Head coach Trent Johnson was the first to use the U word.
“Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly,” he said about the Cardinal’s 79-63 season-opening loss to UC-Irvine on November 19. “They were the aggressor and they basically gave us an old-fashioned tail-whupping.”
Sports writers picked up the refrain, dubbing the 82-69 February 16 win over Arizona State “ugly” and the 39-37 February 25 win over Washington State “all-time ugly.” Then there was that telling front-page photo in the Stanford Daily—Johnson squatting on the sidelines, disconsolate, as his team succumbed to the Washington Huskies, 75-57, on February 23. Talk began that the Cardinal (16-14, 11-7 Pac-10) would not make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.
The rumor played out, and the Cardinal only made it through the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, beating Virginia 65-49 on March 14. Three days later, the seventh-seeded men bowed out, losing to second-seeded Missouri State, 76-67.
“It’s definitely not what we’re accustomed to,” Johnson says. “We caused some tough times and problems for ourselves by our inability to compete at a high level when the season started. Cal-Irvine [79-63 loss] was inexcusable. Cal-Davis [64-58 loss] bothers me. Virginia Tech [59-52 loss] bothers me. We got outworked.”
That’s not to say that there weren’t glory moments for seniors Matt Haryasz, who led the team in scoring with 16.2 points per game, and Chris Hernandez, who became known as “Mr. Clutch” for his game-winning baskets. “Chris has done a really good job from a leadership standpoint, sometimes being vocal, sometimes leading by example,” Johnson says. “It’s one of the things we’re going to miss about Chris.”
As the coach starts spring practice, he is talking about “tightening up” for the coming season. “If you look at the guys who are returning, there’s not a guy in that locker room who was All-Pac-10,” he says. “That says something about how hard we have to work.” Spring practice, he adds, will include a lot of tape watching and weight lifting. “We have to get bigger and stronger, and we have to have a tougher mentality.”
A highly touted pair of twins—incoming freshmen Brook and Robin Lopez—should help. “Yeah, I’m excited—they’re 7-foot, 245 pounds and talented,” Johnson says. “But the excitement is leveled by the fact that the expectation on these guys should be no different than the expectations on the team. Because Brook and Robin aren’t going to come here and dominate and take us to the NCAA. It’s going to be a total team effort.”
