By Jeremy Harness

Those who have watched Stanford’s basketball team throughout the season did not see this coming. Sure, they would have some notable wins early on, such as the road win at Connecticut, but the Cardinal surely would have just fallen back into the middle of the pack and not be heard from again for the rest of the year.

Then came the magical run through the NCAA Tournament, during which Stanford upended heavily-favored Kansas in the second round to get to the Sweet 16. However, Dayton put the brakes on the Cardinal on Thursday night, 82-72, in Memphis’ FedEx Forum.

Even though Stanford was not able to maintain its NCAA run, it most likely saved its basketball coach’s job. At the start of this season, many believed that Johnny Dawkins was on the hot seat and was in possible danger of being relieved of his duties.

However, that has all seemed to change.

Dayton, meanwhile, is moving on and will take on Florida in the Elite Eight. The Flyers did it by wearing down the Cardinal, using 12 players in the first half to set the tone for what was to come.

Stanford got quality play from their starters – Chasson Randle scored 21 points to lead the Cardinal while Dwight Powell had 17 and Stefan Nastic added 15. Problem was, Stanford could not stay out of foul trouble, as Nastic actually fouled out with more than five minutes remaining in the game.

The other issue was that Stanford got next to nothing from its bench. Dayton’s bench outscored Stanford’s by a 34-2 margin.