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Stanford's all-time best men's basketball teams, No. 7
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The 1997-98 Cardinal was the toughest team to rank. We put it at No. 7 in our list of the top Stanford’s men’s basketball teams of all time, but arguments could be made to place this team several notches lower of a few spots higher.
It is the only Stanford team to get to the Final Four since the NCAA Tournament field was expanded beyond eight teams back in the Dark Ages of college hoops. And the Cardinal came oh-so-close to beating Kentucky in the semifinals. That alone suggests this Stanford team is top-five material.
However, the 1998 Cardinal got blown off the court twice by Arizona and once by Connecticut in its only three games against teams that finished ranked in the top 10, and its road to the Final Four was paved with a perfect set of opponents for Stanford’s style. This implies this Cardinal team does not deserve to be in our all-time top 10 at all.
The top six Stanford teams in our top 10 will be revealed over the next few days; now we try to unravel the tricky 1998 Cardinal, which we put at No. 7
No. 7: 1997-98:
Only one starter was lost from the previous season’s 22-8 team, but that one departure was a big one – Brevin Knight. It was debatable whether Stanford would be any good without their cocky point guard, who was the 16th overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft.
Arthur Lee moved over from a shooting-guard spot to become the point guard and Mark Madsen was added to the starting lineup, which also included Tim Young, Pete Sauer and Kris Weems. Four of the five averaged in double figures and Sauer was just short at 9.2 a game.
Stanford started the season ranked No. 15, but won its first 18 games to shoot up to No. 4. This was foreign territory for the Cardinal, which had not been in the top 10 since 1963 and had never been ranked higher than seventh.
Stanford came crashing down to earth by losing three of its next four games – an 18-points home loss to Arizona, a three-point home loss to an Arizona State team that would finish 8-10 in the conference, and a 20-point road loss to a powerful Connecticut team. The only win in that span was a shaky two-point victory over Cal, which also would finish 8-10 in the conference.
It seemed the Cardinal was in the midst of a meltdown that is not uncommon among teams not accustomed to national acclaim. But five days after the blowout loss to UConn, Stanford knocked off No. 9 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, and won seven of its last eight regular-season games. The one loss in the stretch was a dandy, though: a 32-point loss at Arizona, which was simply too quick, too athletic and too skilled for the Cardinal, which relied on strength, good outside shooting and sound fundamental basketball to wear down foes. Stanford could not handle teams that could run and jump and score in a hurry, Luckily, the Cardinal did not have to face any of those in the postseason.
Weems and Young were named to the all-Pac-10 team that season, but the biggest question heading into the NCAA Tournament was how Lee would handle the pressure, especially since Knight had nearly single-handedly taken the Cardinal to the round of 16 the previous season.
Lee was sensational. He was clearly the star of the postseason, averaging 20.6 points, making all 35 of his free-throw attempts and hitting big shot after big shot. Madsen got every rebound in sight, but it was Lee who engineered the run to the Final Four.
Ranked No. 10 in the final AP poll and seeded No. 3 in its regional of the NCAA Tournament, Stanford struggled in its first-round game before prevailing against No. 14 seed College of Charleston. Stanford then polished off No. 11 seed Western Michigan, which had eliminated No. 6 seed Clemson in the first round.
Stanford faced Purdue in the third round, and although the Boilermakers were a good team, they did not have the speed or quickness at the guard spots to exploit the Cardinal’s weaknesses. They were a tough, strong team like Stanford, and the Cardinal won that battle.
Next up was Rhode Island, which had taken out the region’s No. 1 seed, Kansas, but had lost to Stanford during the regular season. The Rams did have enough backcourt quickness to bother the Cardinal, and Rhode Island seemed to have the game in hand, leading by six with less than a minute left. But Lee scored 13 of his 26 points in the final 2:04 of the game, and his steal with 26 seconds left led to the go-ahead basket in a 79-77 Stanford victory.
Kentucky, the Cardinal’s semifinal foe, was not blessed with tremendous athleticism either, and Stanford had no trouble keeping pace. Stanford led by 10 points early in the second half, but despite Lee’s 26 points, it could not hold off the Wildcats, who won the game in overtime 86-85, then beat Utah in the title game.
The Cardinal finished 30-5, and with every starter returning the next season, it was expected to compete for a national title in 1999. It didn’t happen.
See also:
KAYLA PEDERSEN NEARLY HAS DOUBLE DOUBLE IN UNIVERSITY GAMES
LAWRENCE HILL SCORES 31 IN SUMMER GAME
STANFORD’S BEST TEAMS, THOSE THAT JUST MISSED
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