CalStanford matchup evokes virus memories
Almost a year to the day after Cal’s 6351 win over Stanford in the first round of the Pac12 tournament, the Bears and Cardinal will meet again Wednesday night at TMobile Arena in Las Vegas in the opening round of the conference tourney.
Cal’s victory last March 11 quickly became an afterthought. The next day, the coronavirus pandemic shut down college basketball and altered life for just about everyone.
“The memories are vivid,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said during a Zoom news conference Tuesday morning. “I remember the arena being so empty when we played. There were already rumors of fans not being allowed to come. People were getting scared and leaving town.”
Said Stanford head coach Jerod Haase on a separate Zoom news conference: “While we were focused on the game, obviously there were so many other questions going on.
“Most times in our lives, you get information day by day or week by week. (At that time,) you’re getting information minute by minute and having to act and learn and respond accordingly.”
Fox recalled that once the shutdown was announced, he experienced “the immediate — and I mean the immediate — change of gears to try to reassure these guys that we could keep them safe. We could get them to some safe place for the coming months, that we could stay mentally healthy, could continue progress toward their education.
“It was a change of gears like no other.”
This season has not gone well for the Bears (819), who sit last in the Pac12 with a 317 mark.
Cal has dropped four in a row and 11 of its past 12 games. That 11of12 stretch included backtoback losses to the Cardinal early last month.
In 2019, Fox inherited a program that had gone a combined 1647 the previous two seasons. The Bears went 1418 last season, Fox’s first in Berkeley.
“When I came to Cal, we knew it was going to be a long rebuilder,” Fox said. “We never put a timetable on it. The experience of that road has to be traveled. …
“You have to endure the pain. You have to endure the adversity. You have to deal with all the things that go into a rebuilding of a program. That’s what makes it, in the end, rewarding.”
Like Cal, Stanford (1412) has lost four in a row, the past three coming with AllPac12 forward Oscar da Silva sidelined because of a foot injury. Haase was uncertain whether da Silva will play against the Bears.
Before the skid, the Cardinal figured to be in strong contention for an atlarge berth to the NCAA Tournament.
After a 7942 humbling at the hands of USC last Wednesday, Stanford almost assuredly has to reach the Pac12 tournament final to have any chance to receive an atlarge NCAA bid.
Stanford’s NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ranking of 70 as of Tuesday morning puts the Cardinal in the NIT discussions. Haase said he would accept an NIT bid.
Pac12 honors:
On Tuesday, the conference named Stanford’s Jaiden Delaire its Most Improved Player. The junior forward is averaging 12.5 points per game; he averaged 6.1 as a sophomore.
Da Silva made both the 10man AllPac12 first team and the fiveman AllDefensive team. The senior ranks second in the conference in points per game (18.8), fourth in fieldgoal percentage (58) and sixth in rebounds per game (6.8).
Cal junior guard Matt Bradley (18.4 ppg) was named to the fiveman AllPac12 second team.