What's Next
No. 11 Stanford (24-6, 14-4) goes for its 12th Pac-12 Tournament title when it begins the event in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 4, against either No. 5 seed Washington (20-9, 11-7) or No. 12 seed Colorado (7-22, 2-16) at 8:30 p.m.
Pac-12 Tournament Notes
The Cardinal is 37-3 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament. It has won 11 of the 14 titles (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015), is 13-0 all-time in the quarterfinals, 13-1 in the semifinals and 11-2 in the finals.
Against its potential quarterfinal foes, the Cardinal is 1-0 when playing Washington at the event with a quarterfinal win on March 8, 2012 (76-57). Stanford is a perfect 2-0 against Colorado at the Pac-12 Tournament, beating the Buffaloes in the semifinals on March 9, 2013 (61-47) and in the quarterfinals on March 7, 2014 (69-54).
It’s 7-0 against Arizona, 4-1 against Arizona State, 7-0 against Cal, 2-0 against Oregon State, 9-1 against UCLA, 4-1 against USC and 1-0 against Washington State. Stanford has never played Oregon or Utah at the league tournament.
Stanford comes to Seattle as the No. 4 seed, its lowest ever at the tournament. Prior to last season, the Cardinal had been the top seed in each iteration of the event since its inception in 2002. Last year Stanford won the championship as the No. 3 seed.
The No. 4 seed is 11-14 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament. It’s 8-5 against the No. 5 seed and 1-0 against the No. 12 seed. The Cardinal is 4-1 all-time against the No. 5 seed with its only loss coming to USC in the 2014 semifinals, 72-68. Stanford has never played a No. 12.
Pac-12 All-Century
Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball Tara VanDerveer was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Century and a conference-best eight players were named to the 20-member all-century squad when the league revealed the Pac-12 All-Century Women’s Basketball roster on Feb. 29.
.@StanfordWBB's @taras_tweets is the #Pac12WBB Coach of the Century! #100Pac12https://t.co/PgR1VcrWHZ
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) March 1, 2016
Stanford’s all-century representatives are: Jennifer Azzi (1987-90), Molly Goodenbour (1990-93), Sonja Henning (1988-91), Chiney Ogwumike (2011-14), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2009-12), Nicole Powell (2001-04), Kate Starbird (1994-97) and Candice Wiggins (2005-08).
Postseason Awards
Erica McCall was named to both the All-Pac-12 squad and the Pac-12 All-Defensive team, Lili Thompson earned her second All-Pac-12 nod and was a Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention, Karlie Samuelson was picked All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, Kaylee Johnson earned a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention team and Marta Sniezek was a Pac-12 All-Freshman honorable mention pick. Stanford now has 70 all-time Pac-12 all-conference honorees, the top total in league history.
1K Conquered
Stanford’s victory over Oregon State on Feb. 26 was the 1,000th in Cardinal program history. Stanford is the seventh Division I institution to reach the 1,000-win plateau, joining Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, James Madison, Old Dominion, Texas and Stephen F. Austin. The Cardinal’s overall record since its first varsity season in 1975 is 1,001-310 (.764) and 825-172 (.827) with Tara VanDerveer at the helm.
Stanford, which reached the milestone in 1,310 total games, is the third-fastest to the mark, behind Louisiana Tech (1,210) and Tennessee (1,232).
Entering this season, the Cardinal was fourth in the NCAA over the last five years by both wins and percentage. From 2011-15, Stanford went 160-22 (.879). Connecticut was 182-12 (.938), Baylor was 173-14 (.925) and Notre Dame was 174-18 (.906).
Bird Is The Word
Led by Erica McCall, Stanford routed both No. 7 Oregon State (76-54) and Oregon (69-42) to close out its regular season, its first back-to-back 20-point league wins since 2014.
The Cardinal’s junior captain received the first weekly honors of her career on Feb. 29 when she was named both espnW National Player of the Week and Pac-12 Player of the Week for her performances in the victories. McCall posted back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in her career, averaging 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds. She shot 56 percent from the floor and 44 percent from behind the arc, making the first four 3-pointers of her career.
