March 16, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford men facing another tough test

by Nathan Kurz

After three of the four men's regional brackets had been unveiled on national television, Stanford had not been included in the field of 65. After all the losses to the NBA, to academics, to football, and to injury-and the subsequent resilience that accompanied a strong late-season push-was it actually possible that the Cardinal's tournament streak had ended?

The question wrestled in the mind of junior forward Matt Haryasz. "It's human nature to get nervous," he said. "They waited to put us in the last bracket, so we had to sweat it out a little. It's like when you take that test and you're waiting to hear back about your grade."

It's quite fitting, actually, that Haryasz chose to think about Selection Sunday as nothing more than a grade on Stanford's season, for the Cardinal have had to struggle through numerous tests.

Stanford was ultimately rewarded for its perseverance-and given a B-plus for effort- with an eighth seed in the Austin Region and an 11th straight NCAA tournament berth; only Arizona (21), Kansas (16), Kentucky and Cincinnati (14 each) have longer such streaks. The Cardinal (18-12) will play against ninth-seeded Mississippi State at 6:55 p.m. Friday (CBS) in Charlotte, N.C. Top-seeded Duke looms as a possible second-round opponent.

"I am really happy for the team," first year head coach Trent Johnson said. "It speaks volumes for this team to sustain that level of play (with past NCAA Tournament teams) with all the transitions the team had to make this year. This group never lost confidence."

Of course, after the talking-heads on CBS announced that UCLA had been given an 11 seed early in the selection show, Stanford's place in the field was all but assured. Nonetheless, it was somewhat of a relief for this team to hear its name called and its place in the tournament assured considering the Cardinal's inauspicious start.

"(Back in early January) I wasn't thinking we were going to any tourney," senior center Rob Little said. "Starting 0-3 in the Pac-10 was a shocker, but we stormed back. It shows you the mental toughness of the guys. We didn't want to be the first class not to go."

Lingering underneath this tournament appearance streak is an uglier note: Stanford has lost its second-round game in five of the past six years.

"That's something everyone on this team and in the Bay Area is thinking about," Little said. "Hopefully, it's something we'll get past this year."

Even getting that chance, though, is certainly not assured. Mississippi State boasts last year's SEC Player of the Year, 6-foot-9, 240-pound Lawrence Roberts. The former Baylor transfer is averaging a double-double (16.7 ppg, 10.9 rpg) and resembles both in stature and ability another big man (Ike Diogu) who single-handedly defeated the Cardinal earlier this season.

While the natural inclination of fans and media alike may be to liken the Bulldogs to SEC peer Alabama-which upset the Cardinal in the second round last year-this analogy doesn't quite work.

For starters, last year Alabama played the toughest schedule in the country, which helped to explain its unspectacular regular-season record and to prepare it for the rigors of the tournament. Mississippi State, however, has only a mediocre strength of schedule in the high 60s and hasn't beaten a ranked team all year.

Secondly, the Bulldogs don't shoot the three-pointer nearly as well as the Crimson Tide did; Mississippi State ranks near the bottom of the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (.332). The Bulldogs, then, don't have the same kind of inside-outside threat that helped Alabama march all the way to the Elite Eight.

While the Stanford players have clearly had enough talk about last year's magical run and sudden exit, there's one thing that has stuck in everyone's mind from the heartbreaker in Seattle.

"We're going to need to attack the rack more and be more aggressive," senior guard Chris Hernandez said. "Last year Alabama shot way more free throws (44 to 11) than we did. We're going to have to make the adjustment and feel out the officials early. The SEC is more physical than the Pac-10, and so we're going to have to find ways to get to the line."

If Stanford is able to find a way to get past the Bulldogs, they'll have an added bonus for a potential second-round match-up with the Blue Devils: Tim Morris.

As has been noted in several recent published reports, the sophomore swingman should be academically eligible for a possible Sunday game because Stanford's quarter ends on Friday. Morris said he plans to take a 1 p.m. flight to Charlotte on Friday, apart from the rest of the team, which will depart on Wednesday.

Stanford won the only previous meeting with Mississippi State, 76-56 on Dec. 21, 1999, in the Pete Newell Challenge in Oakland.

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