Stanford doesn’t appear to have the premier men’s college basketball team in the Bay Area this season.
After being drilled by Santa Clara in a 16-point defeat Friday, the Cardinal will face another team from the neighborhood Monday night when San Jose State takes the 20-minute drive to Palo Alto.
“It’s an experience we can hopefully learn from and not repeat the same mistake,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said, alluding to the 88-72 loss at Santa Clara.
The Cardinal (1-1) have the potential to turn things around. They feature talented freshmen in 6-7 forward Harrison Ingram, who scored 19 points against Santa Clara, and 7-1 center Maxime Raynaud, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes off the bench.
The Spartans will head to Stanford feeling confident as well. They beat Cal State Fullerton 78-76 on Trey Smith’s last-second basket in their season opener on Thursday.
“Right now, we’re just trying to get the basic stuff remembered and executed on a regular basis,” San Jose State coach Tim Miles said. “We’re getting better.”
The Spartans have not had a winning season since 2010-11 and only once in the past 10 seasons have they reached double digits in victories (14-16 in 2016-17).
Miles was hired in April with the hope he could pull off the type of turnarounds he did at Colorado State and Nebraska.
Miles led Colorado State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in nine years in his final season with the Rams in 2012, and then led Nebraska to its first tournament trip in 16 years in his second season. He spent seven seasons at Nebraska but couldn’t turn the Cornhuskers into a consistent winner.
San Jose State continues to be without Richard Washington, who led the Mountain West in scoring at 19.5 points per game last season, as he remains suspended by the NCAA after signing with a non-certified agent in the offseason and receiving $2,700 for his participation in a 3-on-3 tournament.
Washington is scheduled for an appeals hearing with the NCAA next week.
–Field Level Media
