The Big Game, Basketball Style

Sunday was the last regular season game for Stanford basketball before the Pac-12 tournament starts this week in Los Angeles, so it was my last opportunity as a Stanford student to visit Maples Pavilion.  The game was against Cal, and since I missed my chance last season to see the two Bay Area rivals battle on the hardwood at Maples, I made sure to make it out for this year's game (which Stanford surprisingly won 75-70).  While the game lacked the energy that follows the two teams when they square off in football for the annual "Big Game," it was at least a rare opportunity to see the Cardinal's gym virtually filled to capacity.

During my first visit to Maples last year, I commented that the arena could be a great place to watch a basketball game if the crowd was into it.  Unfortunately, that hasn't happened much during my two seasons in Palo Alto - the team's relative lack of success has pushed prospective fans away, and all of the school's spirit has been transferred over to the football team.  Even when the Cardinal hoops team is mediocre (they finished 7th in the Pac-12 this year), though, people will come out to see Stanford battle the Golden Bears.  The Cal fans showed up in numbers, too - around a quarter of the upper section was taken up by navy-and-gold-clad Berkeley fans, many of whom were holding "Occupy Maples" signs.  Between the two fan bases and their dueling bands and mascots, it was a shockingly great atmosphere.  

A (nearly) packed house at Maples Pavilion?  Yep, it actually happened.

The Cardinal seemed to feed off of the crowd's energy, and won the game because of hustle and determination, not necessarily skill.  It should be hard to win basketball games on the road in the NCAA, but Stanford's fans have made it way too easy on the opposition to come into Maples and steal a victory.  It's impossible to say how the Cardinal would have played if the crowd wasn't so into it, but I have to think the fans made a difference.  For their part, the Stanford players seemed to really appreciate the support - there's been a big push to get more people, particularly students, to the games this season, so hopefully this is the start of something bigger and better for Cardinal hoops.  After the game, the players showed their appreciation by walking through the Stanford student section on their way to the locker room.  I have no idea if that's an annual tradition or something new, but I thought it was a smart and classy move.

Led by the seniors, the Stanford players thanked their fans after the game.

Stanford starts the Pac-12 tournament against #10 seed Arizona State this week, and hopefully the Card can ride the momentum from the Cal victory to a nice little tournament run.  If they beat the Sun Devils, their next game will be against the #2 seeded Golden Bears, a team the Cardinal now knows it can beat.  While they won't have the support of their home crowd behind them this time, hopefully enough fans will travel down to Staples Center for the games to at least sprinkle a respectable amount of cardinal red and white throughout the stands.  Between the Cal and hometown UCLA fans, we can be sure that there will be plenty of blue and gold everywhere.