Stanford begins coach Kyle Smith’s third season looking to replace almost all of the production from last season, including the top five scorers led by star point guard Ebuka Okorie. The Cardinal have exceeded expectations the first two seasons under Smith and will try to do so again with a top 25 high school recruiting class and the Nerd Ball approach that has proven effective.
F/C Aidan Cammann is the only returner who averaged more than 3 points
per game last season. Cammann averaged 6.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg last season but did score 12.7 ppg during a seven-game stretch of ACC play. The only other returning player who had significant playing time last season is F Donavin Young. The Cardinal will rely transfers PG Christian Bliss and F Nick Townsend, as well as the freshman class led by Julius Price and Aziz Olajwuon, the son of Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon.
Ebuka Okorie left for the NBA after averaging 23.2 points and 3.6 assists per game as a freshman. The Cardinal also lost six of its next seven top scorers with Chisom Okpara, Benny Gealer, Jeremy Dent-Smith, AJ Rohosy, Ryan Agarwal and Oskar Giltay all either graduating or transferring. Bliss was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year at Delaware and Townsend was the Ivy League Player of the Year at Yale. Seattle transfer Austin Maurer offers help at center. Olajuwon and Price were both four-star recruits who could contribute right away.
Stanford's toughest nonconference games include a visit to Texas A&M on Dec. 2, and a tournament Thanksgiving week that includes a game against Colorado and either Grand Canyon or Saint Louis. The conference schedule features road games against Duke, Louisville and North Carolina within a two-week span in January. The Cardinal will visit rival California on Jan. 23 and host the Golden Bears in the season finale on March 6.
Stanford has back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2013-14 and 2014-15 and will seek three in a row since doing it 10 straight seasons under coach Mike Montgomery ending when he left for the NBA in 2004. ... The Cardinal went 20-18 in conference play in Smith's first two seasons to tie for the seventh best mark in the ACC. They were 14-5 at home and 6-13 on the road. ... The Cardinal lost 89% of their scoring from last season and 83% of their minutes played from last season. ... Stanford set school records with 301 made 3-pointers and 257 steals last season.
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