Stanford Goes Into Action Friday Evening at 6:00 PM Against Either Cal or Washington State

Barring a major meltdown by the Cal Bears on Thursday Evening against the Cougars in Las Vegas, the Stanford Cardinal will begin their post season against the Bears at 6:00 PM on Friday March 8th.

As you remember we lost to Cal by one point at the buzzer in Haas Arena on January 31st and then trounced them in Maples by 25 points on February 2. The Cardinal should be able to defeat the Bears on a neutral court - the MGM Garden Court Arena in Las Vegas. You know the Bears are led by two terrific seniors Kristine Anigwe and Asha Thomas, and they'll play their hearts out on Friday evening. But it's asking a great deal of those two great players who play a lot of minutes, to go into the fourth quarter in back to back games Thursday and Friday evenings and beat a fresh Cardinal team. Far from impossible, but highly unlikely.

Pac-12 Tourney Bracket - click on image to enlarge

On Saturday the 9th, once again barring a major upset, Stanford should play Oregon State at
8:30 PM. These two teams have only played once this season and Stanford won at Maples by seven points. Ten days later, OSU beat Oregon by five in Corvallis. So on a neutral floor this game between two evenly matched teams should be one of the hardest fought of the PAC12 tournament. Both should enter the game ranked in the top ten in the nation, both lost a key starter early in the conference season, and both come in playing their best basketball of the season. I'm picking the Cardinal by five.

Hopefully, Sunday at 5 PM the Cardinal will play for the championship most likely against the Oregon Ducks. You know how the Ducks embarrassed Stanford in Maples last month - this game will be different. You need to be there.   

Malcolm McFall