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The Green Bay Phoenix take on the Stanford Cardinal. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Green Bay Stanford prediction and pick.
The story of Stanford men's basketball is a very depressing one. Stanford was — for 20 seasons, from 1989 under Todd Lichti through the 2008 season when the team made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament — a regular factor in the Pac-10 and men's college basketball. (The Pac-10 became the Pac-12 in 2010, hence the reference to the Pac-10.) Coaches Mike Montgomery and Trent Johnson were able to get the most out of their talent during the regular season. Stanford was an annual NCAA Tournament team, and for a period of time from the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Stanford was regularly expected to get a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal were a No. 1 seed on multiple occasions, and they made the Final Four in 1998 before losing in overtime to eventual national champion Kentucky.
No one should be expecting Stanford to compete for Final Fours every year, but the Cardinal certainly should expect to be a regular NCAA Tournament program, and they simply aren't anywhere close to that standard.
The Cardinal are adrift under head coach Jerod Haase. The Cardinal have not made the NCAA Tournament in six years under Haase, and they aren't about to change that in Year 7. Stanford is 3-6 through nine games. This team has to engineer an immediate and dramatic turnaround in order to have any hope of an NCAA berth. The season is 30 games long, not counting the conference tournaments. Stanford has to be great in its next 20 games to have a realistic shot at returning to the NCAAs for the first time since 2014, which is the only year since 2008 that the Trees have participated in March Madness.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Green Bay-Stanford College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Green Bay-Stanford Odds
Green Bay Phoenix: +23.5 (-105)
Stanford Cardinal: -23.5 (-115)
Over: 130.5 (-110)
Under: 130.5 (-110)
Why Green Bay Could Cover the Spread
The spread is huge, and Stanford is a below-average team. Those two realities offer a good reason to take Green Bay. Stanford's only wins this season are against Pacific, Cal Poly, and Florida State. Those are all below-average teams. Of those three wins, the Cal Poly victory was the Cardinal's only blowout victory this season. Stanford struggled with Florida State in the first half of that Thanksgiving weekend game before turning things around in the second half. Given that Stanford has trouble winning games to begin with — let alone scoring blowout wins — Green Bay's standing against the spread is better than some might think for a 2-9 team.
The other point to make is that Green Bay has actually played better of late. The Phoenix have won two of their last five games after an 0-6 start to their season. They played a legitimately good game in beating UMKC (which defeated Mid-American Conference contender Toledo earlier this season) a week ago. They're improving, and that should add to their case against the spread.
Why Stanford Could Cover the Spread
The Cardinal are playing at home, and after a very difficult set of nonconference games in which the Cardinal truly challenged themselves, Green Bay should be a lot easier to handle by comparison. Stanford played Wisconsin and Memphis and a number of other difficult opponents in nonconference play. The Cardinal might be 3-6, but many of their losses are to good teams, not cupcakes. Stanford also lost to UCLA and Arizona State in Pac-12 play. Both the Bruins and Sun Devils are off to good starts this season.
The point of all this is to emphasize that Stanford is not losing to tomato-can teams — not generally. The Cardinal have played a tough schedule and are now playing one of their softest opponents of the year.
Final Green Bay-Stanford Prediction & Pick
This is a game to stay away from, given that both teams are not very good and you shouldn't place trust in bad teams to win bets for you.
Final Green Bay-Stanford Prediction & Pick: Green Bay +23.5
