What Is Going On?
STANFORD, Apr. 12 - Since the loss to Texas to end the season Bay Area basketball has been turned upside down. Some events were anticipated while others came out of left field. Regardless, the landscape of basketball in the PAC-10 has many questions for 2008.
First, the Lopez twins both declared for the NBA draft. This was to be expected to some degree, mostly due to their physical attributes, but should both have gone? I guess this question really does not matter now. They are gone. Add Taj Finger’s graduation and the Cardinal have a huge deficit in the front court. However, there is a bright side. Looking at the NCAA Tournament, the most successful teams had excellent guard play with the big men only accenting the team play. Losing the Lopez twins will force Stanford’s guards to develop their own identity. Hopefully, they can rise to the challenge.
Second, Mike Montgomery took the job at Cal. What? The greatest Stanford men’s basketball coach moving across the bay to coach Cal does not make sense. We can only imagine what he can do without being handicapped by admissions. Fortunately, it will take Mike a couple of years to get the right personnel in place but still, is there no allegiance?
Third, and perhaps most shocking, is Trent Johnson’s departure for LSU. The PAC-10 coach of the year leaves for LSU? What happened to Trent ending his coaching career at the Farm? This may actually be a good development. With Stanford forced to rely on guard play now that all of the seasoned big men have left a young aggressive coach would be the perfect match.
The perfect match would be to court Mark Few out of Gonzaga. He has built teams around amazing guards, spot up shooting and hustling big men. However, Gonzaga is a pretty sweet deal. Another great candidate would be Chris Lowery out of Southern Illinois. He has developed a program from nothing. If you can get Carbondale excited about basketball then Palo Alto is piece of cake.
At the end of the day Stanford needs to find a young, aggressive coach to take over and develop a new identity. PAC-10 basketball as we know it cannot handle NCAA Tournament competition. To win in March a team has to be quick, aggressive, and fearless. This year, Stanford was slow, calculating, and apprehensive. Something needs to change for success. Will Stanford make a step in the right direction? Can they develop a new identity? Tune in and find out!
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