The Men’s Basketball program was dealt a major setback at the NBA draft late last month when not one Stanford player was drafted. Four graduating seniors who had been in contention – Jason Haas, Matt Haryasz, Chris Hernandez, and Dan Grunfeld – did not even get selected in later rounds.

Three seniors attended pre-draft workouts for several teams. Grunfeld and Haryasz even received invitations to the Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando in early June.

The seniors carried the team through a somewhat dismal season. Despite Stanford’s difficult year – finishing 15-12 and ranked fifth in the Pac-10 – Grunfeld, Haryasz, and Hernandez were the Cardinal’s top three scorers. While none were first round prospects, they looked to be drafted at some point during the second round, hoping franchises would recognize their contributions to Stanford on the court, and their leadership off it.

Now the future of their careers in basketball is on the line. Unable to return to The Farm, the players could try to make it onto competitive teams in Europe or demonstrate their skills in NBA summer leagues.

Senior Matt Haryasz averaged 16 points and 9 boards his senior year, finishing second in the Pac-10 in rebounding and sixth in scoring. He was a first-team All Pac-10 selection, and finished third in Stanford history for blocks in a season with 47. He received Pac-10 Player of the Week honors two weeks in a row during January, after averaging more than 20 points a game during that period.

Senior Chris Hernandez, who flirted with declaring for the draft last summer before returning for his senior season, provided the team with veteran leadership. He averaged 14 points a game, 90 percent from the free throw line, and was named Pac-10 Player of the Week, Feb. 6.

In perhaps one of the most memorable moments of the year, Hernandez sunk three straight free throws with no time left on the clock to force overtime against fifth-ranked Washington. In his sophomore and junior season he was named to the first-team All Pac-10, and through his four-year career has been arguably one of the nation’s top point guards.

Senior Dan Grunfeld finished his season averaging twelve points a game. Grunfeld had been enjoying his best season as a Cardinal in his junior year, averaging 18 points a game as the team’s leading scorer before an ACL injury in February prematurely ended his season. He recovered quickly from surgery, scoring 29 points in the Cardinal’s first game of the season. He dropped 31 points on Arizona State, and was 11 for 11 from the free throw line on the one-year anniversary of his surgery.