No. 6 Stanford (29-5)
at No. 24 Kansas State (23-10)
Monday, March 20 • 5:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. PT
Bramlage Coliseum • Manhattan, Kan.
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Television •ESPN2
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THE GAMENo. 2 seed Stanford (29-5) will look to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 10th consecutive year when it plays at seventh-seeded Kansas State (23-10) on Monday, March 20 at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan. at 5:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. PT.
THE RUNDOWNStanford is 81-28 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 47-24 in games away from Maples Pavilion ... The Cardinal earned the Pac-12's automatic berth to the field after winning its 12th conference tournament championship ... On Feb. 3, Tara VanDerveer became the third Division I basketball coach to win 1,000 games when Stanford beat USC 58-42 ... She owns a 1,009-230 career record and has more wins than 341 of the country's 349 Division I programs ... VanDerveer's 79 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time ... Stanford is 171-36 (.826) in games away from Maples Pavilion the past 10 years (road/neutral), one of only three schools to have more than 150 such wins ... Alanna Smith is averaging 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in the last 11 games ... Erica McCall is 25th in school history in points (1,320), seventh in rebounds (933) and fourth in blocks (194) and has 31 double-doubles in her last 68 games, the 10th most in the country over the past two seasons ... Karlie Samuelson is fourth among active players in career 3-point field goal percentage (.440), third in school history in 3-point makes (238) and 33rd in points (1,128) ... She is third nationally in 3-point field goal percentage this season (.480) ... Brittany McPhee's 6.3 per game scoring increase over last season is the fourth-best in the Pac-12 ... Marta Sniezek's 3.06 assist to turnover ratio since Feb. 1 leads the Pac-12 and is 16th nationally.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED• On Saturday, the Cardinal won its 81st NCAA Tournament game, beating New Mexico State 72-64.
• Stanford is now 81-28 (.743) all-time in the tournament and 47-24 (.662) away from Maples Pavilion.
• Stanford erased a nine-point deficit to win Saturday. It was the program's largest comeback in the tournament since the Cardinal stormed back from down 13 to beat North Carolina 74-65 in the Elite Eight in 2014.
• Alanna Smith had her second career double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds to go along with a career-high six blocks.
• Her six rejections were the most for a Stanford player in the tournament since Cori Enghusen had the same number against Oklahoma on March 19, 2001.
• Stanford's 12 total blocks were a school tournament record and are now tied as the ninth-most in a single game in tournament history.
• The 12 rejections were one shy of the school single-game record of 13, achieved against Arizona State in Feb. 1989 and at USC in Jan. 2016.
• Stanford set a school record with 211 blocks last season and its 194 this year are third all-time.
• Karlie Samuelson hit five 3-pointers, scored 17 and handed out a game-high five assists.
• In her last five NCAA Tournament games, Samuelson is 19-of-32 from behind the arc (.594).
• Erica McCall scored nine points and had a game-high 12 rebounds.
• McCall has had double-digit rebounds in six of her last seven NCAA Tournament games.
WHAT'S AT STAKE• Stanford could make its 10th consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16 with a win Monday. The Cardinal also made 10 in a row from 1988-97.
• A victory would also be Stanford's 30th on the year. The Cardinal has 13 30-win seasons to its name, including seven straight from 2008-14. Its last 30-win campaign was in 2013-14.
• Stanford is 171-36 (.826) in games away from Maples Pavilion the last 10 years (road/neutral), one of only three schools to have more than 150 road and neutral wins along with Connecticut (191) and Notre Dame (162).
• The Cardinal is 17-2 this season in road and neutral games, its 89.5 winning percentage good for third in the country. Connecticut is first (18-0; 1.000) and Maryland second (16-1; .941).
• Stanford had never played in Manhattan, Kansas before Saturday, but its head coach is familiar with the campus and its surroundings. Kansas State hosted the 1974 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament from March 20-23, 1974, which included Tara VanDerveer and the Indiana Hoosiers. IU knocked off Wayland Baptist 59-56 to open the tournament behind a career-high 26 points from its junior guard VanDerveer. Indiana would lose to eventual national champion Immaculata 60-56 in the quarterfinals the next day.
