title since 1916, and is 597-610 (in conference play) during that time. Since 1994, the Cardinal are 148-50 in Pac-10 play and only Arizona is better over the same time frame.
In the first four years when the Pac-10 expanded to its current formation for the 1978-79 season, Stanford won a combined 18 conference games. In fact, Stanford didn't have a winning Pac-10 season until Montgomery's second year in 1987-88. Think any of those teams would like to trade places with the current group?
All it takes is a little perspective. Stanford's season is far from over. A good case could be made that Washington has been the best team in the conference over the past six weeks, but no one has been more consistent than the Cardinal this year.
"There's an opportunity to make another statement," said Little. "We're playing Washington State and imagine how they feel. They think they had their heart ripped out when we beat them."
The funny thing about college basketball is how it can come full circle. Lorenzo Romar was on the court the last time Washington defeated a No. 1 team in the country. Romar was playing for UCLA when in happened in 1979.
Romar was on the bench Saturday, coaching the Huskies to one of their biggest victories ever in the school's history. The win may have given Washington its first NCAA berth since 1999. It's the Huskies first winning season since then. Washington had won 19 Pac-10 games between 2000-03.
"People go through their college career and do not get to experience something like this," said Romar.
Washington (12-6, 17-10) also recorded its best conference record and finish since going 13-5 to finish second in 1986.
This time Stanford couldn't overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. Nor could the Cardinal respond when they trailed by just four points with 4:49 left to play. There weren't enough miracles left in the bag.
"I haven't had that feeling in a long time," said Lottich. "There's still an empty feeling in my gut. I hope we can feel good again. We just have to refocus a little bit."
Washington forced Stanford into 18 turnovers, and the Cardinal shot just 39 percent from the field. Childress and Lottich were in foul trouble early, and Lottich scored just two points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field.
The 26-game winning streak was the longest in the Pac-10 since Oregon State won 26 straight in 1980-81.
Chris Hernandez led Stanford with 21 points, Childress added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Little had 10 points and eight rebounds.
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