Originally Published: February 12, 2004
Two legit to lose?
 St. Joe's is as good as their record. In fact, its undefeated season is only mildly surprising to me. If you look at their schedule, it has been reasonable but not overwhelmingly difficult. And most of their quality wins have come on the road at California, Villanova, Xavier, Penn and Richmond. And this doesn't even cout its win over Gonzaga to start the season at Madison Square Garden, a neutral site. In all, the Hawks are 13-0 away from Hawk Hill.What has been equally impressive is the way St. Joe's has won. The Hawks have almost effortlessly dispatched most of their opponents, winning all but two games by at least seven points. While everybody is finally aware of how good the backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Delonte West is, it how Phil Martelli uses them that impresses me the most. First of all, each guard has the ability to break down any defense in the country and get into the lane. This negates the lack of a proven inside scorer. It doesn't matter how you get the ball to the basket as long as you can get some layups and free throws to take the pressure off your outside shooting. Secondly, what has made guarding the Hawks more difficult is that they CAN shoot the ball behind the arc. As a team, St. Joe's shoots 41 percent from the 3-point arc, To make perimeter even more difficult to guard, Martelli employs his big men, Dwayne Jones and John Bryant as screeners on the perimeter. That forces each big man's defender to help away from the basket and opens up more driving opportunities for Nelson and West. Nelson not only scores and defends, but he "coaches" the team on the floor He knows tempo, knows who's hot and who's not, is Philly-tough, and plays with the confidence of a Flying Wallenda on a tightrope. The Hawks, because of this great run, will be favored in every game they play into the Elite Eight.  Stanford is just a flat-out good basketball team. If the Cardinal played on Tobacco Road or in the Big East, it might not be undefeated ... but, on the other hand, they might be.Stanford suffer from the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality on the part of basketball experts because they are in the Pacific Time Zone and the Pac-10 is down this season. No one remembers their quality wins over Gonzaga and Kansas in December. One of the biggest reasons this team is undefeated is that it knows how to handle adversity. Because of injuries, the Cardinal has had its full compliment of players for only seven games. I was surprised that they got through the early part of the season unscathed without All-American candidate Josh Childress. Stanford's talent level as team doesn't seem to get a lot of respect. But, Childress was one of the top 10 players out of high school in 2001. He is now one of the best rebounding small forwards in the country. Justin Davis was a McDonald's All-American in 1999, who redshirted as a freshman behind three NBA players, the Collins twins and Curtis Borchardt. Likewise, Matt Lottich backed up Casey Jacobsen for two years. It is controversial to say, but Chris Hernandez is as important to Stanford as Jameer Nelson is to St. Joe's. Physically, he does all the things a great point guard should do like shoot 92 percent from the foul line, 52 percent from the 3-point line, and dish out five assists a game. More importantly, his toughness and intensity belies the cerebral image that Stanford University enjoys. Like St. Joe's, the only thing in the way of an undefeated regular season would be a below-average outing. Five of the Cardinal's last seven games in the conference -- along with the three Pac-10 tournament games -- will be on the road. The game at California on Saturday night is a rivalry game and the young Bears are improving. But, this is a very mature Cardinal team that has been together now to two years. They obviously know how to win ... no matter where the game is played. |
- Rumors: Self wants more ball movement at KU
- The Mag: Confidential player surveys
- NBA Draft Blog: Most volatile draft stocks
- Pick Center: Simulate the scoreboard