SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford men's basketball is postseason bound for the first time since 2018, hosting the first round of the NIT against visiting CSUN. The contest will tip off at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18 on ESPN2.
THE STARTING FIVE
• The Cardinal holds a 20-13 record this season (11-9 ACC), including ACC wins over North Carolina, SMU, California (2x), Virginia Tech, Virginia, Florida State, Syracuse, NC State, Boston College and Miami, including two quadrant one NET wins. The Cardinal went 16-2 at home this season and 9-1 in ACC play.
• Stanford’s roster holds an exciting mix of returning players, transfers and freshmen, led by the premier center in the country, Maxime Raynaud. Selected to the All-ACC first team, Raynaud is 15th nationally in scoring at 20.1 points per game and ninth in rebounding with 10.6 per night. He is second in the ACC in scoring and first in rebounding, and his 23 double-doubles this season pace the nation. No other major conference player has more than 21, and he is the only player in the country averaging at least 20 and 10.
• Three players are averaging double figures, paced by Raynaud but also including Oziyah Sellers (13.6) and Jaylen Blakes (12.9). Both players are posting career-best numbers by a comfortable margin.
• Stanford is postseason bound for the first time since 2018, while acknowledging the program was in a position to make the NCAA Tournament in 2020 before the cancelation of the event. The Cardinal is a three-time NIT Champion, winning it all in 1991, 2012 and 2015.
• Kyle Smith joined the Cardinal from Washington State as the reigning Pac-12 Coach of the Year, where he led the Cougars to 25 wins and the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24.
NIT-PICKING
Stanford owns three NIT Championships in program history, coming in 1991, 2012 and 2015, while holding an all-time record of 19-6 across nine appearances. Stanford is 11-2 at home in the NIT, including nine straight wins from 2006-18, and it has advanced to the second round, or further, in each of its last five appearances. The postseason appearance is the fourth in a row for a Kyle Smith-led program, including an NCAA Tournament second round showing in 2024 with Washington State.
SWEPT CAL
Stanford earned its third victory of the season over rival California, 78-73, in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The three-game sweep of Cal is the first for the program since 1962, as Stanford improved to 4-3 all-time against the Golden Bears in a conference tournament. The regular season sweep was Stanford's first over California since 2021, and Stanford went unbeaten against Cal for the first time since 2015. The Cardinal has won five straight games with the Bears, marking the first 5-0 stretch since winning six in a row from March 8, 2003-Jan. 13, 2006. The meeting was the fourth against Cal in a conference tournament game in the past six seasons, with Stanford ending the Cal season in each of the last two years. The battle in Charlotte was the easternmost matchup in series history, besting the 1990 Pac-12 Tournament matchup in Tempe, Arizona, while the contest was the first ‘Big Game’ in any sport in the eastern time zone since field hockey played Cal in the 2012 NorPac Tournament in Farmville, Virginia.