{"id":94640,"date":"2024-09-08T19:44:06","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T23:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94640"},"modified":"2024-09-08T19:44:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T23:44:06","slug":"stanford-basketball-preview-kyle-smith-reviving-cardinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/08\/stanford-basketball-preview-kyle-smith-reviving-cardinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Stanford Basketball Preview: Kyle Smith Reviving Cardinal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years removed from their last NCAA Tournament bid, can Kyle Smith<\/a> revive the program? Let\u2019s observe closely with a Stanford basketball preview. Maples Pavilion will have several new faces with four freshmen and five transfers joining the team. After Jerod Haase<\/a>\u2019s poor tenure as head coach, Smith will have low expectations coming into the 2024-25 season. As Stanford enters their first year in the ACC, we\u2019ll see if this new Cardinal team can make some noise in the competitive conference.<\/p>\n

Stanford Basketball Preview: Kyle Smith Reviving Cardinal<\/h2>\n

New Conference, New Cardinal<\/h3>\n

The Pac-12 was unkind to Stanford. Their last regular season conference title came in 2004 when Josh Childress<\/a> and Matt Lottich<\/a> guided the team to a number one seed in that year\u2019s NCAA tournament. Despite their second round exit, the team had two great leaders in Childress and Lottich. With senior Maxime Reynaud<\/a> returning as the top scorer from last season, he\u2019ll need a right hand man to help navigate the Cardinal to a winning season. Smith did his part bringing in new talent via the portal, but who will emerge to help lead the team?<\/p>\n

Unique Stanford Transfer Class<\/h3>\n

Jaylen Blakes<\/a>, Chisom Okpara<\/a>, Derin Saran<\/a>, Oziyah Sellers<\/a>, and Cole Kastner<\/a> make up Stanford\u2019s incoming transfer class. Blakes, who previously played for Duke<\/a>, hopes to find a bigger role as a Cardinal. Okpara spent two seasons at Harvard, and he was seventh in the Ivy League last season in points per game averaging 15.4. Saran comes from UC Irvine where he helped the Anteaters win the 2023-24 Big West regular season title. Sellers has become a turncoat as he\u2019s transferred in from Stanford\u2019s in-state rival USC<\/a>. The former Trojan will hopefully get more playing time on his new team. Kastner, much like Golden State Warriors<\/a> guard Pat Spencer<\/a>, is a former college lacrosse player for Virginia<\/a> where he won a college lacrosse national championship in 2021. It will be a homecoming for Kastner as he is a Palo Alto native.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udccd Beyond the Arc
\ud83c\udfaf @OziyahSellers<\/a> #GoStanford<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JCpJzZhf63<\/a><\/p>\n

— Stanford Men's Basketball (@StanfordMBB) August 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n