First-year Stanford coach Jerod Haase has an entire roster of players he didn’t recruit, including seven players who spent two or more seasons under former coach Johnny Dawkins, but that isn’t the problem he’s worried about now.
The Cardinal just needs to play better.
“The cool part from day one is that the the guys were very, very coachable,” Haase said last week. “There wasn’t any pushback with the new staff. They were invested right away. But I think overall we’re still thinking a little bit too much. We still have capable shooters and ballhandlers but we’re thinking about the game. … We still have a lot of work together to do.”
After the Cardinal lost 98-93 to ASU on Friday, Haase said he wanted them to think – and play hard.
“We have to be cerebral and understand the scouting reports and understand the plays that they’re running, but we have to then be able to play with passion and have a greater sense of urgency,” Haase said after the game, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “With Arizona, obviously, if we don’t have that sense of urgency on every single play and every situation, just trying to do the right thing and say we’re playing hard is not going to be enough. So that’s something we’re going to have to solve.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not challenging our guys in terms of character. We have high-character guys who do the right thing. But there’s another gear we have to find, and I define that gear as passion.”
