One had to wonder, at least at some point, when 21-0 still wasn’t good enough.
When is a school that has had its best start ever, an undefeated record, and hasn’t lost a game since March 22, 2003, still not considered the best in the nation?
Well, for the past four weeks it was that way as Stanford (21-0 overall, 12-0 Pac-10) held the No. 2 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, trailing Duke.
Now that Duke has lost to then-No. 21 North Carolina State on Sunday, 21-straight wins are finally enough to vault the Cardinal into the nation’s top spot.
And as Stanford continues its winning ways, head coach Mike Montgomery is gradually becoming more accustomed to the fact that his team will likely keep winning.
“It’s the best we’ve ever done at the school,” Montgomery said. “I had to change my tune with the guys. We’re not afraid of winning every game. I think some of that was starting to creep in, that it would be bad if we won every game.
“We’re not trying to win every game, but it’s ludicrous for us to act and think like we’re going to win every game and we’re the greatest.”
Maybe not the greatest, but at least the best for now. Or possibly until St. Joseph’s 22-straight wins and undefeated record seem more appealing than the Cardinal’s winning streak.
St. Joseph’s has received just as much national attention as Stanford with senior guard Jameer Nelson appearing on the latest cover of Sports Illustrated.
“If somebody asked me if I thought we had a chance of going into the tournament undefeated, I’d say we have the best chance aside from one other team (St. Joseph’s),” Montgomery said.

Cal’s fans not enough
Even a packed sellout crowd of 11,877 at Haas Pavilion wasn’t enough to boost Cal over Stanford in a 69-58 loss.
Students camped out overnight just to get a seat.
Cal head coach Ben Braun wrote a note that was handed out to students before the game telling them, “We need you to be as loud as ever,” and it also encouraged sportsmanship.
Jason Kidd was even on hand to fire up the crowd. But all of it was not enough.
It didn’t help that Stanford’s defense held Cal leading scorer and rebounder Leon Powe to no field goals on Saturday night. Cal (11-10, 7-5) had won three straight prior to the loss.
“They’re a very good defensive team,” Powe said. “They’re a good team, period. I didn’t play most of the game, only 18 minutes, and I couldn’t get in a flow. I’ll give it up to them. It’s frustrating. We’ve got to correct what we did down the stretch making mistakes.”
Cal retired Kidd’s No. 5 jersey in a pregame ceremony. His uniform joins the likes of Kevin Johnson’s No. 11 and Alfred Grigsby’s No. 4. Kidd even spoke to his old team before the game.

Washington is rolling
Washington has quietly moved into sole possession of the fifth spot in the Pacific-10 Conference rankings over the past month.
Since Jan. 17, Washington (12-9, 7-6) has become a balanced team and has won seven of its last eight games. The Huskies’ only loss in that time frame was at UCLA
on Feb. 7.
Washington squeaked by Oregon State on Saturday in a 80-79 victory. The Huskies play Washington State on Thursday and play a hot North Carolina State team on Saturday.

Stoudamire receives honor
Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire was named the Pac-10 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the span of February 9-15 on Monday.