AGAINST KANSAS STATE• The Cardinal and Kansas State have met once before on Nov. 30, 2002 in a game that was part of the Stanford Invitational.
• No. 7 Stanford beat the No. 2 Wildcats 63-57 thanks largely to 12 made 3-pointers - five from Kelley Suminski, four from Sebnem Kimyacioglu and three from Susan King Borchardt.
• Suminksi scored 18 and Kimyacioglu and King Borchardt had 14 apiece for the Cardinal. Megan Mahoney had a game-high 19 for Kansas State and Kendra Wecker added 18.
• The 37 3-pointers attempted by Stanford were a school record at the time and are still fourth in program history.
• The win was Tara VanDerveer's 400th at Stanford.
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES• Stanford earned its 30th consecutive and 31st overall NCAA Tournament bid by collecting the Pac-12's automatic berth into the field after winning its 12th conference tournament championship.
• Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990, 1992), reached 12 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014), 18 Elite Eights, 23 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 81-28 (.743).
• Stanford's 12 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 31 overall appearances rank third behind only Tennessee (36) and Georgia (32).
• Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 30. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 36 NCAA Tournaments.
• The Cardinal's 81 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (124) and Connecticut (110), as are its 109 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 151 and Connecticut 127.
• Stanford's .743 NCAA Tournament winning percentage is fourth all-time among programs with a minimum of 20 appearances. Connecticut is No. 1 (.866; 110-17), Tennessee is No. 2 (.821; 124-27) and Baylor is No. 3 (.755; 40-13).
• The Cardinal is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time and first since 2014. Stanford has gone on to reach the Final Four as a No. 2 seed five times (1991, 1995, 2008, 2009, 2014), defeating the No. 1 seed in the regional final in 1991 (Georgia) and 2008 (Maryland). No. 2 seeds are 339-130 all-time in the tournament.
• This is the 12th time that the Cardinal has opened the draw away from Maples Pavilion. Stanford is 16-4 in first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games away from home and is currently on a 13-game winning streak.
• The Cardinal is unable to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament because the Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Championships, which rotate to host sites around the conference each year, will be in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, March 18.
• Maples Pavilion has hosted more NCAA Tournament games (65) than any other facility except Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena (66).
#TARA1K• In her 31st season on the bench at Stanford, Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 1,009-230 record in her 37+ years as a collegiate head coach and an 857-179 mark on The Farm.
• VanDerveer's 79 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Pat Summitt (112) and Geno Auriemma (110).
• Her teams have won 20 or more games 32 times and collected at least 30 victories 13 times. Pat Summitt (36) and C. Vivian Stringer (34) are the only coaches to lead their teams to more 20-win seasons.
• In November 2013, VanDerveer became just the fifth college women's basketball coach to win 900 career games and on Feb. 3 she joined her good friend Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women's basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.
• Summitt (1,098) along with Mike Krzyzewski at Duke (1,071) and Herb Magee at Philadelphia University (1,053) on the men's side are the only college basketball coaches with 1,000 wins.
• VanDerveer has more career wins than 341 of the country's 349 Division I programs.
• There were 13,945 days between her first career win on Dec. 1, 1978 and her 1,000th on Feb. 3, 2017.
• Through her first 37 seasons, VanDerveer averaged 26.5 victories and just 6.1 losses per year.
• VanDerveer has been a four-time national coach of the year (1988, 1989, 1990, 2011), 14-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year.
HOW WE GOT HERE• Stanford's 28 wins entering the NCAA Tournament were its most since the program was 29-3 in 2014.
• The Cardinal won its 12th Pac-12 Tournament in 16 tries thanks to a comeback that relied on stifling defense against No. 6 Oregon State in the championship game.
• Alanna Smith scored 18 points off the bench, Karlie Samuelson added 14 and after surrendering 22 points and nine field goals in the first quarter, the Cardinal allowed just 21 points and seven made field goals over the game's final 30 minutes.
