Stanford MBB Leaning on Senior Leadership for Media Day

With just a month left before the start of the season, Stanford men’s basketball is preparing for what could be another amazing season under now second year head coach Kyle Smith. Just before the start of the season comes media day, and Stanford men’s basketball has announced that they are ready for the event.

The ACC media day event will be taking place in the coming days, where each teams’ coach and two to three representatives will be attending Hilton Charlotte Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina. The schedule is pretty simple. The women’s days will take place on Monday and Tuesday, while the men’s get Tuesday and Wednesday. The event goes from October 6-8.

Stanford will be attending the press conference with head coach Kyle Smith as well as two player representatives. Last season, the Cardinal brought two of their top senior leaders, Maxime Raynaud and Jaylen Blakes. This season, coach Smith has elected to go in a similar direction, going with two senior returners: Chisom Okpara and Benny Gealer.

On the women's side, coach Kate Paye will be in attendance, along with junior forward (and potential breakout star) Sunaja 'Nunu' Agara and junior guard Chloe Clardy.

Okpara began his collegiate career at Harvard, where he quickly became a key piece to the Crimson’s plans. He averaged 7.4 points per game as a freshman, grabbing 3.9 rebounds, and starting two of 24 games.

Then, as a sophomore, Okpara got all the way up to 16.5 and five rebounds. Okpara’s Ivy League dominance put his name on the map, which ended with Okpara finding Stanford in the transfer portal. In his first season with the Cardinal, he played solidly.

He started five of 35 games, averaging 6.5 points and two rebounds on The Farm, serving as a solid role in a successful 21-14 season. But Okpara wants more. This season, Okpara could be in line to be one of the program's stars.

Following the departures of the Cardinal's three leading scorers (Raynaud, Blake, and Oziyah Sellers), there will be opportunities for guys to take a big step forward.

Gealer has played three seasons at Stanford, becoming more and more crucial every single season. As a freshman, he averaged just 1.1 points, averaging 0.3 three point makes per game. As a sophomore, he got up to 4.2 points, averaging 0.8 threes per game.

This past season as a junior, he averaged six points, his career high, and got 1.4 three pointers per game. His ability to improve in every season has been huge, and this coming season could be the biggest jump of them all. He'll also be looking to establish himself in the new-look offense.

Stanford begins their campaign with a preseason exhibition on October 30 against Oregon at Maples Pavilion, before their true opener on November 4 against Portland State, which also will be at Maples.