Jerod Haase hopes Cardinal can fill Maples for a change

Jerod Haase hopes Cardinal can fill Maples for a change

In eight seasons under Johnny Dawkins, only one of which led to a berth in the NCAA Tournament, attendance had dipped precipitously.

Last season, Stanford drew an average announced crowd of 4,393, and the real attendance was considerably less than that.

Only a Washington State team that won one conference game had worse attendance in the Pac-12.

[...] we’re going to push the envelope and see if we can get that student section filled as soon as we can.

Haase, a former Cal and Kansas guard, comes from a successful four-year stint at Alabama-Birmingham.

The Cardinal start the season eight time zones from home.

The home opener is Tuesday against Cal State Northridge.

Expectations are not high for the Cardinal, mainly because of their poor offensive numbers last season.

Travis has yet to play a full season because of injuries.

Last season, he was shelved after eight games because of a stress reaction in his left leg.

Cartwright missed all of last season with a compound arm fracture.

[...] some have resulted in stitches to a few players, including Travis.

Stanford will need to get significant minutes out of 7-foot sophomore Josh Sharma and 6-11 freshman Trevor Stanback.

Okpala set Esperanza High School’s season scoring record as a junior, averaging 23 points per game, and led the Aztecs to their first conference title in four years.

Da Silva, who speaks six languages fluently, averaged 21.0 points and 8.3 rebounds for his club team last season.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.