• Stanford, which finished tied for second in the league regular-season standings, has not won a Pac-12 regular-season title since 2014, the first three-year drought in program history.
• Stanford has 20 wins for the 16th straight season and 28th overall and tallied double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 29th consecutive year.
• The Cardinal has won with a balanced attack featuring six different leading scorers and three players (Erica McCall, Brittany McPhee, Karlie Samuelson) averaging over 12 points per game for the first time since 2010-11 (Nneka Ogwumike, Jeanette Pohlen, Kayla Pedersen).
• Stanford is 29th in the nation in field goal percentage (.447), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.344), 18th in scoring defense (55.7), 50th in scoring offense (72.1) and 12th in scoring margin (+16.3).
• The Cardinal is one of seven programs in the country in the top 30 nationally in both field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense along with Baylor, Duke, Connecticut, Central Arkansas, Green Bay and South Carolina.
COMEBACK KIDS• Stanford has been down by at least nine points and come back to win four times this season, including in each of its last three games.
• The Cardinal erased an 18-point deficit on the road at No. 7 Washington on Jan. 29, a 13-point hole in the Pac-12 Tournament final against No. 6 Oregon State on March 5 and nine-point deficits against Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals on March 4 and New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 18.
• Says Karlie Samuelson, "We keep our heads in the game. I think there's a difference between feeling panicked and having a sense of urgency. We always know we can come back, so just keep playing hard."
AGAINST RANKED• The Cardinal is 5-3 against ranked teams this season, 3-1 against the top 10, and has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 15 seasons.
• Stanford has won five of its last six against top-10 opponents, beating No. 7 Oregon State (Feb. 26, 2016), No. 2 Notre Dame (March 25, 2016), No. 8 Texas (Nov. 14, 2016), No. 7 Washington (Jan. 29, 2017) and No. 6 Oregon State (March 5, 2017) around a road loss to the No. 10 Beavers (Feb. 24, 2017).
• Stanford is 68-33 (.673) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins over that span and fourth in percentage.
• Connecticut (.904), Baylor (.762), Notre Dame (.726), Stanford (.673), Tennessee (.620), Duke (.559), Maryland (.537) and Texas A&M (.513) have winning records against ranked teams the past decade.
CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS• A Pac-12-record seven teams were selected to participate in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament from a league boasting the country's top collective RPI and all seven won in the first round.
• From 2000 to 2012, Stanford played 27 conference and conference tournament games against ranked opponents and went 21-6. In just the last five seasons, the Cardinal has played a ranked Pac-12 team 30 times in conference and conference tournament games, going 20-10.
• For the second time and second-straight year, the Pac-12 has four teams ranked in the final Associated Press poll in Stanford (No. 6), Oregon State (No. 8), Washington (No. 12) and UCLA (No. 15).
SUPER SUB• The first international recruit in program history, Australian Alanna Smith is looking increasingly comfortable at the end of her sophomore season.
• In her last 11 games, Smith is averaging a team-high 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 24.1 minutes off the bench.
• Of her 18 career games in double figures scoring, 10 have come since Jan. 1.
• Smith has come off the bench in 31 of her 34 appearances this season. Her 8.7 points per game average in those 31 outings as a substitute is the third-best in the Pac-12. Minyon Moore averaged 12.0 points in 26 games off the bench for USC and Alexys Swedlund 10.6 in 16 games off the bench for Washington State.
• Smith averaged 13.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the month of February, one of three non-starters in the country with those numbers along with Georgia's Caliya Robinson and Oklahoma's Vionise Pierre-Louis.
• She accounted for 38 percent of Stanford's points in the Pac-12 Tournament title game against Oregon State and was named to the league's all-tournament team after averaging 10.3 points in Seattle.
BIRD SOARING• On March 1, Erica McCall was named to the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-American Division I second team to become the eighth academic All-American in program history along with Chiney Ogwumike, Kristin Folkl, Kate Starbird, Chris MacMurdo, Julie Zeilstra, Jeanne Ruark Hoff and Louise Smith.
