Stanford Cardinal

2023-2024 Result: 14-18 record (8-12 PAC 12), No Postseason appearance

Projected Starting Lineup

Head Coach: Kyle Smith (1st season)

Guard: Derin Saran (SO)

Guard: Jaylen Blakes (SR)

Guard: Oziyah Sellers (JR)

Forward: Chisom Okpara (JR)

Center: Maxime Raynaud (SR)

Key Additions

Derin Saran (UC Irvine)

Jaylen Blakes (Duke)

Oziyah Sellers (USC)

Chisom Okpara (Harvard)

Key Losses

Kanaan Carlyle

Brandon Angel

Andrej Stojakovic

Jared Bynum

Michael Jones

Spencer Jones

The new ACC member Stanford Cardinal will also come into this season with a new coach in Kyle Smith, who was formerly at Washington State before they departed for the WCC in the PAC-12 disassembling. Although Smith wasn’t able to bring any players from his 2023-24 tournament team, he did manage to retain a fair amount of Stanford’s roster with the headliner being star center Maxime Raynaud. Raynaud returning to Stanford is massive for the rebuild of this program, as the Cardinal would have been severely lacking any sort of star. Smith was also able to retain 4 other Cardinal bench players from a year ago.

The offense will most likely run through the frontcourt of Maxime Raynaud and Harvard transfer Chisom Okpara, who both display a versatile skill set on this end. Both guys are able to space the floor at decent clips for big men and also have solid court vision. The perimeter is where there are some questions with this roster. I am fairly high on UC Irvine transfer Derin Saran having a breakout with more minutes, but there is not much else to be excited about with this perimeter group. Oziyah Sellers is a solid shot maker and can create some shots off the bounce, but with Jaylen Blakes and Benny Gealer getting most of the minutes as the off ball guards, this perimeter group will struggle to score consistently. Even when Raynaud is creating double teams down low, the perimeter may not capitalize enough shooting wise to keep this offense alive. Although Kyle Smith is a fantastic coach, there is too much of a talent issue on this roster to be good offensively right away.

The defensive end projects to be the more stable part of this year’s Stanford team. Although Raynaud and Okpara aren’t known for their defensive prowess, their size alone will allow them to compete with most ACC opponents. Raynaud will also be huge on the defensive glass as Kyle Smith led teams always have great rebound margins. The backcourt of Saran and Blakes will also be rock solid defensively, as both of them move their feet extremely well and have solid steal rates. If all else fails on the defensive end, there may be a defensive diamond in the rough somewhere on the bench, as Smith has 6 players who are 6 '7 " or taller on his bench. This defense may not be the caliber of Smith’s Washington State teams, but this should be the more reliable unit of the 2024-25 Stanford Cardinal.

This projects to be a rebuilding year for the Cardinal in year one of the Kyle Smith era, but we have seen the brilliant minded coach turn programs around much quicker than expected. A Derin Saran breakout and an all ACC season from Maxime Raynaud will need to happen for this team to be one of the surprise teams in the conference. Stanford’s most likely outcome is in the middle to bottom of the pack in the ACC.