Bird watching. 🐥🔭 @_mediumE #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/TFQ6zJZLkq
— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) March 1, 2016
McCall spurred Stanford to the program’s 1,000th victory in emphatic fashion against the Beavers, scoring a career-high 25 points in 26 minutes. She did most of her damage in the middle of the game, scoring 19 combined points in the second and third quarters as the Cardinal went up by as many as 30. She matched that point total in Sunday’s 27-point win over Oregon, also pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds and nabbed a career-high four steals.
Most impressively, McCall started taking and making the first 3-pointers of her career. She was 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from behind the arc on the weekend after attempting just one 3-pointer in her first 99 career games.
She also added four blocks in the two games and now has 60 this season. Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike and Joslyn Tinkle are the only other Stanford players to have as many in a single year.
McCall has 15 double-doubles this season and has scored in double figures in 14 of Stanford’s last 15 games. In the Cardinal’s last five, she is averaging 20.6 points on 59 percent shooting, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.
A psychology major with a 3.53 cumulative GPA, McCall was selected to the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team on Feb. 11. Her honor continued a run of five straight years with a Cardinal receiving academic all-district accolades, the longest streak in the Pac-12.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Feb 11, 2016 at 1:28pm PST
Catching You Up
As a team, Stanford shot 49.2 percent last weekend and held its opponents to 31.9 percent.
Against OSU on Feb. 26, Stanford shot a season-best 57.7 percent against the nation’s No. 1 team in terms of field goal percentage defense and also hit 8-of-14 from deep (.571). The Cardinal’s clip from the floor was its best since making 64.9 percent in last year’s season opener against Boston College and its best in a conference game since hitting 63.5 percent at Arizona on Jan. 17, 2014.
In its last six games, the Cardinal is outscoring its opponents by an average of 20 points, 73.3 to 53.3. It has gone 5-1, shot 46.8 percent from the floor and 40.2 percent from behind the arc.
In 2015-16, Stanford is without a senior starter for the first time in 13 seasons. The 2002-03 campaign was the last time the Cardinal didn’t have a senior in its first five.
Schedule Perspective
Five of Stanford’s six losses this season have to teams ranked in the AP top 20 at the time of the game and four have come on the road. All five of those squads are currently in the top 12 of the AP poll.
Texas (RPI No. 6), Arizona State (RPI No. 8), Oregon State (RPI No. 9) and UCLA (RPI No. 10) are all also in the top 10 of the RPI and are a combined 55-5 at home this season.
In the most recent in-depth NCAA RPI report, Stanford sits at No. 7 and has played the nation’s sixth-toughest schedule.
Through games as of Feb. 29, Stanford’s 29 opponents have the second-highest combined winning percentage in the country of .639 (400-226). Tennessee leads that category with opponents that have gone 480-228 (.678).
Stanford’s 22 games against RPI top 100 foes are also tied for the national lead with UCLA.
Past and Future
On Jan. 25, former Stanford All-American sisters Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike were named as two of 25 finalists for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. The 25 finalists were chosen by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee, which will select the official 12-member U.S. Olympic Team later this year.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 25, 2016 at 12:28pm PST
On Jan. 17, incoming freshmen DiJonai Carrington, Nadia Fingall and Anna Wilson were named to the West roster for the 15th annual McDonald’s All American Game on March 30 in Chicago.
Of the 24 girls selected to be McDonald’s All Americans, Stanford and Maryland have the most players suiting up next fall with three commits each.
They will be the 16th, 17th and 18th Cardinal signees featured in the nation’s premier high school basketball all-star event. Stanford most recently had a pair of McDonald’s All Americans in 2013 in current juniors Kailee Johnson and Erica McCall.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 20, 2016 at 9:00am PST
The three commits to earn roster spots ties a program record from 2007 when Ashley Cimino, Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen were each named McDonald’s All Americans.
Applying Pressure
The Cardinal has held 24 of 30 opponents below 40 percent shooting, 10 below 30 percent and one below 20 percent. Stanford is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.321) and 16th in scoring defense (53.1).
