Stanford Gets Chance To Prove Them Wrong

Upset at not getting the top seed in their region, the Stanford women can start taking out their frustration on the court.

Stanford, seeded second in the West Regional, begins NCAA tournament play tonight at home against Cal-Irvine. The fourth-ranked Cardinal go into the tourney hoping to prove a point after No. 6 Vanderbilt was made the top seed in the West.

“I think there’s the image of the West Coast teams as being kind of the Wild West or something - that we don’t play as good a brand of basketball as some of those other teams,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.

“But we’re 26-2 and have beaten some very good teams. And we can play any style we need to play to win - finesse, physical, half-court, press, zone - anything.”

Stanford’s only losses this season were to No. 3 Tennessee and No. 21 Oregon State, both on the road. The Cardinal later beat Oregon State at home and won the Pac-10 championship with a 17-1 record.

VanDerveer thought her team’s performance was worthy of a No. 1 seed and said it was difficult to hide the disappointment of not getting it.

“It’s like when it’s your birthday and what you really want is a puppy, but you get a gerbil,” she said. “You know it’s still your birthday and it’s special, but it’s not what you really wanted.”

Stanford, making its eighth straight NCAA appearance, should have no trouble getting past Cal-Irvine (19-10), champion of the Big West Conference and in the NCAA field for the first time.

Southern Mississippi (21-8) plays Southern Methodist (20-9) in the other first-round game at Stanford on Thursday night. The winners meet Saturday, also at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

Stanford is one of 16 subregional sites where first- and second-round games will be played today and Saturday or Friday-Sunday. The subregional winners advance to four regional sites - the East at Storrs, Conn.; the Mideast at Knoxville, Tenn.; the Midwest at Des Moines, Iowa, and the West at Los Angeles.

Storrs and Knoxville are wellknown locales in women’s basketball circles because that’s where topranked Connecticut and Tennessee are located. Getting the regional sites means those teams would not have to leave home to earn a trip to the Final Four because they also have subregional games on their courts.

Connecticut (29-0) plays Maine (24-5) in a first-round game today. Tennessee (29-2) also plays today, meeting Florida A&M (24-5).