VanDerveer: Refs let play get too rough
Something is bothering Tara VanDerveer. The Stanford head coach thinks Pac-12 refs are letting games get too physical.
Mainly, she thinks they’re not calling enough fouls on what defenders are doing to Alanna Smith in the paint.
“I’m for physical basketball, but not to where you can’t see basketball,” she said. “Every time Alanna goes in, she’s got two or three people chopping her arms off . ... You don’t want your best player getting hurt.”
The 6-foot-4 forward from Australia is averaging 20.3 points, fourth best in the Pac-12, and 8.2 rebounds going into Friday’s home game against Arizona. The No. 7 Cardinal have beaten the Wildcats seven straight times and 31 of the past 32 meetings.
Smith might get some help this week if Maya Dodson returns to action. The sophomore forward missed the first eight Pac-12 games because of a foot injury, returned for four games but has missed the past two. Her status for the Arizona game is up in the air.
In any case, VanDerveer hopes Smith gets a better shake from the officials.
She has shot 89 free throws, well behind some of the other forwards and centers in the league. Cal’s Kristine Anigwe has had 214 chances at the foul line, Washington State’s Borislava Hristova 128, UCLA’s Lajahna Drummer 116, Oregon’s Ruthy Hebard 109, Utah’s Megan Huff 108 and UCLA’s Michaela Onyenwere 101.
Part of the discrepancy is understandable because 144 of Smith’s 369 field-goal attempts have come from 3-point range. She is hitting 42 percent of those 3s, but she is far less apt to draw fouls when shooting from the perimeter.
Still, according to VanDerveer, “Alanna is getting beat up in there. She is responding to the physical play. (But) I don’t think it should be as physical. She’s really battling. I’m admiring her mental toughness.”
VanDerveer has referred to what she considers overly physical players in past years.
“I think everybody knows I like a physical game, but a freedom-of-movement game so people can see the athleticism that women have,” she said. “John Wooden said this: If it becomes too physical, you might as well watch football.”
She said she talks to officials before every game, but often remains unsatisfied. “My way of seeing basketball is different than how it is,” she said.
Last week was productive but painful for Smith. She had 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in a 65-51 win at UCLA. Early in the USC game, she lost the nail on her right index finger but shook off the pain to post 23 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, hitting the winning layup with three seconds left in a 69-67 victory.
She was not only Pac-12 Player of the Week for the third time this season, but also the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week.
She is on track to join Elena Delle Donne as the only players 6-foot-4 and taller over the past 20 years to shoot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in a season. Delle Donne made 41.3 percent as a freshman at Delaware in 2009-10.
Stanford clobbered Arizona 78-48 in Tucson this season, but the Wildcats (17-8, 7-7 Pac-12) are getting better. Against Utah and Colorado last week, they pulled off their first Pac-12 sweep since 201011. Redshirt sophomore guard Aari McDonald leads the conference in scoring at 24.8 points per game.