Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Stanford Cardinal

The Pac-12 doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in college basketball lately, but that’s the conference’s own fault, as it’s been a fairly pathetic conference over the last couple of seasons. Many of the teams took advantage of the largest transfer portal ever, and we will see a lot of new faces this season. There will be plenty of hype surrounding the UCLA Bruins after their unlikely final four run last year while teams like Oregon, Arizona and USC try to gain relevance once more. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the WSU Cougars and their juicy roster, but the amount of projected bottom feeders could lead to another disappointing season for the Pac-12.

Nevertheless, there will be firepower on each of these rosters and Pac-12 Thursday DFS slates tend to be some of the most chaotic of the week. Let’s break down each team and identify the players to watch for this upcoming season.

In this one, Stanford.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Stanford Cardinal 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 14-13 (10-10 Pac-12), seventh in Pac-12
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Stanford Cardinal

Oscar Da Silva (playing overseas)
Ziaire Williams (playing professionally)
Daejon Davis (transferred to Washington)
Bryce Wills (playing professionally)

Key Additions | Stanford Cardinal

Harrison Ingram (top 20 recruit)
Jarvis Moss (3 star recruit)
Isael Silva (top 70 recruit)

Returners | Stanford Cardinal

Jaiden Delaire (12.5 PPG/4.1 RPG/1 APG)
Michael O’Connell (6.7 PPG/3 RPG/2.8 APG/1.3 SPG)
Spencer Jones (8.2 PPG/3.9 RPG/1.2 SPG)
Lukas Kisunas (3.3 PPG/3.4 RPG)
Noah Taitz (3.3 PPG)

Stanford Cardinal Outlook for 2021-2022

Chronic injuries to program mainstays like Oscar Da Silva and Daejon Davis really derailed the 2020 season for the Cardinal; they’ve been stuck in mediocrity for far too long. Jerod Haase keeps bringing in talented freshmen, but at some point, he has to develop them and win games.

He brings in stud frosh Harrison Ingram this year and he will be hoping he can produce at a higher level than Ziaire Williams just did. Williams still got drafted highly because of his monster potential but he just didn’t look very good most of the time under Haase. I am nervous for Ingram but think he has the talent to become a useful fantasy commodity.

Jaiden Delaire will have to step up and be the alpha for this team after 2-3 seasons as a role player. He semi broke out last year to produce the best numbers of his career. He was the Pac-12 most improved player last year, so he is at least headed in the right direction. Another vet on the team is Spencer Jones. He is a career 41% three-point shooter so I wouldn’t expect much to change for him other than he may take more shots this year.

Michael O’Connell stepped up last year and should function as a more than adequate point guard in his sophomore season. He was top 10 in steal rate last year in the Pac-12 and had a 20.2% assist rate. Frosh ‘Isa’ Silva comes to town as a 4-star recruit known for his passing ability so he could push O’Connell for early playing time.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Stanford is yet another Pac-12 team that lost the bulk of its production last year and will be trying to rebuild on the fly. The Cardinal bring back quality pieces in Jones, O’Connell, and Delaire, but will it be enough to compete at a high level? I think that hinges on the ability of Harrison Ingram to step in and play at a high level right away.