Men’s Basketball Gets into the Zone
“We’re rebuilding and we’re reloading,” senior guard Julius Barnes said after scoring a career-high 28 points—and tying the school record for three-pointers with eight—in Stanford’s 79-62 victory over Rice November 24. No kidding. Unranked before the season began, the men’s basketball team was expected to suffer mightily from the loss of would-be seniors Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt to the NBA. But the Cardinal jumped out to a winning record as of late November, first defeating Boston University, 61-57, then knocking off No. 11 Xavier, 63-62. On the way to the finals of the preseason NIT against North Carolina, which Stanford lost 74-57, the team upset No. 7 Florida, 69-65. Make that unranked and underestimated.
Farewell, Big Game Streak
Although junior wide receiver Teyo Johnson caught an 8-yard touchdown pass on Stanford’s opening possession, the football team lost the 105th Big Game, 30-7, before a sellout crowd at UC-Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium on November 23. Johnson caught five passes for 61 yards, but there were few other bright spots for the struggling Cardinal (2-9, 1-7 Pac-10). Cal’s Joe Igber, meanwhile, had the biggest rushing day in Big Game history, with 226 yards on 26 carries. The Axe, which had resided for seven years at Stanford, was paraded around at midfield.
Defeating Cal on the Way to the Postseason
Men’s water polo, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer, on the other hand, all won games against Cal before heading into postseason play. In the Big Splash, top-ranked Stanford improved its record to 16-6 by defeating No. 2 Cal, 8-7, scoring the final goal with five seconds remaining. But in the second round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, the Golden Bears returned the favor, defeating Stanford, 8-7. In the four Stanford-Cal water polo matchups this year, each team won twice, each time by one goal. At press time, both teams were headed to the NCAA tournament, where a final showdown was possible. The women’s volleyball team closed out Pac-10 play with a 3-2 victory over Cal, powered by sophomore outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani’s 20 kills. The Cardinal entered the December NCAAs with a No. 3 ranking and a 27-4 record. Senior outside hitter Logan Tom became the third player in history to repeat as Pac-10 women’s volleyball player of the year. Her player-of-the-year counterpart on the soccer field, senior forward Marcia Wallis, netted both goals in Stanford’s 2-1 victory over Cal November 2. A few weeks later, Wallis scored the only goal in the No. 1 Cardinal’s third-round NCAA game against Notre Dame. But in the quarterfinals, the team fell to Portland, 4-2, in penalty kicks after double overtime failed to resolve a scoreless tie.
