I am a big believer in explaining things through anecdotes. It’s very sports-writerly of me to want to narrativize the arc of my experience. Here are a few moments for you to meditate on:

•

The Stanford football team will take the field at Cagan Stadium this Saturday for the Cardinal and White Spring Game, the final meeting of their 2019 spring practice sessions. This scrimmage, played between the team’s offense and defense, is a yearly tradition for the team, and is open to the public for free.

•

Men’s basketball’s sophomore forward Kezie “KZ” Okpala officially declared his eligibility for the NBA draft on Wednesday night, submitting his name to the NBA’s Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Okpala, whose name has been tossed around in lottery-pick mock drafts all season, has the chance to be the first Stanford player drafted in the lottery since Robin and Brook Lopez in 2008.

•

In the final game of the 2018-2019 regular season, Stanford men’s basketball (15-15, 8-10 Pac-12) took a hard fought loss to the Cal Golden Bears (8-22, 3-15) in Maples Pavilion, ending the year with a 1-1 split of the Bay Area rivalry in one of the strangest games of the season. The Cardinal missed 21 straight three-point shots and trailed by as many as 21 points before making four consecutive deep balls to cut the lead to three. Stanford fought impossibly hard down the stretch only to have the win elude them in the very guts of the game, as Berkeley won 64-59.

•

Fighting fire with fire, or in this case water with water, Stanford women’s sailing will take its talents to Annapolis, Maryland this weekend for the Navy Spring Women's Regatta. The Cardinal will face a season-high 17 opponents over the weekend, including the host US Naval Academy’s women Midshipmen.

•

Have you ever watched something so abysmally terrible that it resonates with you on a deeply personal level, and you have to create a twitter account to rant about all of the things wrong with what you just witnessed? Well, that was me after spending 10 consecutive hours binge-watching Netflix’s new show, “The Umbrella Academy.”…

•

On a Saturday night rife with statistical anomalies, malfunctioning equipment and high percentage shooting, Stanford men’s basketball (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) let the rest of the Pac-12 know the full extent of their potential as they blasted past the UCLA Bruins (13-13, 6-7), 104-80. Stanford’s 104 points made this game their highest scoring affair of the season, and the first time they had eclipsed 100 points since last year’s double overtime win against UCLA.

•

Boosted by a 7-0 run to finish out the game, Stanford men’s basketball (13-11, 6-6 Pac-12) lit up Maples Pavilion on Wednesday night with a come-from-behind victory over the USC Trojans (13-12, 6-6), by a final score of 79-76.

•

In a weekend of highs and lows, the Stanford women’s basketball team (19-4, 9-3 Pac-12) dominated the No. 7 ranked Oregon State Beavers (20-4, 10-2) in an upset victory on Friday night before being dissected by the No. 3 Oregon Ducks (23-1, 12-0) on Sunday. The Cardinal walked all over the Beavers, winning 61-44, but were obliterated by the Ducks, falling 84-44. This loss marked the first time the team has been beaten by 40 points since 1985.

•

Several anonymous football players told The Daily that head football coach David Shaw informed the team of Turley’s suspension “a few days ago.”

•

The National Football League announced their invitations to the 2019 Combine today, including seven Stanford football players in their list of 338 total prospects. The Combine, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a yearly event for NFL scouts to evaluate and interview potential draft prospects. The Stanford players invited cover a variety of offensive and defensive positions, including wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside, running back Bryce Love, offensive lineman Nate Herbig, tight end Kaden Smith, linebacker Bobby Okereke, cornerback Alijah Holder and punter Jake Bailey.

•

Stanford women’s basketball is having its best season in years, only dropping two games and dominating opponents at all levels of the game. Stanford men’s basketball has been far more up and down, but still has a .500 record on the year, and continues to show promise on the floor. But both teams still have large questions looming over their seasons, questions that will need to be answered before the year is over. The Daily’s Sally Egan, Bobby Pragada, and Andrew Tan take a stab at answering some of those questions, weighing in on the men’s chemistry with and without KZ Okpala, the women’s quickly vanishing bench depth, and the way each of the Cardinal seasons seem to be playing out.

