# 2008–09 Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team represented Stanford University during the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cardinal were led by first year head coach Johnny Dawkins, and played their home games at Maples Pavilion as a member of the Pacific-10 Conference.

## Previous season

The Cardinal began the year ranked in the top 25 in both polls and would stay until a loss to Siena knocked them out. They did not see the rankings again until conference play where they would climb as high as seventh in the nation. After going 13–5 in conference play, the Cardinal received a two seed in the 2008 Pac-10 Conference tournament. Winning their first two games against Arizona and Washington State, Stanford would face UCLA. whom they lost two twice in the regular season, and just like the regular season would lose in the Finals 64–67.
Ranked 11th in the nation at the time, Stanford received a third seed in the 2008 NCAA tournament. They were placed in the South Region with a first round battle against 14 seed Cornell. Stanford would beat Cornell 78–53 and would face Marquette in the second round. Stanford and Marquette took the game into overtime and they came out on top of the Golden Eagles 82–81. Stanford reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001 and their first time under Trent Johnson. Their Sweet Sixteen opponent was 2 seed Texas, but would come up short against the Longhorns 62–82.
At the end of the season, Trent Johnson moved on from Stanford University and accepted the LSU job. Stanford introduced Johnny Dawkins as head coach April 27, 2008.

## Offseason
### Departures

Stanford Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Brook Lopez | 11 | F | 7'0" | 240 | Sophomore | Fresno, CA | Drafted 10th overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets |
| Robin Lopez | 42 | F | 7'0" | 245 | Sophomore | Fresno, CA | Drafted 15th overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns |
| Fred Washington | 44 | F | 6'5" | 205 | Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Peter Prowitt | 55 | C | 6'10" | 250 | Senior | Arlington, VA | Graduated |
| Taj Finger | 31 | F | 6'8" | 190 | Senior | Mt. Kisco, NY | Graduated |