Says Tara Vanderveer » Our defense is what we’ve been hanging our hat on...This is one of the most committed defensive teams we’ve had.
Opponents have put up 15.7 points less than their season scoring average when facing Stanford.
In its last 22 games (beginning with Tennessee), the Cardinal has surrendered 50.2 points on 31.4 percent shooting (396-of-1,262) and has surrendered more than 60 points just twice, including one overtime affair. In its first eight games of the season, Stanford gave up 61.2 points on 33.8 percent shooting (179-of-529) and allowed more than 60 points six times.
| Opponent Field Goal Percentage - Stanford History | ||
| No. | Pct. | Year |
| 1. | .316 | 2012-13 |
| 2. | .321 | 2015-16 |
| 3. | .336 | 2010-11 |
| 4. | .339 | 2009-10 |
| .339 | 2011-12 | |
| 6. | .346 | 2001-02 |
| .346 | 2006-07 | |
| 8. | .351 | 2004-05 |
| 9. | .352 | 2008-09 |
| 10. | .355 | 2007-08 |
One game after holding Chattanooga to 30 points on Dec. 28, the sixth-fewest for an opponent in program history, the Cardinal only surrendered 34 on Jan. 2 at Arizona, a total now tied for 10th in its record books and for the fewest allowed by the program in a Pac-12 game. Stanford had never before held back-to-back opponents to less than 35 points.
Stanford has held its opponent below 10 points 30 times in 120 regulation quarters, or 25 percent of the time this season. It did so in eight straight over games against CSU Bakersfield, Chattanooga and Arizona.
Stanford is also seventh in the country in blocked shots per game (6.3) and has tallied seven or more blocks in a game 13 times this season after doing it five times all of last year. Its 188 total blocks are third in school history. The program record is 196 (2001-02).
The Cardinal’s 13 blocks against USC on Jan. 22 tied the school record from Feb. 3, 1989 against Arizona State. Stanford also had 12 against CSU Bakersfield, 11 against Utah, 11 against Oregon and 10 against UC Davis. Stanford has had a school-record five games with double-digit blocks in a single season. Its 2000-01 squad had four games with at least 10 blocks.
| Stanford Single-Season Blocks | ||
| No. | Blocks | Year |
| 1. | 196 | 2001-02 |
| 2. | 189 | 2006-07 |
| 3. | 188 | 2015-16 |
| 4. | 187 | 2007-08 |
| 5. | 186 | 2012-13 |
| 6. | 177 | 2011-12 |
| 177 | 2008-09 | |
| 176 | 2000-01 | |
| 9. | 166 | 2014-15 |
| 10. | 158 | 2009-10 |
Its defensive prowess this season is a return to normal for the Cardinal. Last year’s 37.0 percent field goal percentage defense mark was 43rd and the lowest in some time. Stanford hadn’t surrendered a better percentage since 2005-06 (36th; .373) and hadn’t finished a season ranked lower in that category since 2002-03 (57th; .384).
From 2006-07 to 2013-14, the Cardinal did not finish outside the nation’s top 15 in field goal percentage defense, capping that stretch with a 35.7 percent mark to check in 14th in the country in 2013-14.
Stanford was the nation’s best with a school record field goal percentage defense in 2012-13 (.316). The Cardinal was seventh in 2011-12 (.339), fifth in 2010-11 (.336), third in 2009-10 (.339), 13th in 2008-09 (.352), 11th in 2007-08 (.355) and sixth in 2006-07 (.346).
Splits
Stanford is 13-2 at home and 8-4 on the road, with all four of those losses coming to ranked teams. The Cardinal is scoring 72.1 points per game in Maples on 45.1 percent shooting, including 37.0 percent from deep, and has a +9.9 rebounding margin. On the road, Stanford is averaging 59.8 points per game on 38.5 percent shooting, 30.1 percent on 3-pointers, and has a +1.3 rebounding margin.
