At the end of May, Stanford men’s basketball forward Harrison Ingram announced that he will be coming back to The Farm for a sophomore season. In what should be an obvious take, I will argue why Ingram’s decision is mutually beneficial for both himself and Stanford.
Starting with why this benefits Ingram, it’s really simple: He wasn’t certain to be a first round selection if he had stayed in the 2022 NBA draft. Not only that, but he was also projected more in the mid-late second round stage, setting up the possibility of him going undrafted had he stayed. By coming back for a sophomore season, Ingram is getting a chance to improve his draft stock by polishing his game, establishing more consistency, and also getting Stanford to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. There is no downside in coming back if you are Ingram and he correctly recognized this.
As for Stanford, with Ingram returning, they now can have legit NCAA tournament aspirations for 2023. Had Ingram stayed in the NBA draft, a 2023 NCAA tournament appearance would have been a long put. Stanford just didn’t project to have the juice with him gone. With him back in the fold for another season, Stanford has their top playmaker returning. Ingram does so much for this Stanford team in terms of his ability to create plays for others, rebound, and get buckets in crunch time. He makes everyone around him better. The opportunity to have Ingram back as a sophomore and a year under his belt has to have Stanford oozing with excitement.
Touching quickly on head coach Jerod Haase, he’s done a lot of good things at Stanford in terms of representing the school well and bringing in NBA level talent on a regular basis. The big black mark on his resume up to this point is having zero NCAA tournament appearances. Part of that can be blamed on him as goes with the territory of being a head coach, but part of that also seems to have been due to things outside of his control. The pandemic season was really strange, Tyrell Terry’s early departure for the NBA seemed to be a surprise, Oscar da Silva not getting granted a co-term was not something he could control, and even last season had some weird moments with a COVID pause. Haase seems like a coach who has been in need of a break, something to bounce his way, and having Ingram come back for a sophomore year definitely feels like something that could be the break that he needs as a head coach.
All of this is to say that when looking at Ingram’s return both through the lens of Ingram and through the lens of Stanford, this is something that should benefit both parties involved. They need each other. Ingram needs more seasoning in college before leaving for the NBA and Stanford needs him back if they are going to make a much-needed NCAA tournament appearance. It’ll be interesting to see how next season shapes up and whether or not Ingram and Stanford will have the results that they are hoping to have.
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