On Thursday, Stanford will head to the state of Arizona and play the Sun Devils before playing the Wildcats Saturday. For Stanford, Arizona State should be an easy win if they play as well as they did against the two LA teams.
Recently, the Sun Devils lost by thirty in both of their last two games versus Arizona and Utah. However, Stanford struggled against those same teams earlier in the season as well, but now, Stanford seems to have found momentum. They have won four of their last five and beat a ranked Oregon team. They have started to shoot the ball better and work together as a team. Stanford's momentum shouldn't be stopped against Arizona State Thursday.
For Arizona State, look out for Sophomore guard Tra Holder, who averages 14.6 points per game. Stanford successfully guarded USC's Jordan McLaughlin but slipped up against UCLA guards, Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton. If Stanford can cover Tra Holder like they did with McLaughlin, they'll be in a good position defensively on Thursday.
Offensively, Stanford has found success through Rosco Allen, Michael Humphrey, and Dorian Pickens. Rosco Allen and Michael Humphrey has been a consistent contributor all year, but Pickens has just recently emerged as a scorer after scoring twenty fives versus USC and sixteen against UCLA. All three players scored high numbers against UCLA, and hopefully, they can do the same against Arizona State.
Stanford beat Arizona State by only two points at home earlier in the year. Also, Stanford has been inconsistent on the road, but Stanford should still feel confident heading into Thursday. They have found their identity over the past two games, and Arizona State has been a struggling PAC-12 team all year. Stanford almost certainly needs to win the PAC-12 tournament to clinch a spot in March Madness, and if Stanford can win Thursday, they'll gain even more confidence heading into the tournament.
Be sure to watch the Cardinal Thursday night, 8 PT on Fox Sports 1.
Comments
If you said a team like UCLA needs to win the Pac 12 tournament to get in, I would agree with you. I don’t think Stanford would have to work that hard. My prediction: Stanford makes the tournament if it either sweeps the Arizona teams this week or beats AZ St. and then wins at least 2 games in the Pac-12 Tournament (the 2nd one likely to be vs a then top-15 Cal).
By OCTaxMan on 03.02.16 11:56am
Can't say I'm as optimistic
I think Stanford would probably need to sweep and win a couple of games in the conference tournament to have a shot.
By JYTLM on 03.02.16 8:19pm
So just for fun
I compared Stanford to some relatively recent at-large teams with similarish profiles:
2006 Alabama
RPI 57, 17-12 (10-6)
3-3 vs top-25
5-5 vs top-50
9-9 vs top-100
3 sub-100 losses
2008 Arizona
RPI 37, 18-14 (8-10)
3-7 vs top-25
5-8 vs top-50
10-12 vs top-100
2 sub-100 losses
2011 Michigan State
RPI 45, 18-14 (9-9)
2-8 vs top-25
5-11 vs top-50
10-13 vs top-100
1 sub-100 loss
2011 USC
RPI 67, 19-14 (10-8)
2-3 vs top-25
5-5 vs top-50
8-8 vs top-100
6 sub-100 losses
2011 Marquette
RPI 64, 20-14 (9-9)
5-8 vs top-25
5-12 vs top-50
7-13 vs top-100
1 sub-100 loss
2011 Penn State
RPI 39, 19-14 (9-9)
2-6 vs top-25
5-8 vs top-50
10-13 vs top-100
1 sub-100 loss
2011 Tennessee
RPI 34, 19-14 (8-8)
1-6 vs top-25
8-7 vs top-50
11-11 vs top-100
3 sub-100 losses
2016 Stanford
RPI 65, 14-12 (8-8)
3-6 vs top-25
5-11 vs top-50
7-12 vs top-100
no sub-100 losses
So what we see is that teams with a similar RPI to Stanford (Marquette, USC, Alabama) are generally more competitive against top teams than Stanford has been, which seems to have balanced out their bad losses. Marquette has a similar top-50/100 record, but did better against top-25 opponents. The other teams that have similar records to Stanford have significantly better RPI rankings and are generally more even against the top-100. Going 2-5 vs RPI 25-50 teams is really hurting Stanford. The fewest number of wins for an at-large bid recently has been 17 and the most number of losses is 14, so Stanford will likely need to find at least three more wins and at worst split the AZ road trip. 17-13 would probably entail two top-50 wins and a top-100 win, with a top-25 loss. That would put them at 3-7/7-12/10-13, which is pretty decent. Sweeping the Arizona schools on the road would be huge for the RPI, and if they can work their way up to <45, they would probably be in good shape. That’s a massive jump from 65, but it might be possible.
By JYTLM on 03.02.16 9:31pm