By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
The breakup of the original Pac-12 has been a mixed bag of outcomes for its former schools.
Stanford and Cal are still adjusting to their new memberships in the ACC, and it’s been as difficult in basketball as it has been in football.
The Cardinal have held serve at home in conference games but remain winless on the road.
The Bears are also winless on the road in the conference play and have won just one game at home.
Here’s an update on their respective seasons to date.
Middling Stanford Holding Own in ACC
While not among the top of the rankings, Stanford is in the upper half of the conference standings.
The Cardinal sit at 3-3 through their first six games of the conference.
The three losses have all been away from home and the combined conference record of the opponents—Clemson, Wake, and Pitt—is 14-5.
Their next opponent is no slouch in North Carolina.
Not only will this one take place in Chapel Hill, but the Cardinal will need to erase past demons from previous games against the Tar Heels.
The teams have met 13 times throughout the years with UNC claiming every matchup.
Stanford will need a big game from Maxime Raynaud if they are to find success in Tobacco Road.
The big man is averaging an ACC-leading 20.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, leading the nation with 14 double-doubles on the season.
His 11.5 rebounds per game are the fourth most of any player in the nation, and the Cardinal will need to exploit his dominance on the board to pull off the road upset.
North Carolina has a total rebound rate of 51.4% this season, 120th in the nation. Raynaud’s rebounding notwithstanding, the rest of the Cardinal are only slightly better than the Heels.
Stanford ranks 71st in the nation with a total rebound rate of 52.6%. Stanford collected 59.6% of the rebound opportunities vs. Wake in the midweek loss.
Against UNC they will need to be just as efficient on the glass.
Stanford will get a breather on Wednesday when winless Miami comes to Maples.
Bears Struggling to Keep Pace in New Conference
Cal has not had the same level of early success in the ACC as their Bay Area rivals.
The Bears sit near the bottom of the standings at 1-5 in conference play, with their only win coming in Berkeley over equally as troubled Virginia.
Cal is coming off a 26-point loss at the hands of North Carolina and are just 1-6 this season in games away from home, with the average margin in those seven games sitting at -12.4.
Saturday’s opponent, NC State is just 2-4 in conference play but has played much better at home. The Wolfpack own a 9-2 mark at the Lenovo Center with the average margin being +12.6 in those 11 outings.
The Pack’s only wins in conference play have come against Virginia and Notre Dame, teams with a combined 3-9 in the ACC.
Needless to say, this one feels like a winnable game for both teams and one they both need to get.
The Bears can pull the upset if Andrej Stojakovic can get hot. He is averaging 19.5 points per game this season and has gone for 21.2 per ACC game.
He was limited to only six points against UNC, his first ACC contest with under 19 points.
Marcus Hill has scored in double figures for NC State in 10 straight games. Whichever guard performs at a higher level could get the win on Saturday.
writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).
