The NCAA held its first official postseason event for Division I girls’s faculty basketball in 1982. Each event, together with that one and since, has been performed with the Tennessee Girl Volunteers in it.
Stanford owns the second-longest streak for appearances within the NCAA Match with 36. The Cardinal missed the sector in Tara VanDerveer’s first two seasons on the helm in 1986 and 1987, after which the event was by no means performed once more with out Stanford in it. As she grew to become the winningest coach within the historical past of school basketball, Stanford appeared in each Huge Dance from 1988 by 2024. Alongside the way in which, she went to 13 Ultimate Fours and gained three nationwide titles in a stretch spanning practically 4 many years.
Like Pat Summitt did with Tennessee, like Geno Auriemma did with UConn, like Muffet McGraw did with Notre Dame, and like Kim Mulkey did with Baylor, VanDerveer made Stanford synonymous with the ladies’s NCAA Match. As the game grew in recognition, the Cardinal grew to become one its signature applications.
“Tara is the very best coach within the historical past of the sport,” mentioned VanDerveer’s longtime understudy, Kate Paye.
After which, just a few weeks after final season ended, VanDerveer known as it quits, retiring on the age of 70. She went out with the Pac-12, a convention she helped flip into a terrific league for girls’s faculty basketball.
Her former participant and assistant coach for 17 years, Paye, took the reins of this system because it launched into a brand new period of Cardinal girls’s basketball: On July 1, 2024, Stanford – together with Cal and SMU – formally joined the Atlantic Coast Convention. Because the Pac-12 dissolved due to greed and mismanagement over TV income from soccer, Stanford and Cal jumped aboard the primary actual lifeboat that got here their manner, even when it was coming from a convention largely based mostly a number of time zones away. The selection was becoming a member of the ACC, or struggling the destiny of Oregon State and Washington State, left behind and compelled to scrabble collectively partnerships with mid-major conferences.
These two huge modifications for Stanford – VanDerveer’s retirement and the dissolution of the Pac-12 resulting in Paye’s elevation and becoming a member of the ACC – additionally coincided with a few of the greatest gamers leaving this system. All-American and two-time Pac-12 Participant of the Yr Cameron Brink grew to become the second general decide within the WNBA Draft, and Katrina McClain Award-winner Kiki Iriafen transferred to USC. Brink and Iriafen each averaged double-doubles final season as Stanford went to the Candy 16. Additionally gone after exhausting her eligibility was Hannah Leap, an All-Pac-12 guard who began 71 video games within the earlier two seasons.
Nonetheless, of us have been optimistic that Stanford would achieve success within the ACC. The Cardinal have been picked to complete seventh within the league within the preseason ballot and even acquired a first-place vote. Absolutely, on the very least – many thought – Stanford would make the NCAA Match discipline.
However that prediction could not come to fruition. Extra importantly, Stanford’s streak of NCAA Match appearances could also be coming to an finish.
Getting into the ACC Match this week because the No. 11 seed, the Cardinal finds itself on the flawed aspect of the event bubble. In his newest bracketology at ESPN, Charlie Creme tasks Stanford among the many so-called “subsequent 4 out.”
“It will take rather a lot (to make the NCAA Match),” Creme informed SB Nation of Stanford’s outlook. “They’re fairly a methods from the precise discipline. They would wish two impactful wins on the ACC Match after which dropping from (different bubble groups).”
Her Hoop Stats bracketologist Megan Gauer agrees.
“I believe we’re about to see their event streak finish,” Gauer informed SB Nation. “Stanford has a pair good wins… however not sufficient to compensate for the 13 losses and a sub-.500 convention document.”
However Paye enters the ACC Match this week in Greensboro, North Carolina with renewed optimism in her squad.
“Our group could be very assured. We’re enjoying rather well and our group loves enjoying collectively,” Paye mentioned. “It’s March, in order a basketball participant, that is essentially the most thrilling time of yr. What we’ve realized through the years is that the groups which can be peaking going into event time are the groups that actually love one another and simply need to play extra video games collectively. I really feel like our group has that.”
Stanford has gained 5 of its final six video games, giving them a 16-13 general document and an 8-10 mark in ACC play. A kind of wins was over an AP-ranked group in Georgia Tech.
One of many causes for Stanford’s late-season surge are modifications Paye made was to the rotation. She inserted Chloe Clardy into the beginning lineup and gave extra minutes to off-the-bench contributors in Tess Heal and Courtney Ogden.
Heal, a junior switch from Santa Clara, is the one participant within the nation taking pictures higher than 50 p.c from the ground, 50 p.c from 3-point vary, and 85 p.c from the free throw line. Ogden is averaging 16.5 factors, 5 rebounds and 4 assists over her final 4 video games, and Clardy scored a career-high 30 factors to assist Stanford win at Virginia Tech.
“Our group is enjoying effectively and with lots of confidence,” Paye mentioned. “I’m simply actually excited and happy with the unbelievable enchancment to our group. After I suppose again to our first street journey, I really feel like we’re a completely totally different group. We’re a lot improved… Persons are feeling very comfy of their roles.”
The Cardinal are forty eighth within the NET rankings, forward of fellow bubble groups like Princeton, Saint Joseph’s, Arizona and Colorado. They’ve only one Quad 1 win, however are 7-4 mixed in opposition to Quad 2 and three groups.
There’s an opportunity for Stanford to make a run to the NCAA Match and hold its streak alive, however the street there may very well be bumpy. Ought to the Cardinal beat Clemson on Wednesday night time, they’ll must then defeat Louisville and Duke – each of which might be Quad 1 victories – to really feel comfy about stepping into the NCAA Match. Stanford misplaced to each the Cardinals and the Blue Devils on the street this season by a median margin of 17 factors.
Once more, certainly, it gained’t be straightforward for Stanford. The Cardinal went 2-7 in ACC street video games this yr and the event in Greensboro will most likely really feel rather a lot like a real street recreation for the Californians.
“We’re touring a heck of rather a lot lower than Stanford is,” Clemson coach Shawn Poppie mentioned of the upcoming matchup.
Paye says that her gamers haven’t complained concerning the journey, however Stanford’s street document exhibits that enjoying just a few timezones away can be one other impediment because it has been for a lot of the season for the ACC newcomers. Nonetheless the event performs out although, Paye has taken the ups and downs of her first yr in-stride and hopes that it helps her construct in years to return.
“Actually, it’s been a extremely enjoyable journey,” Paye mentioned. “This isn’t about me – it’s concerning the unbelievable girls on our group who’ve been extraordinarily unselfish, extraordinarily hardworking, extraordinarily coachable by lots of adversity. They’ve actually caught collectively. I’m actually happy with them. It’s been difficult, however in a great way. I do know that I’ve grown as a coach and I’ve realized rather a lot.”