Stanford put together something of a hybrid approach to its no-fans protocol on Thursday.
Instead of pushing back lower seats and inserting cardboard βfansβ everywhere, as Pac-12 schools did routinely during the fan-less 2020-21 season, Stanford kept the seats down β but didnβt let anyone sit there.
The βfansβ on hand, about 75 total friends and family members, all sat in the middle levels of Maples Pavilion on top of what is normally the Stanford student section.
The rest of Maplesβ 7,233 seats were empty except for a handful of staffers, ushers and the Wildcatsβ bus driver. Arizona routed the Cardinal, 85-57.
Stanford did attempt to make up for the lack of atmosphere by cranking up canned music at every opportunity, and, of course, played a recorded version of βAll Right Now,β its fight song, at halftime.
Alone on an islandSitting alone in front of the βstudent sectionβ was the ESPNU broadcast table and on-air talent Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams.
For Williams, a former UA standout and Tucson resident, that meant playing his emotions off a different set of cues. But at least he had experience doing so calling games remotely or in empty arenas all of last season.
βUsually, the big plays, the crowd will let you know,β Williams said. βNow, if thereβs a big play, the other coach might call a time out and thatβs it.β
GPA record-breakersUA announced this week that the athletic department recorded a record-breaking 3.157 grade-point average in fall 2021 across all sports, and the menβs basketball team did its part.
The Wildcats recorded their highest-ever GPA for a semester, 3.04, breaking the previous mark set in fall 2003. While UA did not release individual names because of student-privacy laws, four players had 4.0 GPAs, while four others had between a 3.5 and a 3.99.
Andy Salgado, UAβs senior lead academic counselor, said the Wildcats celebrated the news at a recent practice, having been strongly encouraged by coach Tommy Lloyd to do well in the classroom.
βHe wants his guys to excel at everything,β Salgado said.
Salgado said having in-person learning last semester also made a big difference for the Wildcats, especially with some of their international sophomores who were struggling to learn English last season and at the same time having to attend classes only online.
Good times ahead?The Wildcats have plenty of time between Thursday nightβs game at Stanford and a Sunday afternoon game at Cal, but not many defined plans yet.
At least they didnβt until the game was over.
βNo crazy plans yet,β Lloyd said earlier this week. βItβs the old deal: Letβs see how we play. That usually determines a lot, the coachβs decision on what the guys can and canβt do. So if they play good Thursday, we might have some options.β
The Wildcats were scheduled to spend Thursday and Friday in Palo Alto, then move over to the East Bay at midday Saturday, where they will practice in advance of the Cal game.
Thatβs a more relaxed pace than during most of the Wildcatsβ previous Bay Area trips, where they have often bused directly to a hotel near the next game on the night after the first game.
Wildcat tiesTwo Stanford faces have strong roots with the Wildcats.
Assistant coach Adam Cohen was a staffer for former coaches Lute Olson and Kevin OβNeill before taking off on a journey that took him to USC, Vanderbilt, Harvard, Rice and now Stanford.
Stanford guard Sam Beskind was a former UA ballboy who regularly attended summer camps of Olson and former coach Sean Miller, while his family befriended UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie. Beskindβs father, Dan, is an emergency room doctor at Banner-University Medical Center.
βJust being a student at Stanford is an exceptional accomplishment itself,β said Kokoskie, who even let a young Beskind into the UA training room late in the Olson era. βBeing a member of the menβs team is beyond remarkable. Proud of him being from our city as he is such a hard worker.β
Burnin’ BeskindIf Kenpom.com kept analytics on “floor burns,” the trademark stat of Stanford coach Jerod Haase, Beskind would probably be the Cardinal’s leader in “floor burns per 40 minutes played.”
Despite averaging only 6.5 minutes a game and not playing at all in two others, the Tucson-bred reserve guard was in seventh place in Stanfordβs floor burns standings with 11.
Entering Thursdayβs game, Stanford said freshman Harrison Ingram led the team with 27 floor burns while post player James Keefe was second with 24 and point guard Michael OβConnell was third with 21.
After writing a book entitled βFloor Burnsβ about his hustling days on Kansasβ 1990s basketball teams, Haase has kept the stat in the Stanford books as a coach as a measure of energy and hustle.
No more trampolineWhen Arizona player relations director Jason Gardner walked on the Maples Pavilion floor Thursday for the first time since his Wildcats playing days from 1999-2003, he β¦ well, actually walked.
Gardner was a standout guard for Arizona at a time when the Maples floor was famously bouncy, so much so that it was sometimes blamed for affecting playersβ movements and even causing or worsening injuries, since players often came down just as the floor was going up.
Late in a tight game during his freshman season of 1999-2000, Gardner said he was fouled beyond the 3-point arc β and then went to the line with the floor just as excited Stanford students jumped up and down, pushing a βwaveβ in the floor Gardnerβs way.
Fortunately, Gardner said, officials helped out. They warned the Stanford students if they didnβt stop jumping, a technical foul would be called.
βI made all three free throws,β Gardner said.
Final score: Arizona by three, 68-65.
The big number0 β Stanford home losses in seven previous appearances this season entering Thursdayβs game.
