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ALMOST: Fans hoped for another
miracle comeback, but Grunfeld’s shot hit
the rim.
Ben Margot/AP World Wide |
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.”
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