STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Stanford’s best player left the program. Reid Travis is now wearing a Kentucky uniform as a graduate transfer.
The Cardinal will try to fill the big shoes of the departed big man, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder last season after he was such a fixture during four years on The Farm.
“With Reid, he’s moved on, and it’s not something that took a lot of processing,” third-year coach Jerod Haase said. “Once he made that decision, the team especially, everybody moved on quickly. And we’ve developed a game plan and talked to guys about their individual roles and what we need to do to move forward.”
Haase is committed to again being an up-tempo, push-the-pace team. It worked during the Pac-12 season and he hopes the Cardinal gained some momentum with that success in the conference.
Josh Sharma is the lone senior on the roster but has never started a game for the Cardinal, who are predicted to finish ninth in the Pac-12. Haase will remind his players to quickly turn the corner after a tough game, or even a big win for that matter.
“I think one of the characteristics of our team is we’re very, very young, and I hope not a defining characteristic as we move on through the season,” he said. “But one thing that’s a positive, when I look in their eyes, I think they believe in me, they believe in our staff, and when we deliver messages, right now it’s resonating with them.”
Here are some things to watch for with Stanford this season:
TRAVIS DEPARTS
Travis, a floor leader and important fixture in the program, leaves a significant void to fill. The Cardinal know it will be a group effort to do so.
He averaged 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds.
“Obviously I’m not going to try to take all of what Reid did and try to replace that myself. I think with Reid leaving, it gives a lot of guys on the team more opportunities that as a team we’ll have no problem filling the gaps that he left,” said Sharma, who averaged 9.7 minutes last season.
THE HEALTH FACTOR
Stanford has taken its share of hits on the injury front in recent seasons, so the Cardinal are eager to start a season healthy and with some depth this time around - even if the youngsters will largely be forced to learn on the fly.
“One of the goals is that we can develop some depth that you can hopefully absorb foul trouble, absorb injuries, absorb any kind of hiccups as we move forward, but trying to keep the guys healthy is certainly a priority,” Haase said.
READY TO CONTRIBUTE
Guard Daejon Davis, who averaged 10.7 points last season, and forward KZ Okpala (10.0 ppg) are experienced members from the sophomore class while 7-foot center Sharma blocked 27 shots last season.
“I’d say in the previous years I didn’t consider myself a leader of the team because we had guys like Reid and Dorian (Pickens) who were older than me and sort of took that role,” Sharma said. “But now that I’m the oldest guy on the team, the only senior right now, I feel like I need to replace them and fill in their shoes.”
RECRUITING EMPHASIS
Stanford has been working to bring in long, athletic players who can alter shots on the defensive end to help start things in transition.
The Cardinal have seven players 6-foot-9 or taller with a pair of 7-footers.
“It’s been a priority in the recruiting the last couple years to recruit skilled guys that have length. We do have long wingspans and fairly athletic guys,” Haase said. “I think our philosophy of how we’re going to play really fits in with that as well. Defensively, we’re trying to be as disruptive as we can without just going crazy and giving up layups and that kind of thing. We’re trying to be disruptive and play fast.”
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