Stanford Head Coach Kyle Smith on Difficult Travel Schedule in the ACC

Dec 27, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Kyle Smith talks to media members after defeating the CSUN Matadors at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Last season, Stanford basketball was in one of the toughest positions in all of sports. Not because of a roster, a coaching staff, or a fanbase, but due to one of the most unique travel situations college sports has seen.

In years past, college sports have created conferences to revolve around general location, as well as team prestige. Unfortunately in this new age, college sports are taking a turn. For 105 years, Stanford participated in the Pac 12 and its predecessor conferences, being a part of road trips to Southern California, Arizona, and the Northwest.

The farthest trip out east the Cardinal would ever have to make is to Colorado, a recent addition into the conference.

However, a shocking move in the college world saw the Pac 12 lose essentially all of its members, moving to ‘bigger’ conferences in the hopes of making more money. That put Stanford in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), despite being just a 30 minute drive from the Pacific Coast.

In that initial season, the Cardinal travelled nine times to the East Coast, taking on everyone from power programs such as Duke and North Carolina, to struggling teams such as Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.

But Stanford couldn’t do any damage on the road. Despite going 17-3 at home, including 9-1 in conference play, they went just 1-8 on the East Coast, essentially ending their March Madness hopes.

This year though, things potentially could look much different. Stanford has had a successful start to the season, and is coming off a program-defining win over No. 16 Louisville. But now they are headed to Virginia for their first ACC road trip of the season, and Cardinal fans are beginning to get nervous after the road horrors of a year ago.

Head coach Kyle Smith is keeping the same approach as last season, but with a bit of a twist. “Yeah, our approach is the same in the sense that we are still 3000 miles away, that hasn't changed, and we'll have to get in there and get tougher and find a way to win.

“The frustrating part is we are going to new cities. We are going to Wake Forest again, right before the tournament, we’ll go to Notre Dame again, so we'll have those two again, but it'll be new travel. The school has been more supportive on the travel stuff, so I think that's going to help a lot.

"And minor tweaks, we had a really tough road schedule we played last year, and with 11 guys returning, they know what it takes now. Last year I described us as astronauts doing something no one's ever done before. We just kind of deal with this thing. So coaches have experience, players have experience, and hopefully that's going to help us as much as anything.”

He finished off with a powerful statement: “When the ball goes up, we know what to do.”

It’s clear that Smith is prioritizing similarities when going on the road, but this time, having players understand the significance more, and needing to be ready to play come tip-off. It’s clear that Stanford should do better on the road this season, as they have experienced this travel before.

Stanford begins their first tough road test on Wednesday, when they travel to Blacksburg, VA to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. Then, they’ll have to play the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville. These two games will be tough, but winnable contests that could go a long way to determining the Cardinal's tournament future.