Men's Basketball Sweet 16 3/29/2008

Stanford 62 Texas 82 After our 2nd round win in Anaheim, I spent the next few days of Spring Break in San Diego where some friends and I had rented a beach house. While watching the second round Sunday games at a local sports bar, I bumped into an alum who I had met at the Washington game in Seattle, who just happened to drop by the bar while driving around San Diego with his family after being in Anaheim the previous day. It was cool to run into him again.

On Thursday, I flew into Houston from San Diego where I met up with Albert who had taken an earlier flight from San Jose. Even though Albert technically should have been at work since there are softball games this weekend, he was given the option to go back home for the game. It was an easy decision since you're only a senior once and it's not every year that Stanford makes the Sweet 16. We were joined on Friday afternoon by Melissa - the RA who inspired us to camp out and get into Stanford basketball our freshman year. She had shelled out quite a bit of money to book her last minute flight out to Houston.

Rush hour traffic coupled with an accident made getting to Reliant Stadium a nightmare. It took almost 2 hours to get there (compared to 35 minutes on the way back) and we arrived just before starting lineups were announced. The stadium was overwhelmingly orange (Texas) with small clusters of blue (Memphis), cardinal (Stanford) and green (Michigan State). Having a raised basketball court in the middle of a football field is something that I don't approve of. It throws off players' sight lines, lessens hustle plays on the sidelines and reduces crowd impact but hey, anything to sell more tickets, right? There was a decent showing of Stanford fans - mostly alums with maybe 20 or so 6th Man members. I guess most students had already made Spring Break plans.
It would be an understatement to say that the game wasn't one of our finest. We couldn't hit an outside shot in the first half and our one-dimensional offense caught up with us with 10 minutes left in the second when Brook ran out of gas after bringing us back to within 1. Texas is a great team and they exposed us for our weaknesses. They ran the high screen and roll (our defensive Achilles heels) to perfection and grabbed key offensive rebounds in the first half when we seemingly couldn't get a stop. They also hit some tough shots that we simply could not do anything about. Brook aside, Taj and Landry showed a lot of grit and hustle. I'm glad that Finger was his signature self in his last game in a Stanford uniform and hopefully Landry's performance is a sign of things to come. This wasn't quite the breakout year that many had envisioned for Landry but that was also a function of there being too few minutes to go around. He'll definitely get his chance to shine next year.
In order to beat a team like Texas, we needed to bring our A game. We didn't have it today and while disappointing, I have no complaints about our season. If you had asked me at the beginning of the year whether I would take 28-8 and a Sweet 16 appearance, I would have jumped at it. The truth is that this was a team that surpassed lots of expectations, including my own. Hell, there were times before conference play started that I worried about even making the tournament. Picked by pundits to finish 5th in the conference, we were in the Pac-10 title race until the last weekend and had a strong showing at the Pac-10 tournament. We also reached Stanford's 4th Sweet 16 since 1942. That's impressive and I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to witness all 36 games of this great run we had.

I'm especially grateful that we did so well on the road. As an alum astutely commented, it's on the road where you bond with your team. I definitely feel that way. Those road wins made spending all that time and money travelling around the country so much more worth it. Wins aside, I also enjoyed meeting numerous alums during the course of my travels. There's nothing more welcoming than seeing a friendly face in cardinal when you are miles from home. For those who I have met, hopefully our paths will cross at future games. On the subject of away games, getting into the games would not have been possible without the assistance of Andrew of the 6th Man Club and Sandi from the Basketball Office. I have heard how difficult it is for students in other schools to get tickets and I'm extremely appreciative of Andrew and Sandi's efforts to get me in for free. Finally, I've been lucky to have had great travel companions. There was Albert for the non-conference schedule, Ben from KZSU for Pac-10 games, Willy and Michael for the Pac-10 tournament, Alex and Daniel for the first two rounds and finally Albert and Melissa in Houston.

It's been a pleasure writing for the Hoopsboard of the Bootleg. As I've mentioned before, basketball is the sport which I am most passionate about. I've really enjoyed sharing my experiences with like-minded people who truly get this passion of mine. You see, whenever friends (who think I'm crazy) comment about how dedicated I must be to spend all this time and money to see Stanford play, I find it amusing, because they fail to see that I'm not doing it so much for loyalty as for myself. Watching our guys play gives me such joy. And at the end of the day, this amazing journey would not be possible without the 2007-2008 Stanford Men's Basketball team. Guys, thanks for the memories. It was an amazing ride and one that I will never ever forget.
~ Zhihao

Zhihao’s 2007-2008 Basketball Season Wrap UpGames: 38 (19 home, 19 away)
Record: 30-8 (2 exhibition)
Game time: 76 hours
Road time: 119 hours
Distance travelled: 18523 miles
Expenses: $2963