The Cardinal is 4-5 against the AP Top 25 this season, with all three wins coming at home.
In three neutral-site games at the Gulf Coast Showcase in November, Stanford averaged 75.7 points, shot 43.0 percent from the floor and 45.3 percent from 3-point range. Lili Thompson led the way averaging 20.7 points, Briana Roberson chipped in 16.3 and Erica McCall averaged 12.3 points and 10.0 rebounds.
Tracking Thompson
Against Colorado on Jan. 10, Lili Thompson became the 36th Stanford player to surpass 1,000 career points. Now at 1,170 she is 29th all-time at Stanford between Maggie Nelson (1,180; 1974-78) and Kami Anderson (1,141; 1984-88).
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 10, 2016 at 12:57pm PST
Thompson has scored 20 or more seven times this season, including in recent wins against Washington and Washington State. In those two, she averaged 28.5 points per game and shot 63 percent from the field (22-of-35) and 71 percent from the 3-point line (10-of-14). Thompson scored 41 percent of Stanford’s points (57) and was named both espnW National Player of the Week and Pac-12 Player of the Week for her efforts.
It was the second espnW National Player of the Week award of Thompson’s career. Last November, she was honored after averaging 26.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Stanford’s games against No. 1 Connecticut and No. 10 Texas. Her conference accolade was her league-leading third of the season and the fourth of her career.
In her six games since those performances, Thompson is averaging 10.2 points on 26.7 percent shooting (20-of-75), but is second on the team in assists and leads Stanford in steals.
Good Stretches
Brittany McPhee has made 19 of her last 45 attempts from 3-point range (.422) after starting her career going 9-of-48 (.188) in her first 37 career games.
Kaylee Johnson has come on strong in Stanford’s last 22 games, averaging 7.4 points on 53.8 percent shooting (64-of-119) to go along with 7.4 rebounds.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Feb 29, 2016 at 1:29pm PST
The sophomore opened the year averaging 1.1 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting just 22.2 percent from the floor in the Cardinal’s first eight games. Johnson has scored 10+ nine times in those 22 games after doing it all of six times as a freshman.
Marta Sniezek is averaging 4.0 assists in Stanford’s last 10 games with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. In the first 20 games of the year, the freshman was handing out 1.8 assists and owned an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.9.
Different Samuelson, Same Story
Stanford lost Bonnie Samuelson to graduation after a career in which she finished third in school history and 10th in Pac-12 history in 3-point makes (237), but younger sister Karlie Samuelson has stepped in to keep up the family’s sharpshooting legacy.
Karlie is 62-of-137 from behind the arc this season and is fifth in the nation (min. two made per game) in 3-point field goal percentage (.453). A career 40.7 percent 3-point shooter, Samuelson has made 135 from deep in her career.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Feb 29, 2016 at 1:30pm PST
Eighty percent (483-of-626) of her career points have come on 3-pointers (405) and free throws (95). The junior captain has made more than twice as many field goals from behind the arc as she has from inside, converting 63 2-point attempts. She is 25-of-55 (.455) on such shots this season.
Twelve of her 26 career games in double figures scoring have come in Stanford’s last 21 outings and in her last 16 games, Samuelson is 34-of-68 on 3-pointers (.500). In the Cardinal’s 22-point win over No. 7 Oregon State on Feb. 26, the junior tallied the first double-double of her career, with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
More Milestones On The Horizon For Tara
Entering her 30th season on the bench at Stanford, Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 977-223 (.814) record in her 37 years as a collegiate head coach and an 825-172 (.827) on The Farm.
