Cardinal Curse

I hate to say it, but all the nay-sayers and critics I wanted to be wrong were right.

I heard all the whispers, listened to all the talk shows, and read all the columns: Stanford wasn't going to go far in this NCAA tournament.

They might even collapse in the second round.

No way, I thought, not this Stanford team.

Sure, I know they lost in the second round in four out of the last five years, but this team is different, this year was going to be different, or so I thought.

I spent all year watching Stanford perform in the clutch, and whatever deficit they faced, whatever injury hampered their chances, Stanford persevered.

Down 19 in Eugene -- in the second half mind you -- they found a way to win.

Down seven points with 25 seconds to go against Washington State?

Not a problem, another W.

After losing its final game against a very tough Washington team -- in Seattle -- they rebounded to win the PAC-10 tournament in convincing fashion.

So where did this team, ranked number one for most of the second half of the college basketball season, go wrong?

They pounded, as No. 1 seeds are supposed to do against No. 16 seeds, Texas San Antonio.

Trouble lurked in the second round, however, against an athletic and battle tested Alabama team, a team who played the likes of Wisconsin, Providence and Xavier in the pre season, not to mention Mississippi State and Kentucky in the SEC regular season.

This Stanford team was supposed to be different though.

This Stanford team was supposed to do what Stanford teams before them couldn't -- get to the second week of the tournament.

As a No. 1 seed, this is what Stanford had to do, and, according to my now blown to smithereens bracket, this is what the Cardinal would do.

But, for whatever reason, Stanford's time isn't in the post season.

The Cardinal, much like Cincinnati, has trouble advancing in a one and done format, even if it is granted a favorable seed.

The basketball gods which had been so kind to Stanford all year struck a cruel blow Saturday evening in Seattle, sending the Cardinal packing.

The heroic second half comebacks that seemed to be the norm for the team from Palo Alto, abandoned them when they needed it most.

When Earnest Shelton, an 80% free throw shooter mind you, missed both free throws with seven seconds left and the Cardinal trailing by three, I saw the broken record that was the Cardinal miracle team, playing in the background.

Trailing 70-67, Nick Robinson grabbed Shelton's miss and dribbled furiously up the court, seeking that elusive three point line through a thicket of Alabama defenders.

Robinson found a lone Cardinal unguarded: Dan Grunfeld.

With just under two seconds remaining, Grunfeld let fly a three pointer that, for the Cardinal, had gone in all season.

As I watched the ball heading for the net, the entire Cardinal season flashed quickly before my eyes, which left me with one conclusion: overtime, and five more minutes of glorious tournament basketball.

For whatever reason, this shot didn't find the net, but caromed harmlessly off the front rim.

The critics I had hoped so badly to be wrong were right.

The team that had overcome all possible obstacles in the regular season was going to be different this year, I was sure they would prove the critics wrong.

Another second round defeat left me wondering if the Cardinal's glorious season was a precursor to what seems to happen every March -- Stanford losing early.

It is easy for Dick Vitale to say "Salute Kentucky, Gonzaga, Mississippi State and Stanford for great seasons," after all, the Cardinal did finish 30-2.

However, how many 30-2 seasons taste sweet after second round NCAA tournament upsets?

As Chris Hernandez, the Cardinal starting point guard put it, "I'm just sick of getting to this point and saying, 'We're going to do it next year.' It's to the point where you have to put it out on the floor and get it done."

I am not here to denigrate the Cardinal for they had a splendid year.

However, I don't find it conciliatory merely to say they had a great regular season.

I wanted more and expected more.

The feeling my stomach had after watching that game, as Herb Sendek, the coach of NC State said after watching his team, a No. 3 seed lose to sixth seeded Vanderbilt said, is indescribable.

So much emotion was put into the fact that this year was going to be different.

In the end, sadly, it wasn't.