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 Head Coach Mike Montgomery |
Michael Hopwood (Los Altos, CA)
With Curtis (Borchardt) hurt, is there any chance that Justin Davis wouldsee some playing time this year instead of redshirting?
Coach Montgomery: Absolutely not.
John B.Cunningham (San Mateo, CA)
I notice that at this time of the year many juniors in HS announce theirpreferred schools in terms of where they would consider attending. Stanfordranks very high on these preferred lists. There may be ten "outstanding"players around the nation at each position that mention Stanford. How doyou whittle these lists down and more or less by when do you make thedecision on a junior to make an offer?
Coach Montgomery: Mostly they whittle down themselves, based on their grades. The fact thatwe're getting some national recognition means that kids are taking a lookat us, which is good, which is what has to happen for us to continue to besuccessful. We'll probably have taken a look at most of the top playersthat are student-athletes in the spring, try to confirm in the summer, andthen know pretty much what we want to do midway through the summer.
Noah Suojanen (San Mateo, CA)
One of the things (among many) that impressed me in the Cal game was theplay of Tony Giovacchini. He seemed much more confident and aggresive thanin previous games. He took the ball to the hoop nicely and would have had anice three point play if not for a garbage offensive foul call. I waswondering if you could comment a little on this.
Coach Montgomery: Tony has improved a lot. We're getting a lot more confidence in Tony; Ithink he's getting a lot more confidence in himself. I think what's helpedhim is the fact that he's been able to play off guard some, which hasgotten him some time on the court where he doesn't have to run the club andcan be more offensive-minded. We've been real pleased with Tony. I thinkhis confidence level is good and we just look for him to continue toimprove.
Dana Garrison (South Pasadena, CA)
I have been a fan of Stanford athletics all my life and growing up inSouthern California, that has not always been easy. In basketball, UCLA hasnot only been more dominant than Stanford, but pretty much the rest of theleague with the exception of Arizona. That no longer seems to be the case,specifically in regards to Stanford. In your mind, when did you know thatyour teams could not only play with UCLA, but compete and win on a regularbasis? Also, what are some of the factors that you believe have contributedmost to Stanford's recent success at Pauly Pavilion? Thank you for yourtime.
Coach Montgomery: We beat UCLA a number of years ago down there and have had a decentopportunity to compete with them for the last 10-12 years. I don't knowwhat specific factors, other than we've just gotten better players. UCLAused to be -- based on John Wooden's success, being No. 1, and all thechampionships -- would pretty much dominate physically in terms of theplayers that they had, and that's not the case anymore. Arizona hascertainly done as good a job if not better, and we've stepped up a littlewith the kind of players that we've had. Good teams are made of goodplayers, and if you get good players to play as a team then you've got achance to win.
Rhett Reese (Los Angeles, CA)
The nature of a good four year program often demands that young playerseither redshirt or simply wait for significant playing time. I waswondering what you might tell us about some of our younger, lesser knownplayers to familiarize us with their talents and let us know what we haveto look forward to in years to come.
Coach Montgomery: They're just going to have to be patient. Justin will be definitely afactor for us next year as we lose (Mark) Madsen. Curtis(Borchardt), of course they've had a chance to see a little bit of, he justneeds some strength. Julius (Barnes) is in the process of learning how toplay the point guard at this level and all the things that it demands. Heprobably could play some off guard. Of course, Casey (Jacobsen) you'veseen, and his ability to be successful. We've got a good group of youngplayers that, given the proper work ethic and attitude, will hopefullycontinue the success that we've had as time goes on.
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