### Incoming

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jeremy Green G | Austin, TX | Bowie High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jul 7, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Jarrett Mann F | Middletown, DE | Blair Academy | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | May 26, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 87 ||||||
| Elliott Bullock F | Salt Lake City, UT | Olympus High School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 245 lb (111 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Jack Trotter F | Moraga, CA | Campolindo High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 295 lb (134 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 68 ||||||
| Matei Daian C | Bucharest, Romania | Saint Sava National College | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 240 lb (110 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Stanford Commit List for 2008". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 14, 2022. "2008 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 14, 2022. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 4, 2008 | | Cal State Stanislaus | W 93–54 | – | Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA |
| November 8, 2008 | | Seattle Pacific | W 97–56 | – | Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 14, 2008* 4:00 PM | | at Yale | W 75–67 | 1–0 | Payne Whitney Gymnasium (2,532) New Haven, CT |
| November 18, 2008* 7:30 PM | | Cal State Northridge | W 103–85 | 2–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,593) Stanford, CA |
| November 26, 2008* 7:30 PM | | Air Force | W 76–57 | 3–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,836) Stanford, CA |
| November 29, 2008* 7:30 PM, FSN | | Colorado Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series | W 76–52 | 4–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,988) Stanford, CA |
| December 14, 2008* 4:00 PM, CBS CS | | at Colorado State | W 74–63 | 5–0 | Moby Arena (2,933) Fort Collins, CO |
| December 17, 2008* 7:30 PM, CSN BA | | Northern Arizona | W 66–57 | 6–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,795) Stanford, CA |
| December 20, 2008* 7:00 PM | | Northwestern | W 65–59 | 7–0 | Maples Pavilion (7,121) Stanford, CA |
| December 23, 2008* 8:00 PM, ESPNU | | at Santa Clara | W 77–69 | 8–0 | Leavey Center (3,146) Santa Clara, CA |
| December 28, 2008* 7:00 PM, FSN | | Texas Tech Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series | W 111–56 | 9–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,978) Stanford, CA |
| December 30, 2008* 7:30 PM | | Hartford | W 69–55 | 10–0 | Maples Pavilion (6,898) Stanford, CA |
| January 2, 2009 8:30 PM | | No. 17 Arizona State | L 60–90 | 10–1 (0–1) | Maples Pavilion (7,378) Stanford, CA |
| January 4, 2009 7:00 PM, FSN | | Arizona | W 76–60 | 11–1 (1–1) | Maples Pavilion (7,189) Stanford, CA |
| January 8, 2009 7:30 PM, FSNNW | | Washington | L 83–84 | 11–2 (1–2) | Bank of America Arena (9,291) Seattle, WA |
| January 10, 2009 7:00 PM, FSNNW | | at Washington State | L 54–55 | 11–3 (1–3) | Friel Court (7,332) Pullman, WA |
| January 17, 2009 5:00 PM, CSN BA | | No. 22 California | W 75–69 | 12–3 (2–3) | Maples Pavilion (7,329) Stanford, CA |
| January 22, 2009 7:30 PM | | Oregon | W 77–55 | 13–3 (3–3) | Maples Pavilion (6,902) Stanford, CA |
| January 24, 2009 7:00 PM, FSNNW | | Oregon State | L 62–77 | 13–4 (3–4) | Maples Pavilion (7,329) Stanford, CA |
| January 29, 2009 7:30 PM, FSN Prime Ticket | | at USC | L 69–70 | 13–5 (3–5) | Galen Center (7,963) Los Angeles, CA |
| January 31, 2009 12:30 PM, ABC | | at No. 16 UCLA | L 63–97 | 13–6 (3–6) | Pauley Pavilion (11,129) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 5, 2009 7:30 PM | | Washington State | W 65–64 | 14–6 (4–6) | Maples Pavilion (6,887) Stanford, CA |
| February 8, 2009 2:30 PM, FSN | | No. 22 Washington | L 68–75 | 14–7 (4–7) | Maples Pavilion (7,329) Stanford, CA |
| February 10, 2009* 7:30 PM | | Cal State Bakersfield | W 85–50 | 15–7 | Maples Pavilion (6,748) Stanford, CA |
| February 14, 2009 2:00 PM, FSN | | at California | L 75–82 | 15–8 (4–8) | Haas Pavilion (10,503) Berkeley, CA |
| February 19, 2009 7:00 PM | | at Oregon State | L 54–66 | 15–9 (4–9) | Gill Coliseum (6,229) Corvallis, CA |
| February 21, 2009 5:00 PM, CSNNW | | at Oregon | L 60–68 | 15–10 (4–10) | McArthur Court (7,932) Eugene, OR |
| February 26, 2009 7:30 PM, FSN Prime Ticket | | UCLA | L 71–76 | 15–11 (4–11) | Maples Pavilion (7,156) Stanford, CA |
| February 28, 2009 5:00 PM | | USC | W 75–63 | 16–11 (5–11) | Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA |
| March 5, 2009 5:30 PM, FS Arizona | | at No. 21 Arizona State | W 62–46 | 17–11 (6–11) | Wells Fargo Arena (9,272) Tempe, AZ |
| March 7, 2009 4:30 PM, FS Arizona | | at Arizona | L 87–101 | 17–12 (6–12) | McKale Center (14,723) Tucson, AZ |
| Pac-10 tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2009 6:00 pm, FSN | (9) | vs. (8) Oregon State First Round | W 62–54 | 18–12 | Staples Center (10,964) Los Angeles, CA |
| March 12, 2009 12:00 pm, FSN | (9) | vs. (1) No. 13 Washington Quarterfinals | L 73–85 | 18–13 | Staples Center (14,732) Los Angeles, CA |
| College Basketball Invitational ||||||
| March 18, 2009* 7:00 pm | (M1) | vs. (M4) Boise State First Round | W 96–76 | 19–13 | Maples Pavilion (1,243) Stanford, CA |
| March 23, 2009* 5:00 pm, HDNet | (M1) | vs. (M2) Wichita State Quarterfinals | W 70–56 | 20–13 | Charles Koch Arena (8,812) Wichita, KS |
| March 25, 2009* 7:00 pm, HDNet | (3) | vs. (2) Oregon State Semifinals | L 62–65 $^{OT}$ | 20–14 | Gill Coliseum (4,759) Corvallis, OR |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. M=Midwest. All times are in Pacific Standard Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | RV | | | | | | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches | | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |