No fan base needs fewer reminders of the importance of college basketball’s non-conference season than Stanford’s. Many remain convicted that had the Cardinal performed as well as they did in Pac-12 play in November and December they’d have been in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Alas, a number of factors kept the Cardinal from putting its full complement of players on the court until Pac-12 play, and once again Stanford missed the sport’s biggest stage.

Having fully turned the page now and with the 2018-19 team already into preparation for the upcoming season, it’s time to look at the slate awaiting Stanford before league play begins in January. This far out, there are a number of presumptions made in establishing these rankings, some more certain to become realities than others, but there are some guiding principles which apply.

First, the rankings go from lowest to highest in terms of anticipation based on impact and interest. In other words, the top-ranked game would answer the question “If you could only see one Stanford game this non-conference, which should you choose?” The second would be if you could only see two, and so on….Secondly, true road games are given priority over neutral games which are given priority over home games. Quality of opponent mitigates that at times, but in this case there is no question Stanford’s toughest (read: NCAA resume-boosting) games are either true roadies or at a neutral site.

Next season, there will be some headliners coming to Maples, but this year’s schedule plays out as the flipside to that coin. Interestingly, six (potentially seven) of the games are rematches, against teams Stanford went 2-4 when playing in 2017-18. The vengeance factor is something else that informs the rankings here. You can’t clinch an NCAA Tournament bid before the new year (although one might argue Arizona State did), but you can certainly lose one. Let’s take a look at the stops on Stanford’s road to Pac-12 play and hopefully, the most meaningful March games.

Stay tuned to TheBootleg.com for Stanford Football and Basketball Team and Recruiting Updates all year long!

R.J. Abeytia has been contributing to The Bootleg since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Abeytia and follow The Bootleg @TheBootleg for up to the moment Cardinal news and analysis.

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