2015 Pac 12 Tournament: Stanford Basketball, How to Watch

After a disappointing end to the regular season, The Cardinal hopes to salvage the year with an impressive run in the Pac 12 tournament. Can they get hot and still make it to March Madness or is the Cardinal NIT bound?

By nickdempsey Mar 10, 2015, 12:16pm PDT

After a very disappointing end to the regular season the Stanford Cardinal (18-12) limps into the PAC 12 tournament as the number 6 seed. The first round of the tournament kicks off Wednesday, March 11 on the PAC 12 Network. Many agree that the Cardinal are now a long-shot (at best) to make the NCAA Tournament, but may still go dancing with a very impressive run in the Conference tournament. If not, the most likely outcome will be the Cardinal heading to the NIT.

Stanford's first opponent is the Washington Huskies (16-14). The Cardinal is 2-0 against the Huskies this season. Washington, however, is coming off of a huge upset win against Utah. The winner of that matchup will play Utah 24 hours later at 8:40 pm (PT) on ESPN . As you may recall, Stanford's last meeting with the Utes did not end well.

The winner of the Utah matchup will compete in the conference semi-finals on Friday night against either Oregon, Colorado, or Oregon State. If Stanford has any chance of making the NCAA tournament, and avoiding NIT purgatory, they are likely going to need to win 3 straight games on 3 consecutive nights (Washington, Utah and OU/CU/OSU). Though some are more optimistic claiming the Cardinal only needs to get past Utah (2 wins in 2 nights) to go dancing. Either way, it is a very important week for Stanford basketball and Coach Dawkins.