Stanford head coach Jerod Haase and his players say the right things about starting Pac-12 play with the mindset that they're 0-0 in a new season, but the Cardinal executed what anyone could realistically have expected to be the best case scenario to achieve an 11-2 record after the non-conference.

The experiences from those games have given the players and coaches a wealth of knowledge and confidence to carry into the conference schedule. Stanford will host Cal Thursday at 8 p.m.

Stanford's defense is recognized as one of the best in the country and only Kansas has broken the 70-point mark against the Cardinal. But in the four games since they got back from finals (Stanford did not play for two weeks after Dec. 1) the Cardinal haven't been able to get out of their own way on offense.

Haase and junior captains Oscar da Silva and Daejon Davis shared their thoughts with Cardinal Sports Report about Stanford has accomplished so far and what they need to do next.

Haase Q&A

Reflecting on the non-conference as a whole, was it what you wanted it to be?

"Yeah. I don't know if I had any preconceived notions. I want us to grow as a team and get better. I think we're in a really good spot if you look at the non-conference as a whole. I think we've accomplished a lot of things we wanted to put us in a good position in conference play.

"I love what we've done defensively. Offensively, since finals started we hit a little bit of a wall and we are going to address that and get better. That definitely starts with the turnover piece of it, but regardless we are going to clean up our offense. If we do that we like our chances."

Do you see a common denominator from game to game with that issue?

"The reality is I think so many of them can be cleaned up easily. You look at the San Diego game, we're just stepping out of bounds three or four times. Just get rid of those. With everybody it's continued work on fundamentals, continued work on playing against pressure, and it's continue to work on being aggressive, but also being calculated and making the right decisions.

"It's going to take time. We're still a young team, and we're still growing through it, and we're running an offense that requires guys to be able to make plays, and a lot of guys to make plays."

How would you evaluate the defense's progress and is it something you can confidently expect to be at that same level every game?

"Absolutely. That's my expectation is that it's going to be at a high, high level. Our ball screen coverages and our rebounding was not what it needs to be against Kansas, but we're playing against obviously a very good team there. Our defense has been fairly consistent throughout and it needs to be that way for us."

You've talked before about the importance of your bench producing to be successful in conference play. In general, what have you seen from that group and specifically what about Lukas Kisunas' development?

"Lukas has had a number of games where he has been a star. In the Kansas game I thought his mentality -- outside of Daejon -- was the best we had with the ability to handle adversity, to be handle the game and play to win.

"The bench is crucial. We just met before practice today and talked about it some more. But I'm not going to play guys just because I'm a nice guy. I'm not going to play guys because we need to have a bench and depth. I'm going to play guys because they earn it. We have guys who are capable but they need to perform better. I need to keep giving them chances and with that hopefully it produces a good result."

Oscar and Daejon have obvious leadership roles, but what is the pressure on them to produce on the court and especially on offense?

"Like you said, it's not only leadership, it's production. They have to produce at a higher level than they are on the offensive end. Daejon is going to come. Daejon is picking his spots and he's doing all the right things. We're doing some things offensively that I think will free him up.

"Oscar needs to believe in himself as much as I believe in him. I see him as a marquee type player, all-conference type player, and a player who can compete against the best teams in the country at a high level. I think as that confidence grows with him, he'll produce at that level."

Daejon Davis

What are your takeaways of what this team showed in the first 13 games of the season?

"I think we showed that we take huge pride in our defense and we have made strides to become a better offensive team. Obviously we didn't put our best foot forward in our last game on offense, but I think this week in practice will help us tremendously moving into conference. We're a young team but we don't really play like it.

"We care a lot about defense and that may hurt us sometimes, but finding a balance on the offensive end is going to be important."

Haase identified turnovers as the biggest thing to solve on offense. Is there a pattern that you see to when the turnovers happen?

"They come in spurts. Our inability to find a flow on offense and flow from defense to offense, a lot of it is organization. A lot of times when we lack organization, or we get to the end of those media timeouts, we kind of get sloppy. I don't know how to describe it other than sloppy play on offense. Those turnovers are the ones that cost us.

"The early turnovers in the first half and second half are what hurt us, too. After the (Kansas) game Oscar told me he felt his turnovers early in the game and his turnovers early in the second half really prevented us from finding a true flow on offense. It led to a lot of our turnovers throughout the half.

"I think that making those adjustments and not having those early turnovers, and allowing ourselves to get into a flow rather than ... forcing shots and not making shots, then we don't have points on the board midway through the half. I think it's a huge thing that's prevented us from being great."

With your own offensive game, how would you evaluate it so far and what are the things that you are working the hardest on?

"The thing I'm working the hardest on is being more aggressive ... and I think a lot of my aggression has to come at the right time. Sometimes I find myself getting out of control and having turnovers. I think it's having that balance of attacking for myself and attacking for others.

"Coach broke down a lot of film with me and he said my best attacks are when I go in there to attack for myself but also having the knowledge that I'm going to make a play for someone else if my immediate attack isn't there. So, eliminate secondary moves in the lane.

"A lot of our turnovers happen when guys are going into the paint, they have a good play they could make but they're trying to make a secondary out of it for themselves to score. We have to eliminate those: come to two-foot stops, make the easy passes. It's super simple."

Oscar da Silva

I understand that the team wants to think of Pac-12 play as a clean slate, but do you think at all about the fact that the team is in a great position after the non-conference?

"Yeah, for sure. We've worked hard enough and we've shown that we won't settle for a ninth seed in the Pac-12. Now we have to prove it. Everybody is hungry again now and now is the time to make another statement to show that the work we put in is paying off."

How would you describe your process of improving your confidence?

"I think it has been that for me the whole season. I don't think my game has come 180 degrees from last year. I think it has been more about me being aggressive and showing what I can really do. Besides being in the gym and working, there really is not much I can actively do for it. It's just every game I have to go out there and do it."

The team has gotten to the point where there is an expectation every game that the defense will be great. What does that to do for the team's confidence and what is next for the defense to be even better?

"I think it sets the whole tone for the entire game. We can draw a lot of confidence from it and we have it as a safety net because it's something we can rely on. It's 100 percent effort. It doesn't matter if shots are going in or not, it's 100 percent effort on defense.

"I think we can improve on communication and cleaning some things up. I think in the last game, the coaches talked about how we missed a lot of opportunities for us to execute our ball-screen defense. I think it's a lot of small things for everyone to be on the same page."

What are your thoughts about what you've seen from Lukas' development?

"For him, it's similar to me. I've seen him do great things. Last year in some practices he dominated (Josh) Sharma as a freshman. For him it's 100 percent about mindset, too. He needs to get in there, throw his body around, dunk every ball he gets. We all know he can do it, that's why people have been on his head about that. Everyone knows he can do it and it's more, 'Do I really want to do it?'"