Stanford Basketball Entering Week of Monumental Importance

It’s a fine Monday morning here in Palo Alto, but all I’m thinking about is basketball. With two of the biggest games of the season approaching, it’s hard to even take your mind off it. Stanford fans, get ready, because this is the biggest week that Cardinal basketball has had in years.

Like most weeks, the Cardinal will be playing two games this week, which is to be expected. But what makes this week special is the programs that will be traveling to Maples in just a couple of days.

On Wednesday, Stanford will host No. 17 North Carolina in a big ACC battle. After a hot start to the year that saw the Tar Heels take down No. 19 Kansas, they started to get real looks at potentially being a Final Four contender.

Unfortunately for them, they fell to No. 11 Michigan State in Fort Myers over Feast Week. They followed with a win over No. 19 Kentucky on the road, and have been elite ever since. Their only slip up has come recently, to SMU on the road, which proves they could be beatable if Stanford plays one of their better games.

The Tar Heels sit at 2-1 in conference play, looking like a potential threat to compete for the title. But there’s a team right on their tail, and that’s Stanford.

Despite a poor start in conference play with a loss to Notre Dame, their recent wins over No. 16 Louisville and Virginia Tech proved that Stanford does have potential. Even falling to Virginia on the road doesn’t end that momentum. Stanford is 2-2 in conference play, and a win on Wednesday would put them just ahead of the Tar Heels in the standings.

It’s also important to know two things. One, Stanford beat North Carolina last year on the road, in what turned into the Cardinal’s most memorable win of the season. And two, the last time Stanford was at home, they beat a ranked Louisville squad. The last time North Carolina was on the road, they fell to SMU. Could those trends continue?

I’m not saying Stanford is the favorite to win, but a 35.2% chance per ESPN analytics shows that there certainly is a chance, especially if tons of fans show up for the battle.

But crazily enough, it’s not even the biggest matchup of the week for Stanford. On Saturday, the Cardinal will take on No. 6 Duke. The Blue Devils, the most iconic program in college basketball, are coming to town for the first time in history, and the Cardinal will have their work cut out for them in this one.

This season the Blue Devils have been on a roll. They have lost just one game all season, to No. 19 Texas Tech, and have gotten big wins all year. Duke beat No. 24 Kansas, No. 22 Arkansas, No. 15 Florida, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 20 Louisville, and most recently No. 24 SMU. Unlike North Carolina though, Duke is pretty much unbeatable.

Stanford has just a 10% chance to win Saturday’s matchup, and the odds may be that high because of the venue and because the Cardinal can get extremely hot from the floor and just starting draining buckets. There is certainly a chance, but it’s going to take some Maples Magic to make it happen.

This week will be a huge opportunity for the Cardinal and their fans to make a big statement facing off against two stout programs that have national title aspirations this season.

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