On Monday, the Pac-12 announced their weekly schedule pairings for the 2022-23 men’s basketball season. While the exact dates of all the games has not yet been determined we at least now know the weeks/windows that teams will be playing each other.
Stanford will get things started on Thursday, December 1st at home against UCLA. On Sunday, December 4th, Stanford will travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State.
In the December 29th-January 2nd window, Stanford will face Colorado and Utah at home. In the January 4th-January 8th window, Stanford will travel to Berkeley to face Cal. In the January 11th-January 15th window, Stanford will face Washington and Washington State on the road. In the January 18th-January 22nd window, Stanford will face Oregon and Oregon State at home. In the January 25th-January 29th window, Stanford will welcome Cal to The Farm.
In the February 1st-February 5th window, Stanford will travel to Utah and Colorado. In the February 8th-February 12th window, Stanford will face Arizona and Arizona State at home. In the February 15th-February 19th window, Stanford will travel to Southern California to face UCLA and USC. In the February 22nd-Feburary 26th window, Stanford will face Washington and Washington State at home. In the March 1st-March 4th window, Stanford will travel to Oregon and Oregon State.
Obviously all of these games are important as Stanford is hoping to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. There isn’t a single week they can afford to slip up. That said, there are a few games that I think stick out.
First are the games against Cal. While not getting as much attention as the rivalry on the football field, the men’s basketball rivalry is definitely felt on both sides. While they have not been good in a while, Cal has found ways to upset Stanford with regularity. This year’s Cal team once again projects to be one of the worst teams in the Pac-12 if not the worst. They’ll win at least one league game, but that could be it. Stanford really needs to make sure they’re not the team that loses to Cal as that would really mess with their tournament resume. Given how badly things went for Stanford in Berkeley last season, there should be plenty of motivation to not let that happen.
Second is the home series against Utah and Colorado. Stanford lost to both teams at home last year on Senior Day weekend. Those are two games that Stanford would love to have back. This season, they’ll be the first home series Stanford has. Stanford should be fired up to sweep those schools and use them as a springboard to further league success.
Third is the collective three games against UCLA and USC. Stanford will welcome UCLA to The Farm in their first league game before later traveling to Southern California to face both schools on the road. Games against the So Cal schools are always big and if Stanford can find a way to take two out of three, that would be really nice for their tournament resume.
Finally, the games against Arizona and Arizona State stick out because two of those three games will be at Stanford with the road game being at Arizona State. Stanford played Arizona really well in the Pac-12 tournament after defeating Arizona State in the first round. Those two games were where Stanford really started to build momentum for this upcoming season as Spencer Jones went wild. Stanford has to see those games as another opportunity to take two out of three and really boost their NCAA tournament resume.
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