•

In their quest for a set of conference wins on the road, the Cardinal set out this past weekend to the Pacific Northwest for their first pair of showdowns against the Washington schools. After a disappointing performance against the Washington Huskies (14-4, 5-0) on Thursday, Stanford men’s basketball (9-9, 2-4 Pac-12) rebounded against the Washington State Cougars (8-10, 1-4) on Saturday for their second Pac-12 victory.

•

Stanford men’s basketball grabbed their first Pac-12 victory of the year on Saturday, with a dominant performance against Arizona State. After the game, sophomore forward KZ Okpala said the following: “We’re ready now. We know what we can do, we know we can beat any team. We’re ready.” Prepared to go on a run, the Cardinal will visit Seattle on Thursday to take on Washington. The Daily’s Michael Espinosa, Stephen Ren, and Bobby Pragada share their thoughts on the statement win, the next man up for the Cardinal, and what needs to be done against the Huskies.

•

Coming off a close, disappointing loss to the Arizona Wildcats at home last Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball (8-8, 1-3 Pac-12) had their backs against the wall, staring down the barrel of losing four straight in the Pac-12. In a must-win contest, the Cardinal took on the Arizona State Sun Devils (11-5, 2-2) on Saturday afternoon, and powered through to claim a 85-71 upset victory. With their first win in the Pac-12 coming in such a dominant fashion, the Cardinal men proved that despite their slow start, they are a legitimate force in the conference.

•

For the second time in three years, the Stanford women’s volleyball team has won the national championship. On December 15th, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the No. 1 seeded Stanford Cardinal (34-1, 20-0 Pac-12) defeated the No. 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers (29-7) in five hard-fought sets to claim the program’s eighth total national title.

•

Stanford women’s volleyball has had an absolutely incredible season in 2018. They went undefeated in the Pac-12, swept their way through their regional bracket, and claimed the number one seed in the NCAA tournament. But there was a constant blemish on their otherwise perfect season—their one loss on the year, a five set defeat to Brigham Young University. The Cardinal ended the regular season 28-1, nearly undefeated.

•

Stanford women’s volleyball (30-1, 20-0 Pac-12) continued their unstoppable march to Minneapolis and the NCAA Final Four this weekend, smashing their first and second round opponents without dropping a single set. The No. 1 seeded Cardinal rolled past the lowest seeded team in the tournament, the Alabama State Hornets (23-18), on Friday night, before taking down the Loyola Marymount Lions (21-10) on Saturday.

•

Last Saturday, amidst intermittent rain and cloudy skies, The Daily Californian defeated The Stanford Daily in the Ink Bowl for the third consecutive year, claiming the trophy, the title, and the glory by a final score of 28-14.

•

I don’t remember what the final score was in last year’s Ink Bowl. The only thing I remember is that we lost. It was a terrible, crushing experience, one that I hope to never encounter again. To fall to your mortal enemies, on your home turf, by such a decimating margin...it was the worst possible feeling. We limped off the field with our heads in our hands, knowing that we had failed.

•

Last night, in their first home contest since their season opener against Seattle, the Stanford men’s basketball team (4-3) claimed a hard-fought victory against Portland State (3-3) by a score of 79-67. A close contest characterized by turnovers and personal fouls, Stanford finally pulled away with eight minutes remaining in the second half, thanks to strong performances from the entire team.

•

If you were to show the last two volumes of this paper to a Stanford outsider (and they had the ability to instantly read all of it) they might notice an unusual number of references to the Jacksonville Jaguars. No, this is not because of the NBC’s The Good Place (although Jason Mendoza’s antics have contributed greatly to the visibility of the Jaguars) but rather because I’ve been in charge of the sports section for the past year. I’ve written on the Jaguars a multitude of times, and my teal fandom has equally inspired my sports writers to take as many shots as possible at my team in their writing. Seriously, I edit a lot of them out, but they get pretty mean sometimes. Thanks guys.

•

On Nov. 16, the Big Game was postponed to Dec. 1 at 12:00 p.m. due to dangerous smoke levels from Camp Fire.

•

Let me set the stage for you. You’re in the stands of the 2016 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, the quarterfinal match between the No. 3-seeded Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 6-seeded Stanford Cardinal. “The game against Wisconsin in the quarterfinals — that’s a game that will always stick out to me.” The game is in…

•