NCAA Basketball: 10 sleeper teams to watch heading into 2023-24 season

Stanford Cardinal

No coach at the power-five level gets to coach seven years without making the NCAA Tournament.

Unless you’re Jerod Haase and the Stanford Cardinal, of course.

Haase came off a not-so-spectacular 14-19 campaign, yet was retained by AD Bernard Muir with hopes of ending their nine-season drought of zero NCAA Tournament appearances. (Stanford last made the NCAA Tournament in 2014).

Despite losing former five-star recruit Harrison Ingram to North Carolina, the Cardinal retained an experienced core in Spencer Jones and Michel Jones alongside adding Providence transfer Jared Bynum.

Additionally, Stanford brings the 32rd-best recruiting class, per 24/7 Sports, highlighted by four-star forward Andrej Stojakovic (#18) and four-star guard Kanaan Carlyle (#57). Both are expected to play a critical role in year eight of the Haase era.

The unique blend of experienced veterans and talented freshmen gives plenty of optimism for the Cardinal heading into the 2023-2024 season. The Cardinal, according to Bart Torvik, will return 79.3 percent of their returning minutes which should yet again help them become quite efficient on the offensive side of the floor.

In a way, this seems like a do-or-die year for Jerod Haase. If there is any team to finally get over the hump and end their March Madness drought, it’s not completely of-of-the-box to think that the Stanford Cardinal will hear their name called on Selection Sunday.