• She is averaging team highs in points (14.4), rebounds (8.8) and blocks (1.7), has scored in double figures in 28 games and led the team in scoring 26 times and rebounding 20 times.
• McCall was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Pac-12 Tournament after averaging 11.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in Stanford's three wins.
• The senior is one of only four players at Stanford with 1,300 career points, 900 rebounds and 190 blocks (Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike, Val Whiting).
• Since the start of her junior year, McCall is averaging 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds, one of nine players in the country with those numbers over the past two seasons along with Kristine Anigwe (Cal), Nia Coffey (Northwestern), Jessica Shepard (Nebraska), Brionna Jones (Maryland), Kaylee Jensen (Oklahoma State), Ally Lehman (Northern Illinois), Channon Fluker (CSUN) and Maya Hood (San Diego).
• McCall, who at one point or another has been on watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, Wooden Award and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as well as a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, became Stanford's 37th 1,000-point scorer at George Washington on Dec. 21. She is currently 25th in program history with 1,320.
• Her 194 career blocks are fourth at Stanford. Jayne Appel (278), Chiney Ogwumike (202) and Val Whiting (201) own the top three spots in program history.
• She is also seventh with 933 rebounds and one of 32 players in Pac-12 history with 900 career boards.
• McCall is tied for 10th nationally in double-doubles since the start of 2015-16 with 31 in her last 68 games and tied for 13th among active NCAA players in career double-doubles (33).
• At Stanford since 2000, McCall is sixth in double-doubles behind Chiney Ogwumike (85), Nicole Powell (58), Nneka Ogwumike (51), Jayne Appel (46) and Kayla Pedersen (40).
• In Pac-12 games, McCall averaged 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, one of 13 players in the nation to do that in conference (minimum 10 games played).
TAKE AIM• Karlie Samuelson is fourth in career 3-point field goal percentage (.440) among active NCAA players and with 238 3-pointers made is third in Stanford history, one in front of older sister Bonnie.
• Samuelson's 85 made 3-pointers this season are fifth in Stanford history.
• She is averaging career highs in points (12.8), rebounds (3.6) and assists (2.6) and personal bests in field goal percentage (.483) and 3-point field goal percentage (.480).
• Three of her four career games with six 3-pointers made have come this season as have 24 of her 54 games scoring in double figures and five of her seven 20-point efforts.
• Will likely finish her career fifth in the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage and with the best clip for any player since 1990.
• Rosalind Moore-Senior (Arizona State - 1987-89; .494), Chris Holten (Cal - 1987-90; .467), Jennifer Azzi (Stanford - 1987-90; .452) and Michelle Eble (Oregon - 1987-90; .443) are the only Pac-12 players to finish their careers making more than 43 percent from behind the arc.
• On Feb. 10 against Utah she became the program's 38th 1,000-point scorer and is now 33rd (1,128).
• Samuelson averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 49.4 percent from deep in league games. She was one of two players in the country averaging 13/4/3 while shooting 49 percent from the floor and on 3-pointers in conference (Savannah Scott - Northern Colorado).
• Her .494 3-point percentage (44-of-89) in conference games led the Pac-12 and was sixth nationally.
• Samuelson's career 3-point percentage would be second in program history to Jennifer Azzi (.452). Krista Rappahahn and Kelley Suminski are the only other Cardinal to make more than 40 percent of their 3-pointers in a career (minimum 150 3FGM). Rappahahn converted 152-of-372 from 2003-06 (.409) and Suminski 208-of-514 from 2002-05 (.405).
• Samuelson will also likely go down owning two of the three best single seasons in terms of 3-point percentage in program history. Azzi has the record of .495 in 1988-89 and Samuelson's .473 clip as a junior last season is currently second.
• Since older sister Bonnie arrived on campus as a freshman for the 2011-12 season, the Samuelson sisters have made 475 of Stanford's 1,318 3-pointers during that time, or 36.0 percent.
• In her last 55 games, she is 137-of-277 on 3-pointers (.495). She is currently third in the country in percentage from behind the arc this season (.480).
