What an incredible two weeks it has been. Three last-second wins in a row — men’s basketball had back-to-back thrillers over Washington and Oregon last year (thanks, Chris Hernandez), but you have to go back to the magical 26-0 start to the 2003-04 season to find this many close wins in one year. And who would have thought this young squad would be able to compete with that bunch in terms of drama and late-game poise?

The only negative from the weekend is that the team stepped off the gas to allow Washington State to leap back into the game at the end of regulation on Saturday. Give the Cougars credit for hitting two big threes after they’d been missing all afternoon, but still, Stanford lost its focus as the Cougars blew up with a 10-1 run to send the game into overtime. At home, down the stretch, how do you let that happen?

One answer: by dribbling out too much time at the timeline at the end of regulation and overtime, so that there’s not enough time to let a play develop. That Anthony Goods swished an NBA-length three-pointer falling backwards with Washington State’s best defender in his face doesn’t change my point — Stanford should have started attacking earlier.

Surprisingly, after the game, neither coach Trent Johnson nor Goods expressed concern about letting the Cougars nearly steal away a Stanford win.

“I told them to forget about it,” said Johnson of his words to his team heading into overtime. “We’re in a position there where we had some breakdowns defensively, but hey, forget about it.”

I wonder if he’d be so casual had the bounces fallen the other way the past two weeks?

But a win’s a win, and after three straight wins, this program has to be thinking of going back to NCAA Tournament after snapping its 11-year appearance streak last year.

Anything above .500 ball (easier said than done in the toughest Pac-10 in years) should get it done, so this weekend Stanford just needs to win at bottom-feeder Oregon State on Saturday.

Good thing, because the Thursday game at No. 9 Oregon might be the toughest one remaining on the schedule. McArthur Court is the toughest venue in the conference, and, more importantly, the Ducks’ roster presents Stanford with all sorts of matchup problems.

Just like Air Force, Oregon has a center, Marty Leunen, who’s dangerous with the three (43 percent). Plus, the Ducks start a four, Malik Hairston, who’s faster than most Pac-10 guards. Either Lopez twin is too slow to guard Hairston, so figure on only one on the floor at a time for much of the game. And you can bet that Oregon will draw Leunen out to the three-point arc, forcing Robin or Brook to guard him 20 feet away from the hoop, and leaving plenty of room for their quick guards to penetrate the lane.

The good news is that Oregon coach Ernie Kent finds ways to lose games, and Stanford is the only team in the conference no current Duck has ever beat — so maybe that counts for a mental edge. On the court, Stanford’s size will create a mismatch for Oregon, but players like Goods and Lawrence Hill need to keep scoring at All-Pac-10 levels, and someone else — Carlton Weatherby, Mitch Johnson or Taj Finger — is going to need to have the game of his life if Stanford is going to make it interesting.

Be sure to tune into kzsu.stanford.edu or 90.1 FM as we broadcast both the games from Oregon, and catch the recaps in the paper or at stanforddaily.com. Here’s hoping these next few games can be half as exciting as the last three!