By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
Watch out ACC, here comes Stanford.
The Cardinal picked up a pair of wins at home last week knocking off Florida State and Syracuse.
That keeps the Cardinal a perfect 5-0 at home in ACC play and at 7-3 in league play they are right in the thick of the ACC race.
While Stanford’s opponents enter the weekend with a combined 14-6 mark in ACC play, Cal’s two opponents this week are a combined 5-14.
California has been one of the hottest teams in the conference since mid-January having won three in a row themselves before falling to SMU on the road.
Here’s an update on both teams.
Maxine Raynaud, Oziyeh Sellers Shine for Rising Stanford
Oziyeh Sellers scored a career-high 27 points on Saturday in the win over Florida State. The junior guard continues to shine in ACC play as he is averaging 15.2 points in the 10 conference games.
But the star continues to be Maxime Raynaud.
The reigning ACC player of the week was limited to just eight points in the win over the Seminoles, he did pull down 14 rebounds, but bounced back with another double-double against Syracuse.
He extended his national lead in that category to 17 with 21 points and 15 rebounds in the win. Raynaud added three assists and three steals vs the Orange.
The upcoming week will offer Stanford a chance to prove they belong with games against a couple of other teams entering the weekend at 7-3 in conference play.
Winners of four in a row and one of the hottest teams in the nation the Cardinal now must go on the road to face a dangerous SMU squad.
The Mustangs have dropped two conference games at home but SMU is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation with a total rebounding rate of 54.9%.
SMU has been plagued by turnovers this season and if the Cardinal can force miscues they could leave the DFW with a big road win.
The midweek game will see Wake Forest come to Maples on Wednesday.
The Cardinal can certainly shake things up in the ACC with a pair of wins to open February.
California Looking to Flex its Muscles at Home and Climb to .500
The Golden Bears opened the week with an overtime win over still-winless Miami.
This week Cal will again get a chance to flex its muscles against a pair of teams from the bottom of the league.
With visits from Syracuse and NC State, California has a good chance to climb to .500 in conference play this week.
The Bears have been good at Haas this season, owning a 9-3 mark in the building and 3-2 record in ACC games played in Berkeley.
The Bears will need to be good this week as losses to either the Orange or Wolfpack would derail any ambitions of staying in the middle of the conference fold.
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).
