Five takeaways from ACC Tipoff: Stanford Men’s Basketball
This week, Stanford men’s basketball participated in the ACC Tipoff event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Head coach Kyle Smith, senior guard Benny Gealer, and senior forward Chisom Okpara represented the team. Below are five takeaways I have from what they said.
VIDEO: Stanford Men’s Basketball 2025 ACC Tipoff Press Conference
QUOTES: Stanford Men’s Basketball 2025 ACC Tipoff Press Conference
#1. Despite losing Maxime Raynaud to the NBA Draft, Stanford hopes to build on the season they had last year: A major reason why Stanford finished 7th in the ACC last season as opposed to 17th was the amazing performance of center Maxime Raynaud, who is now in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. While not having Raynaud on the floor will hurt, Stanford does not have an attitude of this being a setback season for them. They hope to build on the success they had last year and continue to lay the foundations for a program that can become an NCAA tournament level team in the near future.
“We’re really excited to be here our second year in the ACC, coming off what we thought was a very productive year,” Smith said. “Our goal was to become a relevant program in this league. It’s an honor to be in this league. We think it’s the best college basketball conference in the country, and it’s a testament of just the history of the league and Tobacco Road and what not. We won 21 games last year. I think we finished seventh, which was better than predicted.
“Our goal after becoming relevant was to retain as much of our roster as we could. We brought 11 guys back from last year and five guys that started games, three consistent starters. I think we are returning the most minutes in the league. So as far as being on schedule for what we’re trying to build, which is a program where guys want to be at Stanford, want the Stanford experience, and trying to get Stanford basketball back to where it was 20 years ago. We’re excited about it, and these guys behind me are doing an awesome job of trying to get us there.”
“Yeah, just incredibly grateful for what Coach Smith did to the program so far,” Gealer added. “He came in and we tied our most wins at Maples with 17. Just bringing in that culture has been incredible. Looking up to him as a mentor and how he brought all our guys together when we entered a new league, and he was obviously a new coach with a ton of new players. Last year was just an amazing, amazing year for us. Projected 17th; ended up finishing 7th. He has a formula that we all believe in and trust with the hustle stats, the nerd ball, and a great staff behind him.
“Then, like you said, 20 years ago we also have a staff member, Eric Reveno, who has been incredible. He coached with Montgomery when Stanford was a very successful team. I don’t think anything changes as far as the process. The coaching staff, they have a great formula, and we just follow that every day. I foresee our team being successful, really successful. The goal is to make it to the tournament and go as far as possible. I think we have the group to do it and the staff to do it.”
#2. Transfers Jeremy Dent-Smith and AJ Rohosy have a chance to be impact players: Despite transferring from lower levels (Dent-Smith from Division II and Rohosy from Division III), Kyle Smith is confident that both guys will make a real impact on this year’s team. When he was on set with ACC Network, Smith praised both players and feels like they have what it takes to play at this level.
“He’s our fifth or sixth post player,” Smith recalled of Rohosy when they were together at Washington State. “And he was really good and I tried and he said coach, I really want to play. I said you deserve to play, you practice so hard and you’re good. And I called up Seattle U, I called up my friends, I called UC Irvine, and then they’re like, no. And I’m like alright. He finally goes Coach, I’m just gonna go get a finance degree Clarmont-McKenna and I go, this is a great story, I go okay, I said I played Division III and there was nothing like you.
“And I said, I could, it’s changed. It could be, it might be different and sure enough, he was like 21 and 11 and the All-American and didn’t belong there…So then he went in the portal, he had another year of eligibility and he’s obviously an awesome student, I was like and we missed out on a kid, I can’t remember who, and I was like, he’s about to go to University of San Diego. And I was like, he said, he was waiting for us, I said le’ts go.
“And I said he’s going to be an identity guy. And I will say this cautiously because I think Coach Reveno might be a little crazy, as you know, Coach Reveno is crazy. He turns to me all the time, he goes I coached Madsen. He’s a lot like Madsen and I said pump the brakes. I said pump the breaks. I love him. Tyler Hansbrough interviewed me today and I said he’s got that quality. Whatever that is, you can’t teach and they’re just animals. And that’s Madsen, Hansbrough, too. And AJ’s got that.”
“You know what, it somewhat, actually his college coach Coach Becker told me like hey, I got a guy who’s a really good student,” Smith recalled of how they got Dent-Smith. “He’s probably going to, you know, use another year. He’s really good. And I, those things resonate with me and then he put in the machine and we had Jaylen Wells at Washington State and we didn’t have a high major to beat, no other high major offer for him and he’s third in rookie of the year voting, so I’m going to keep swinging at the Division II thing. I mean it’s been good for us.
“He [Dent-Smith] averaged 19 a game, is an All-American, they almost won a national championship, and I’m like and I really think of a guard, like playing minutes is really important and playing even regardless of that level, almost win a national championship. There’s winning DNA there. His coach really believed in him. He’s an awesome kid.
“Part of the reason he ended up there was COVID. We’re still getting some of the benefits of like Jaylen Wells ended up at Sonoma State because it just the whole schedule got out of search. So, he can really score and he’s making the adjustment and whether he’s going to be the guy that we’re bringing off the bench as just a heat check or I think he’ll finish some games because I think he’s kinda got that swagger about him.”
#3. Benny Gealer is grateful for the journey: When Gealer first came to Stanford, he was committed as a preferred walk-on. He has since earned a scholarship and is now one of the leaders on the team. It’s a testament to his hard work and resolve. He is grateful for the journey and all that he’s learned as a result.
“First of all, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity even to walk on at such a great school like Stanford,” Gealer said with humility. “As soon as I got the opportunity I jumped on it because it’s just the combination of athletics and academics, you really can’t beat it. Yeah, it’s just been a great journey. A lot of self-belief. I keep telling people, I never felt like a walk-on. I was just a player paying my way, and every day just show up, do the right things, and I’m grateful to be in the position I am and just kept working, kept believing.
“Yeah, like you said, the road less traveled. I think everyone has their own path. There’s no one way to do it, right? We all have different experiences. So there’s not one formula for anything in life. For me it was like I kept mentioning, hard work and self-belief are the two things and just falling in love with the process, are something that Coach Smith is always telling us as well, right? You just have to surrender to the outcome. If you have the right habits, the right work qualities then good things should happen to you.”
#4. Chisom Okpara loves the habits Smith instills in his players: Okpara loves the way that Smith instills good habits in them as players. It’s all about playing smart and doing things the right way. Okpara gave us a little insight into what makes Smith such a great coach everywhere he’s gone.
“Yeah, no, first is habit building,” Okpara said of what he’s learned from Smith. “Definitely what I learned in sociology is how certain leaders have certain habits that they follow, and Coach Smith has great habits. He has great habits that he instilled in all his players. I know some of his previous players from his previous stops, and they all bark on the same things of his hustle stats, and his ability to instill confidence in his players I feel like has led him and led his players to great outcomes, including here at Stanford.”
#5. Chisom Okpara embodies the student-athlete experience: Chisom Okpara as much as anyone, truly embodies what it means to be a student-athlete. He transferred from Harvard to Stanford, knowing that he wanted to build on the academic success he had in Cambridge while playing power conference basketball on The Farm. If there’s anyone that knows how to juggle high academics with athletics, it’s Okpara.
“The main thing is just time management. My father always barked to me and my siblings to manage your time, make time for what matters, and then you’ll have time for what doesn’t later,” Okpara explained. “Just making sure you’re on top of your work, making sure you go to bed early, all the little things that add up to equate to a good outcome, which is pretty good grades and playing well on the basketball court.”
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