When Dan Grunfeld’s three-point attempt clanked off the rim and Alabama players began celebrating their upset NCAA tournament victory, it seemed the men’s basketball team had run out of inspiring endings. Until Nick Robinson stepped in.
The redshirt junior ran over to Grunfeld, who was sprawled in anguish on the floor of the Seattle Center’s Key Arena, and pulled him to his feet. “Great shot,” Robinson said, slapping his teammate’s rear. “That’s okay. Take that shot anytime.”
It was just what you’d expect from this Cardinal squad, one player encouraging another even at the team’s lowest moment. Stanford (30-2) remained undefeated until the final game of the regular season, climbed to No. 1 in the polls and cruised through the Pac-10 tournament. Then, on March 20, the top seed in the Phoenix region fell to eighth-seeded Alabama 70-67, exiting the NCAA tournament in the second round for the fifth time in six years. The players were stunned and disappointed. “I don’t ever, ever want to have this feeling again,” said sophomore Matt Haryasz. But they also remembered the rapport that got them there.
“A lot of teams would not have reacted that way,” says redshirt senior Joe Kirchofer, who, along with Matt Lottich and Justin Davis, will graduate in June. “We’re all friends first, and it’s important to have Dan know that [his shot was] exactly what we wanted. Nick’s the captain next year most likely, and Dan’s his best shooter. And it’s true—we were thrilled to get that shot. He had a good look at [the basket].”
With 7:40 remaining in the second half, the Cardinal led by 13 and appeared to have the game in hand. The Crimson Tide’s next 16 points went unanswered, however, and leading Stanford scorer and rebounder Josh Childress fouled out with 3:16 remaining. Down 67-59 with 29.2 seconds left, the Cardinal stormed back behind two Lottich three-pointers and a Davis layup. When Alabama missed two free throws, Robinson grabbed the rebound and rushed up court, passing the ball to Grunfeld. But the comeback kids—who’d squeaked by in the final seconds against Arizona State, Oregon, Arizona and Washington State—couldn’t do it this time.
Nor had they done so against Washington, which dashed the Cardinal’s hopes for a perfect regular season with a 75-62 defeat March 6. Was Seattle a jinx? Head coach Mike Montgomery dismissed the notion. “The relevance of the past, or the relevance of being in Seattle, has nothing to do with how we play,” he said after the NCAA loss. “There is no magic, there [are] no ghosts.”
Indeed, Stanford won its first-round NCAA tournament game in the Seattle Center, trouncing the University of Texas-San Antonio 71-45. Childress—the Pac-10 Player of the Year and first-team All-American—led the way with 26 points and nine rebounds. And on March 31, the junior confirmed he would apply for June’s NBA draft. By not signing with an agent, Childress can decide to return for his senior season under the NCAA’s “test the waters” rule. “I owe it to myself to see where I stand,” he told the San Jose Mercury News. “If it doesn’t work out this year, I know what I’ll need to improve on.”
The Cardinal returns standouts Rob Little, ’05, Chris Hernandez, ’05, Haryasz and Robinson, but it’s hard to make predictions about next year until June 17—the deadline for Childress to remove his name from the draft. “Josh is a big part of the team and a big part of our success, and we know that with success is going to come looks from the NBA,” Little told the Mercury News. “It’s to be expected and a credit to the program. But we’ll be sad to see Josh go if he does.”
