Stanford men: Reid Travis, right, tries to lead team.
After Stanford took a 21-point beating from Kansas on Thursday, Jerod Haase indicated that both his wife and his mother were telling him he should be patient with his 6-7 team.
“It may be true,” the head coach said, “but it’s not in my mind-set. We don’t have an option to say, ‘In time, we’re going to be good.’ We have to push the envelope now. We have to grow up quickly.”
As the Cardinal’s Pac-12 season begins Saturday night against Cal at Maples Pavilion, their preseason-poll ranking of fifth in the conference looks entirely too rosy. They have lost to two Big Sky teams, Eastern Washington and Portland State, and have yet to win away from Maples.
Despite the presence of Reid Travis, the conference’s leading scorer (21.4 points per game), and forward Michael Humphrey (11.6), the Stanford roster seems to be in a rebuilding mode.
Until wing men Dorian Pickens and Marcus Sheffield return from their injuries, six of the nine scholarship players are either freshmen or sophomores. As a result, Haase’s favorite ladies might be correct in counseling patience, even if he doesn’t agree.
That’s not to say this team won’t be capable of some major surprises along the way. Travis and Humphrey are proven players, and freshmen guards Daejon Davis and Isaac White are capable of lighting it up. So is Pickens, whenever he returns.
Another freshman, 6-foot-8 forward Kezie Okpala, could be the spark that has been missing. He missed the first dozen games while getting his academics in order but looked good against Kansas right out of the gate.
Haase, honest to a fault, said moments after that game, “I need to really develop a vision and a plan going into the conference season,” as if he had been remiss in implementing that vision and plan already.
He assured reporters, “I’m going to be full of optimism, excitement about going into the conference season, excited about the pieces we have.”
Going into Pac-12 play, Stanford is last in the conference in scoring, nextto-last in field-goal percentage, ninth in three-point percentage, tied for eighth in free-throw percentage, ninth in assists and last in in turnover margin. That’s not a formula for success.
Travis’ rebounding average has fallen from 8.9 a game last season to 7.1, partly because he has been defending more players on the perimeter. Meanwhile, Humphrey has jacked his rebounding average from 6.2 to 8.5, fourth best in the conference.
The player who seems to have suffered the most from the team’s unsettled roster is Davis. Probably trying to do too much, he has committed 58 turnovers, far outweighing his 45 assists.
Like Okpala, White and freshman forward Oscar Da Silva, Davis seems to have an excellent future. But future earnings don’t pay this month’s bills. It’s time to grow up quickly.