In November 2013, she became just the fifth college women’s basketball coach to win 900 career games. Last March she won her 800th game at Stanford, becoming the 10th college basketball coach – men’s or women’s – with that many victories at a single Division I school, P. Summitt (Tennessee), M. Krzyzewski (Duke), G. Auriemma (Connecticut), D. Smith (North Carolina), A. Rupp (Kentucky), A. Landers (Georgia), J. Boeheim (Syracuse), R. Selvig (Montana) and J. Phelan (Mount St. Mary’s).
| Winningest NCAA Coaches All-Time (By Victories) | ||||
| Coach | Years | Won | Lost | Percentage |
| Pat Summitt | 38 | 1,098 | 208 | .841 |
| Tara VanDerveer | 36+ | 977 | 223 | .814 |
| Sylvia Hatchell | 40+ | 975 | 357 | .732 |
| C. Vivan Stringer | 44+ | 969 | 364 | .727 |
| Barbara Stevens | 38+ | 951 | 267 | .781 |
One of the greatest leaders in any sport at any level, VanDerveer is the second-winningest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history and is 23 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only coaches with 1,000 career wins.
Off the court, she served as Stanford football’s honorary captain for its Oct. 3 home win over Arizona. In another football connection, former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh and one of Tara’s coaching confidants delivered a pregame address to the team before its win over Utah on Jan. 8.
On Jan. 26, VanDerveer was honored with the 2016 Coaching Corps Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s 2nd Annual Game Changer Awards at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. VanDerveer’s award was presented by former Stanford All-American and current San Francisco head coach Jennifer Azzi. The event supported Coaching Corps’ mission to provide youth from under-resourced communities access to trained coaches and the benefits of sports activities and team-based learning.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 27, 2016 at 8:50am PST
Checking The Polls
Stanford is No. 11 in the AP top 25 and No. 12 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
Stanford has appeared in the AP rankings 493 times out of 708 total polls since 1977 (69.6 percent), with an average positioning of 7.0. It’s been in the past 284 polls, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (429). Stanford has also been in 291 consecutive coaches polls.
The Cardinal’s 493 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (692), Georgia (522) and Texas (499).
So International
Stanford forward Erica McCall won her fourth gold medal representing the United States at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea in July.
A United States co-captain, McCall finished the event tied for eighth overall in scoring (15.2), was eighth in rebounds (8.5), tied for third in blocks (1.8) and led all players in South Korea in field goal percentage, converting 37 of her 62 attempts from the floor (.597). Team USA went a perfect 6-0 and defeated its opponents by an average of nearly 22 points per game.
Champ. 🏆🇺🇸 @birdstheword_24 @gostanford @usabasketball #GoStanford
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jul 13, 2015 at 12:20pm PDT
In July, freshman Alanna Smith led Australia to a third-place finish and was named to the All-Star Five at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Championship in Chekhov, Russia.
The first international recruit in Stanford women’s basketball history, Smith tied for 12th in the entire tournament in points per game (12.6), tied for 15th in rebounds (7.0), tied for third in blocks (2.7), tied for 23rd in steals (1.3) and led Australia in each of those categories.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jul 27, 2015 at 10:22am PDT
Always Learning
Last year it was Mike D’Antoni, Joe Prunty, Jenny Boucek and others who helped Tara VanDerveer and her staff learn the intricacies of a more guard-oriented, fast-paced, pick-and-roll offense as Stanford moved away from the triangle for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
This year it has been a give-and-take with the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors practiced at Stanford on Oct. 5 before preseason game in San Jose and assistant coach Kate Paye attended another Golden State practice in the East Bay. When the Warriors were on the road in San Diego, VanDerveer’s sister and UCSD women’s coach, Heidi VanDerveer, attended a practice.
Solid start to the first day of practice. Warriors warmed up the court for the Cardinal. #GoStanford #Warriors pic.twitter.com/JyPwgPlEHo
— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) October 5, 2015
Warriors assistant coach and former Stanford star Jarron Collins » “It goes back to, men’s team or women’s team, basketball’s basketball and we’re all trying to improve. There’s this synergy of just talking shop. We’ve had a level of success, obviously, and you just want to borrow from those that have achieved a certain level. Our practices are very open to coaches who want to come and watch and observe. It’s pretty cool for us getting to interact with Coach VanDerveer.”
VanDerveer, who also asks former Stanford guard and now-Warriors sideline reporter Rosalyn Gold-Onwude of her observations on what Golden State is doing, says “it’s kind of a little clinic happening every two or three nights on television.”