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South Region Matchup: No. 7 University of New Mexico Lobos vs. No. 10 Stanford Cardinal
When: Friday, March 21, 2014, 1:40 p.m. ET (11:40 a.m. MT)
Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
TV: TBS
The Stanford Cardinal received an at-large berth for the first time under head coach Johnny Dawkins. The last time the Cardinal were in the NCAA bracket they advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed.
Stanford enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed with an overall record of 21-12. The Cardinal 10-8 in the Pac-12 and tied for 3rd in the Pac-12 Tournament after getting shellacked by UCLA, 84-59.
Stanford's RPI rank is 41 and its Strength of Schedule rank is 16. The Cardinal went 3-2 against Top 25 opponents. Their best wins were at Connecticut, at Oregon, and UCLA. Their worse losses were at Oregon State, California, at Washington, and Colorado. Never ranked, the Cardinal were also outside the top 30 in the BPI (36) and KenPom (40) to finish the season.
The Cardinal have a lot of experience. Eight Cardinal players have been in the program for four seasons, including four of the five starters.
Stanford's leading scorer is Chasson Randle. Randle is a crafty 6-2 junior guard with a 18.7 scoring average. He shoots 48.5 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the line. He scored in double figures 28 times during the regular season and twice matched his career high of 33 points.
6-10 Dwight Powell averages another 14.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. Powell is a stretch-4 who can hit shots from anywhere on the floor and is good at finding open teammates. He also averages 1.3 steals per game.
6-6 Anthony Brown averages 12.7 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from 3-point range. Brown is also strong on the dribble drive and is considered to be the team's best perimeter defender.
Josh Huestis is a 6-7 wing averaging 11.4 points and a team-best 8.3 boards. Huestis is Stanford's all-time shot blocker with 60 this season.
The Cardinal create a lot of space by employing a triangle offense that minimizes bad shots. Stanford can also create a lot of problems because they have a lot of size but shoot the ball well from outside, ranking 59th in the nation. Their biggest weakness is offensive rebounding where the Cardinal rank 228th.
Stanford has the components and the experience to make some noise. If they find quality shots and convert a few offensive rebounds the Cardinal can play with anybody.