• More than 70 percent of her career attempts are from 3-point range and more than 80 percent of her points have come on 3-pointers and free throws. Samuelson is 118-of-245 (.482) on two-point shots.
• Against Arizona on Jan. 20, Samuelson became the eighth Stanford player to make 200 3-pointers in a career, joining Candice Wiggins, Jeanette Pohlen, Bonnie Samuelson, Vanessa Nygaard, Kelley Suminski, Sebnem Kimyacioglu and Nicole Powell.
McPHIRE• Junior Brittany McPhee is 15th in the Pac-12 averaging 12.8 points per game.
• McPhee, who averaged 6.5 points per game as a sophomore, has increased her average output by 6.3 points, the fourth-best improvement in the Pac-12.
• She is one of four players in the conference who have upped their scoring output by at least six points from a year ago - Kennedy Burke, UCLA (+6.7); Ivana Kmetovska, Washington State (+6.7); Alexys Swedlund (+6.4).
• McPhee is the 17th-best shooting guard among Power 5 conference players with a field goal percentage of .447. She is shooting 24.2 percent on threes (23-95) and 51.8 percent on twos (143-276).
• Twenty-two of her 32 career games scoring in double figures have come this season.
• The junior torched then-No. 8 Texas on Nov. 14 for a career-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting (.733) and followed that up with 22 points against Gonzaga her first back-to-back 20-point games.
• Her performance from the floor against the Longhorns was the most efficient for a Stanford guard against a ranked opponent with records dating back to 1999-00 (minimum 10 field goals made).
• Four-time All-American Candice Wiggins is second on that list, converting 55.6 percent in games against No. 16 Minnesota on Nov. 20, 2005 (10-of-18) and No. 23 UTEP on March 24, 2008 (15-of-27).
DISHIN'• Marta Sniezek, who has handed out five or more assists in 24 of her 69 career appearances, is averaging 4.3 assists per game this season.
• In the last 20 years, only Nicole Powell, Milena Flores, Jeanette Pohlen and Amber Orrange have averaged more assists for Stanford over the course of a season. Powell averaged 6.3 in 2001-02 and 4.7 in 2000-01. Flores averaged 7.3 in 1998-99, 6.1 in 1997-98 and 5.9 in 1999-00, Pohlen averaged 4.8 in 2010-11 and 4.5 in 2009-10 and Orrange averaged 4.5 in 2013-14.
• Sniezek has handed out 52 assists against just 17 turnovers in the last 12 games.
• Her 3.06 assist to turnover ratio since Feb. 1 leads the Pac-12 and is 16th nationally.
IN THE POLLS• Stanford is No. 6 in the AP top 25 and No. 6 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
• It has been ranked 514 times out of 729 total AP polls since 1977 (70.5 percent), with an average positioning of 7.1. It's been in the past 305, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (450). Stanford has been in 313 consecutive coaches polls.
• Tara VanDerveer (523 weeks) recently moved to No. 2 behind Pat Summitt (618) in all-time AP women's basketball poll appearances, passing Andy Landers (522).
CARDINAL FOURTUNE• On Nov. 9, Stanford signed Maya Dodson (Alpharetta, Ga./St. Francis), Alyssa Jerome (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Harbord Collegiate), Estella Moschkau (Mount Horeb, Wisc./Edgewood) and Kiana Williams (San Antonio, Texas/Karen Wagner), collectively rated No. 5 by espnW HoopGurlz.
• Dodson is a five-star talent and the No. 11 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100, Moschkau is a five-star prospect rated No. 44 and Williams is a five-star point guard and the No. 8 prospect overall.
• Williams is Stanford's first top-10 recruit since Chiney Ogwumike signed as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009.
• Jerome is a veteran of Canada Basketball and represented her country this summer at the both the FIBA U17 World Championships in Spain and the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Valdivia, Chile.
• Dodson and Williams were selected to participate in both the McDonald's All American Game on March 29 in Chicago and the Jordan Brand Classic on April 14 in Brooklyn.