“When your season ends the past three years like it has for us and you haven’t made the NCAA tournament, you think about all the things that kept you out of it,” Stanford senior forward Josh Huestis said. “Then being here makes you think about what the difference is.
“I mean, the biggest difference for us is just the experience we’ve gained from the past three years. We’ve got a lot of guys that have played in so many games and been in so many different situations that we’ve been able to close out certain games and situations that we weren’t able to in the past.”
Strong conference: Stanford is one of three Pac-12 teams left in the tournament along with No. 4 seed UCLA in the South Region and No. 1 seed Arizona in the West Region.
UCLA plays No. 1 seed Florida in the second game tonight in Memphis, while Archie Miller’s brother Sean and Arizona play No. 4 seed San Diego State at 10:17 tonight in Anaheim, Calif.
“I saw the resurgence coming several years ago,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I thought we had a very competitive conference last year. We had four teams. We received four bids. I thought we could have received one or two more based on how we performed, and unfortunately, we didn’t.
“So going forward, with a lot of those players remaining in our conference, I knew it was going to be much better, and I think you see that now.”
Dawkins' son: Aubrey Dawkins, the son of the Stanford coach, is being recruited by Dayton. Dawkins is a senior at New Hampton Preparatory School in New Hampshire and will be at the game, according to an Associated Press report.
“I think both staffs will be focused on the task at hand but it is a neat thing that he’s being recruited by them and the success they’re having,” Johnny Dawkins told the Associated Press on Monday. “He really likes them. I’m just really happy for Archie (Miller) and his program because I know how hard he’s worked to get this opportunity so I know he’s making the most of it.”
Success in Saint Louis: Stanford advanced by beating No. 7 seed New Mexico 58-53 and No. 2 seed Kansas 60-57 in Saint Louis in the second and third rounds. That followed an 84-59 loss to UCLA in the Pac-12 semifinals
“What we’ve done very well the last several games is we defended at a high, high level every possession,” Dawkins said. “We always talk about the importance of defending every possession. It’s one thing to say that, it’s another thing to go out and execute it. Our guys have really been focused. Our concentration has been there with the game plan every single possession, which is something that’s always been exciting to me.”
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