10. Stanford Cardinal - 9-5 (1-2)
The Cardinal started out the season 6-0, but the losses to Grand Canyon and Cal Poly brought them back down to earth. They had a trio of Quad 1 opportunities in the last three games, taking on Oregon, Clemson, and Pittsburgh. After falling to Oregon, they went out east to take on two of the top teams in the ACC.
The results weren’t good. On the road at Clemson, Stanford was down just two points, but the offense struggled in the second half, falling 85-71. Oziyah Sellers led the team with 20 points, while star big man Maxime Raynaud finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jaylen Blakes did have 13 points and five assists but also turned it over seven times.
The outcome versus Pittsburgh went similarly. They were up by eight points early in the game, but once Raynaud was slowed down, the Cardinal went down by as much as 20 points in an 83-68 defeat. Raynaud was the lone starter in double figures with 21 points, while Chison Okpara had all 14 points in the second half during garbage time.
Stanford returns home in the next week, taking on both Virginia and Virginia Tech. The tough recent schedule with the Cardinal gives them the benefit of the doubt for now, but if they don’t go 2-0 in the next week, they probably aren’t going to be a top-half team.