Getting In Very Deep WSU Faces Stanford And Its Endless Bench
UCLA won a national championship in 1995 with J.R. Henderson coming off the bench. Arizona claimed last year’s title with Jason Terry in reserve.
If the sixth man was indispensable on the last two Pacific-10 Conference teams to go all the way, he is practically invisible at Stanford, where 12th-year coach Mike Montgomery has built America’s deepest college basketball team.
Eleven Stanford players average at least 10 minutes of playing time per game. Seven average more than six points, including four in double figures. Five have made at least 20 3-pointers. Six have been credited with more than 20 assists.
On and on it goes.
Not coincidentally, Stanford is 16-0 overall, 5-0 in the Pac-10 and ranked No. 5 nationally. Utah (15-0) is the only other undefeated team.
“You can’t argue with 16-0,” WSU coach Kevin Eastman said this week, as the Cougars prepared for tonight’s 7:35 home game against the Cardinal, to be televised live on Fox Sports Northwest.
Arizona and defending Pac-10 champion UCLA may have better starters, but Stanford has more depth than both combined.
Perhaps no other team would dare to play five backups simultaneously against a Top 10 opponent, as Stanford did in the first half of last week’s 90-83 victory over the Bruins.
The Cardinal led by 18 at halftime, thanks largely to backup point guard Michael McDonald, who saw extended playing time while Arthur Lee sat out with foul trouble.
“Stanford has what every coach dreams about - great interior post play and tremendous 3-point shooting,” UCLA coach Steve Lavin said.
If one had to settle on a single strength, it would be on the interior. Tim Young, Mark Madsen and Peter Sauer average nearly 33 points and 20 rebounds per game.
“They are the most dominant team around the basket, not just in the Pac-10 but in the nation,” Lavin proclaimed.
The depth seems unending: Young, Madsen, Sauer, Pete Van Elswyk, Jarron Collins and Mark Seaton up front; Lee, Kris Weems, Ryan Mendez, David Moseley and McDonald in the backcourt.
Madsen, the starting power forward, has missed the last five games with a foot injury. The Cardinal have hardly seemed to notice, beating Oregon State, Oregon, Cal, USC and UCLA by an average margin of 20.4 points.
The loss of freshman forward Jason Collins, Jarron’s twin brother, to a season-ending knee injury has also been absorbed seamlessly.
Montgomery has had good Stanford teams before, reflected in his 221-127 record there. But each of those teams relied more heavily upon a single star. Todd Lichti’s team went 26-7 in 1988-89. Adam Keefe’s team made the NCAAs three years later. Brevin Knight took last year’s team to the Sweet 16.
And now?
“We’re really into the team philosophy,” Sauer said.
Weems leads Stanford with 13.8 points per game, but is he any more valuable than Madsen, Young or even Sauer?
Madsen averages 12 points and 6.8 rebounds. Young averages 10.9 and 7.6. Sauer isn’t far behind at 9.7 and 5.1.
And don’t forget Lee, who has averaged 11.8 points and 4.4 assists while working the Knight shift.
“I like our personnel and I like our depth,” Montgomery said, trying not to gloat.
Unfortunately for the rest of the Pac-10, Stanford is only going to get better. Van Elswyk is the only senior.
How has Montgomery done it?
“First of all, he’s identified who he can and can’t go after in recruiting,” Eastman said. “Their lists are not large. He spends more quality time with less players than most everybody else in the league. That would be the root of it.”
Landing the Collins twins was an exception, marking one of the rare times Montgomery has edged out UCLA and Arizona for blue-chippers.
” I can remember talking to him even before the Collinses,” Eastman said, “and he said, ‘If we get them, great, but we haven’t beaten UCLA or Arizona on a player since we’ve been here. Let them get theirs and then I’m going to get the next two after that, who are also pretty good players.”’
Eastman sees two other keys behind Montgomery’s success: using the university’s reputation to recruit on a national level - Knight came from New Jersey, for example - and teaching players the value of patience.
“Like an Art Lee,” Eastman said. “We recruited him hard and he ends up going to Stanford - knowing that he would probably play a lot for us right now, and very little for them because of Brevin Knight.”
Signing the Collinses may not signify a change in recruiting philosophy, but it can only help in the future.
“It opens up other players’ eyes to the fact that legitimate, top-15 players will go to Stanford,” Eastman said. “And you can’t argue with being fifth-ranked.”
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