The 2008–09 Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team represented

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

during the

2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2008, and ended with the 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 6, 2009, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The season saw six ...

. The Cardinal were led by first year head coach

Johnny Dawkins Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the UCF men's basketball team. From 2008 to 2016, he was the head coach of Stanford. He was a two-time All-American an ...

, and played their home games at

Maples Pavilion Maples Pavilion is a 7,233-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. Opened in 1969, Maples underwent a $30 million renovation in March 2004 and reopened ahead of schedule, in time for conference pla ...

as a member of the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

Previous season

The

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

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 67–64. 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 Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

. 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 Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, but would come up short against the Longhorns 82–62. 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

Incoming

Roster

Schedule and results

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College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Stanford Cardinal Men's Basketball Team Stanford Cardinal men's basketball seasons

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

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