Stanford Leland Jr's. very own #33, Matt Lottich is the star of tonight's amazing win over Washington State in yet another buzzerbeater!

With twenty-six seconds left in the game, Stanford is down by five points. Dan Grunfeld makes a three-point shot and is fouled.

After his subsequent free throw, Stanford is now down by 1.

The entire Cardinal team on the floor plays incredible defense and forces Washington into a five-second violation.

Washington's claim that they tried to call a time-out doesn't fly with the refs.

So Stanford gets the ball back with nineteen seconds left. Then, they nearly lose the ball. But Matt Lottich scrambles to get behind the three-point line and the Senior guard from Winnetka, Illinois, sinks it with virtually nothing left on the clock.

Game finito.

The buzzerbeater wins it, again.

Washington State fans are stunned.

The Stanford Cardinal and all of us fans in the land of Red & White go wild.

Stanford wins the game 63-61.

Montgomery's Miracle team maintains their undefeated record. And by the skin of their teeth, they hold onto their number one ranking in the country.

Since the Pac-10 went to an 18-game schedule in 1979, no team has gone through the season undefeated.

Stanford's 26-game winning streak is the longest in the Pac-10 since Oregon State won 26 in a row in 1980-81.

In fact, no team has entered the NCAA tournament without a loss since UNLV in 1991. The last team to complete an undefeated season was Indiana in 1976.

Stanford's Rob Little fights off Washington State's Shami Gill

All of this makes Joe Drape's story in the New York Times this morning that much more poignant. Titled "Squad of Overachievers Majoring in Chemistry," after tonight's win, many might call this an understatement.

By any measure, the team has overachieved. Beyond Childress, the Cardinal is not as athletically gifted as Stanford's 1998 Final Four team, which boasted eight players over 6-7 and was led by the relentless banger Mark Madsen, who is now with the Minnesota Timberwolves. This team is not as prodigiously talented as 2001's 31-3 team, which sent Casey Jacobsen and the Collins twins – Jason and Jarron – to the N.B.A.

"But they are mature and share a great chemistry," Coach Mike Montgomery said. "It's kind of like how you ham-and-egg it on a golf course – throughout the season everyone has contributed at different times, in ways big and small, so we could win. None of them care about statistics, and they all like each other."

The golfing metaphor is apt at this private university, where excellence in the country-club sports has been rivaled only by Stanford's academic rigors.

John McEnroe, Tiger Woods and Summer Sanders are among those who have contributed to an athletic legacy that includes 70 N.C.A.A. team championships since 1980 and nine consecutive Directors' Cup trophies as the best overall collegiate athletic program in the country.

"I liked the fact that this place was not all about basketball," said Childress, a junior who had his pick of programs as a high school senior in Los Angeles. "This campus is full of special people doing all kinds of things."

Childress's old-school coif belies a new-age sense of responsibility. He is a leading all-American candidate who volunteers with the Young Black Scholars, a mentoring and tutoring group.

The Cardinal team (26-0, 17-0 Pac-10) continues to inspire us both on and off the court.

Congratulations!

~Jennifer

Inspire & Be Inspired

Speaking of inspiration, Annie Lee Robinson is going to be one proud daughter when she realizes what her daddy's team achieved the year she was born.