Mather: Men’s basketball needs to bring excitement back to Maples

If one thing can be said about the last few seasons of Stanford basketball, it has to be that they’ve been filled with highs and lows. Even the staunchest Stanford supporter must have been left a bit disappointed by the Cardinal’s performance at the end of the last regular season, while even the biggest Johnny Dawkins detractor had to feel some joy after Stanford’s 2014 tournament victories over New Mexico and Kansas.

Problematically, however, many of the team’s greatest moments in recent memory have occurred thousands of miles away from the school’s student body and central fan base.

Stanford’s runs to the 2015 NIT Finals and the 2014 Sweet 16, for instance, were played in New York City and Memphis, far out of the travel range of all but the most dedicated West Coast-based fans.

Even in the regular season, supposed home court advantage has seemed to have the opposite effect on Stanford basketball. The Cardinal have earned road wins against top-10 opponents in both of the last two seasons, yet they failed to record the same level of achievement when they returned to The Farm.

These realities have seemed to build a bit of disconnect between Stanford and its basketball program. Let-downs at Maples have gradually pushed fans toward the wealth of more successful sports that call Stanford’s athletic venues home, and attendance at basketball games has dwindled to a point where “The Miracle at Maples” seems like it must have occurred in an alternate universe.

It’s hard to point to anything other than sheer randomness as being responsible for this phenomenon. There aren’t any great explanations for why game-winning shots at home have rimmed out while those on the road have somehow sunk.

Admittedly Stanford’s shift toward a less-fluid style of play probably hasn’t helped the team create memorable moments, but there’s still not any single reason why the shortcomings of this strategy have been most effectively displayed right in front of the eyes of Stanford faithful.

Yet even if Stanford basketball doesn’t totally deserve the blame for this phenomenon, it falls on the shoulders of the program to fix it. Long-time fans have the luxury of waiting out a few comparatively off years of basketball. Johnny Dawkins and the current players do not.

As bad as the preseason news has seemed for this upcoming season, there are plenty of reasons to hope that this year might be the start of something new. While a season-ending injury to sophomore Robert Cartwright likely will mean that a spectacular passing game for the Cardinal remains at least a season away, sophomores Reid Travis and Michael Humphrey have shown the ability to create dazzling moments through their interior play. Explosive dunks and offensive rebounds may finally return to Maples en masse after taking a bit of a year off last year with Stefan Nastic starting in the five.

Youth and inexperience, while not always conducive to championship-level play, might also be a little overdue on the court. After three straight years of largely seeing the same players carry the Stanford basketball mantle it might do everybody a little good to get the chance to examine new stars and chant out new names.

Of course, the most important way to get fans involved again is to come out on top in close games. It may be a tall order for this young squad to finally topple perpetual conference-winner Arizona or hold its own against an upstart Cal squad in the Big Game, but if Stanford could achieve something of this magnitude it would do a lot to encourage fans that their trips to the stadium might bring them something special. Such a victory could finally start to decisively shift the story of Stanford basketball more toward the optimism that was historically characteristic of it in the pre-Dawkins era.

It almost seems that Maples itself has been designed with such a remarkable moment in mind. The Sixth Man sits just an arms length away from the action, filled with fans who might just increase their interest in the team if a signature win does occur in the arena.

All that’s needed is the sound of a perfect “swoosh.”

To burst Andrew Mather’s bubble and remind him that this year, which already seems to be spoiled by injuries, may not be the year for a Maples resurgence, email him at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.