The Kyle Smith era begins: A look into Stanford men’s basketball’s upcoming season

The 2024-25 season marks the beginning of a new chapter for Stanford men’s basketball. 

As with most of Stanford athletics, this is the first season that the Cardinal will compete in the ACC, bringing a new slate of conference rivals and away game destinations. But for men’s basketball, it’s also the inauguration of head coach Kyle Smith.

To Cardinal fans, Smith may seem familiar. Just seven months ago, he led the Washington State Cougars (25-10, 14-6 Pac-12, 2nd) to their first NCAA tournament bid in 16 years, along the way ending Stanford’s season in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament. Coupled with successful stints at Columbia and the University of San Francisco, Smith has developed a reputation for rapidly turning struggling programs around. As last year’s Pac-12 Coach of the Year embarks on his newest challenge on the Farm, he brings high hopes and a proven formula. 

“We’re going to have to defend better, rebound better, and take care of the ball,” Smith said at the ACC media day on Oct. 9. “This is my fourth program that I’ve taken over and that has always been the mantra.”

​But he has a difficult road ahead. Coming off another disappointing 14-18 season (8-12 Pac-12, 10th) that saw the Cardinal’s NCAA tournament drought extended to a decade, former head coach Jerod Haase was let go and a majority of the roster either graduated or left in the transfer portal. After taking the Stanford job, Smith has been tasked with rebuilding the program effectively from scratch. 

And he has to do it in one of the most storied basketball conferences in the country. The ACC is home to some of the legendary blue-blood programs of the sport, all of whom expect deep tournament runs every year. The Cardinal will have to quickly adjust to their new opposition, new faces in the locker room, and new coaching staff if they want to make the first lines of their ACC story count.

Roster

Smith’s first problem as the Stanford head coach was the roster. Only six players had elected to return from the previous season, with only two having played significant minutes. 

Luckily for Smith, one of the returners was 2024 Pac-12 Most Improved Player and All-Pac-12 Second Team senior forward Maxime Raynaud. The 7-foot-1 stretch big was categorically Stanford’s best player last season, averaging 15.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game while shooting 56.7% from the field and 36.1% from three. Having taken a massive leap from his sophomore to junior season, Smith is hoping that Raynaud can continue in that trajectory, particularly on the defensive end, to be the anchor for the Cardinal at both ends of the floor.  

“Everyone knows he can score and he’s a really good defensive rebounder, but to be able to get him to be more of a rim protector and to just pluck things up, that’ll be good,” Smith said. 

The only other returner who has seen consistent action for the Cardinal is junior guard Benny Gealer, who came off the bench last year to deliver 4.2 points per game with a 2.7-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Now an upperclassman, and one of the few players familiar with the culture and standard on the Farm, Gealer may play a greater role for the Cardinal this season both on and off the court.

The rest of the roster, though, was handcrafted by Smith and blends proven transfers with a promising freshmen class.

Smith’s biggest pickup was junior forward Chisom Okpara. The 6-foot-8 transfer from Harvard joins his sister Chidimma, a graduate student on the women’s tennis team, on the Farm, bringing immense versatility to the Stanford offense. Averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game last year, Okpara demonstrated his abilities attacking the paint, making smart passes, and knocking down shots from range. The one-two punch of Okpara and Raynaud could become a dynamic duo in the Cardinal frontcourt that makes some noise in the ACC. 

Alongside Okpara in the program’s first undergraduate transfer class since 2009, Smith also signed  junior guard Oziyah Sellers from USC and sophomore guard Derin Saran from UC Irvine. Sellers averaged 5.2 points per game coming off the bench for the Trojans, but his lethal shooting splits — 46.7 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three and 82.6 percent from the foul line — hint at greater production if given a larger role. Saran was also a dangerous spot-up shooter last season for the Anteaters, averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists while thriving in transition and playing off of his bigs. 

To complement these offensive weapons, Smith brought in graduate guard Jaylen Blakes from new conference rival Duke. Although Blakes only averaged 1.8 points per game for the Blue Devils last season, his impact comes on the other end of the floor. Blakes is a highly intelligent player who’s great as an on-ball defender and also at reading and cutting out passes; and it seems like his emphasis on defense is rubbing off on his teammates.

Speaking to the Daily after an open practice, Smith said, “Jaylen Blakes could be one of our best defenders, which is a nice piece … When you make a jump there defensively, it would be more competitive and then there’s been a lot of other guys that have stepped up.”

The incoming freshman class also consists of some underrated three-star recruits with bright potential, including the rangy freshman forward Evan Stinson, a stretch big freshman forward; Tallis Toure, a freshman forward that could be a Josh Huestis- or Spencer Jones-like Stanford prototype; Donavin Young; and the dynamic freshman guard Anthony Batson Jr. 

“Everyone that entered that was new, transfer or freshman, came in with the mindset of being all-in,” Blakes said at ACC media day. “All of us are all-in and committed to what coach Smith has for us as well as what we want for ourselves.”

Schedule

The Cardinal will open the season with a relatively easy non-conference schedule against mid-major opponents before facing Cal away on Dec. 7 for the first iteration of the rivalry match. A few weeks later, the team will end their non-conference schedule against former Pac-12 foe Oregon on a neutral court. 

The new year will then signal the beginning of ACC play, with the Cardinal traveling to Clemson on New Year’s Day. This year, Stanford will see every team in the conference at least once, with the Cardinal double-booked against Wake Forest and SMU. 

Stanford will welcome the Virginia teams to Maples Pavilion in early January and the Florida teams a few weeks later. However, the Cardinal will have to travel to face No. 9 UNC and reigning ACC Player of the Year graduate guard RJ Davis, as well as No. 7 Duke and freshman forward Cooper Flagg, consensus No. 1 prospect in Class of 2024 and projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Later in February, the Cardinal will host Cal, before finishing out the regular season a few weeks later on the road at Notre Dame and Louisville. 

With a conference this competitive, the Cardinal may enter every game as the underdog, but with all the fresh talent on the roster and a new leader at the helm, don’t be surprised if they pull out a couple upsets.

Outlook

Realistically, it will take time for Stanford to become truly competitive in the conference. However, there might not be anyone better suited to get them there than the man currently leading the way. Smith is putting the emphasis back on the fundamentals, addressing Stanford’s weaknesses and building a strong base upon which he can start moving the program forward. 

While a lot remains to be seen, there is certainly an air of optimism around the program.

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