THE RECORD
Stanford finished the season 15-16 overall, completing the Pac-12 slate 8-10. The Cardinal was the No. 10 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, completing the season with a defeat to No. 7 seed UCLA.
OKPALA SELECTED IN NBA DRAFT
KZ Okpala was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 32nd overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft on June 20. His draft rights were traded to the Miami Heat in a deal that will be finalized on July 6. Okpala is the youngest player in program history to be selected in the NBA Draft. He joined Brook and Robin Lopez as the only sophomores from Stanford to be picked in the NBA Draft. At 20 years and one month old at the time of the NBA Draft, Okpala is a month younger than Brook (10th overall) and Robin (15th overall) were when they were selected in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. Okpala is the 38th overall NBA Draft selection from Stanford. He is the first Cardinal to be drafted since Anthony Brown's selection by the Los Angeles Lakers (34th overall) in 2015.
SHARMA PICKED UP BY UTAH JAZZ
The Utah Jazz added Josh Sharma to their NBA Summer League Team. The Cardinal senior will compete with the Jazz in their Summer League in Utah in July.
STANFORD RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF NCAA's TOPS IN APR AGAIN
Stanford was one of 35 programs to earn special recognition and the only Pac-12 selection in the Academic Progress Rate report released in May.
ALL-PAC-12 STANDOUTS
Sophomore KZ Okpala and senior Josh Sharma earned All-Pac-12 honors. Okpala was a First Team All-Pac-12 selection, while Sharma was an honorable mention pick.
Okpala, who was named a semifinalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, ranks sixth in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 17.1 ppg. The sophomore owns 15 20-point games this season, the second-most of anyone in the Pac-12. Okpala also ranks 16th in the conference in rebounds (5.8 rpg) and 11th in defensive rebounds (4.6 drpg). He ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring in conference games, averaging 17.5 ppg.
TEAM AWARDS
The Hank Luisetti Most Valuable Player Award went to KZ Okpala at the team awards banquet in the middle of April. Josh Sharma and Oscar da Silva were each the recipient of the Howie Dallmar Coach's Award. Junior Rodney Herenton was the recipient of the Peter Sauer Most Inspirational Award. Freshman Bryce Wills captured the Roy Young Toughness Award.
PAC-12's MOST IMPROVED PLAYER (in our opinion)
Senior Josh Sharma's standout senior season on The Farm made him one of the leading candidates for the Pac-12's Most Improved Player Award. He established a school record for field goal percentage in a season in 2018-19. His mark of .673 was not only a program record, it was the eighth-best field goal percentage in a season in Pac-12 history. Sharma completed his standout career eighth on Stanford's field goal percentage list, shooting .563 for his career. The Cardinal senior was an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection as a senior, after finishing the year as the conference's field goal percentage leader and ranking in the top-10 in the league in offensive rebounds (3rd, 2.6 orpg), blocks (7th, 1.4 bpg) and rebounds (9th, 7.1 rpg). He averaged 11.3 ppg and 8.2 rpg during Pac-12 play, posting double-doubles in five of his final seven games. Sharma averaged 14.7 ppg and 11.1 rpg over those final seven contests.
Sharma collected Pac-12 Player of the Week honors twice during the season. The Cardinal senior was first recognized in late December after a 23-point, 18-rebound performance in the win over Long Beach State. He was honored again after posting a double-double in a sweep of UCLA and USC in February.
Following his Stanford career, Sharma was selected to play in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) College All-Star Game, featuring 20 of the nation's most outstanding seniors in NCAA Division I men's basketball. It was held on the court at the NCAA Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota in April.
CARDINAL QUARTET HONORED
Four members were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams. Isaac White was part of the six-member Pac-12 All-Academic First Team. Kodye Pugh and Trevor Stanback were second-team selections and Oscar da Silva was an honorable mention pick. Pugh was recognized for the second consecutive year, after earning honorable mention laurels last season.
Stanford's 70 total all-academic selections in the 34 years the Pac-12 has honored its academic standouts leads the conference. The total is 31 more than the next closest conference school (Washington State).
YOUNG SQUAD
Eleven of Stanford's 15 players were in their first or second year playing. Only senior Josh Sharma and juniors Marcus Sheffield, Trevor Stanback and Rodney Herenton had more than two years of playing experience. First and second-year players accounted for 81% of Stanford's minutes, 79% of Stanford's scoring and 77% of Stanford's rebounding in 2018-19.
Freshmen and sophomores have combined for 131 out of a possible 155 starts. Stanford's starting lineup in seven games was made up of all freshmen and sophomores. The Cardinal is one of only four teams in Division I that started all freshmen and sophomores, joining East Carolina, Incarnate Word and Mount St. Mary's.
WILLS ONE OF NATION'S YOUNGEST PLAYERS
With a birthdate of October 13, 2000, Bryce Wills was the youngest player in the Pac-12 and one of the youngest in Division I. Wills was the seventh-youngest player in the nation. He started the final 15 games, and 23 overall. In Pac-12 play, Wills is averaged 7.6 ppg.
DAVIS DID IT ALL
Sophomore Daejon Davis was fourth in the Pac-12 in assists (4.6 apg) and seventh in steals (1.6 spg). He was third in the conference with 5.3 apg during Pac-12 action. Davis posted a season-best 19 points in three games, against Kansas, Eastern Washington and San Francisco. The point guard ranks in the top-20 in program history with 274 career assists.
The sophomore recorded at least four points, four rebounds, and four assists OR four steals in a game six times in 2018-19. Against Colorado, he recorded 16 points, six assists and four rebounds. Davis has posted at least four points, four rebounds, four assists AND four steals in two games against UNC Wilmington and Middle Tennessee.
13 FOR NO. 13
Sophomore Oscar da Silva was the lone member of the Cardinal to start all 31 games. He averaged 9.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg. The forward, who averaged 28.3 mpg, finished second on the team in blocks with 40 on the season. He finished the season ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in blocks (1.3 bpg) and 13th in rebounding. The sophomore registered four 20-point games on the year, posting a career-best 23 points against both San Jose State and Oregon State. He recorded three double-doubles for the season. Stanford was 5-1 on the season when da Silva scored at least 13 points.
HALL OF FAME
One of Stanford's all-time greats is set to be recognized among college basketball's all-time greats. Todd Lichti, who starred at Stanford from 1985-89, will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 24 at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, Missouri. Lichti will be the second National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductee from the Stanford program in the last three years. Mike Montgomery was a 2016 inductee.
A three-time All-America selection, Lichti is one of only four players in conference history and the lone Cardinal to earn all-conference honors each of his four years. One of the most decorated players in program history, Lichti completed his career as Stanford's leading scorer with 2,336 career points. More than three decades after his graduation, the total ranks second all-time. He scored in double figures in 121 of his 124 career games on The Farm.
The event will precede the 2019 Hall of Fame Classic, which will feature Stanford in its four-team field along with Butler, Missouri and Oklahoma.
