Stanford can’t play another ‘C game’ in Sweet 16
At times, the Stanford women’s basketball team soared.
The overall top-seeded Cardinal looked every bit the favorite to win its first NCAA championship since 1992 during stretches of its secondround game Tuesday night against Oklahoma State.
But those were fleeting moments for Stanford (272), which held off the eighthseeded Cowgirls 73-62 to advance to the Sweet 16 this weekend in San Antonio, Texas. It plays No. 5 Missouri State, which easily eliminated Wright State 64-39 on Wednesday.
When not floating to a 20-point lead in the third quarter the Cardinal played as if scattered despite being the country’s most roadtested team. Those nine weeks away from Maples Pavilion because of Santa Clara County’s strict COVID-19 regulations were supposed to be Stanford’s superpower when the entire NCAA Tournament was moved to San Antonio.
Instead, Stanford sometimes unraveled like a dropped ball of yarn. The aggressive Cowgirls (19-9) forced the Cardinal into 16 turnovers and rallied in the third quarter to keep the game in doubt until the final minutes.
Stanford won’t get many more opportunities to keep
playing with that kind of unsightly performance.
Just ask the Cardinal’s Tara Van Derveer, women’s basketball’s all-time winningest coach with 1,121 victories.
“After the game, I asked our team, ‘Was that our A game, our B game or C game?’ That was our C game,” she said.
Fifth-year senior Anna Wilson volunteered as much during her video news conference: “We know we have so much more to give,” she said. “We’re lucky we have another opportunity to play.”
Stanford is headed to its 13th consecutive Sweet 16 riding a 16-game win streak. It also is the Cardinal’s 27th third-round appearance to underscore the success Van Derveer has had in the Bay Area.
If the second round serves as some kind of wake-up call, Stanford should play in its 21st regional final next week. By all accounts, the Cardinal should get past Missouri State to reach the Elite Eight.
From there, the path to the Final Four will not be as simple as showing up with its first overall No. 1 seeding since 1996. Stanford has some formidable opponents on the horizon.
The outlook became clearer Wednesday when No. 6 Oregon upset thirdseeded Georgia 57-50.
Oregon (15-8) does not have starting point guard Te-Hina Paopao, a talented freshman whose foot injury kept her out of the Pac-12 tournament. But the Ducks, who finished fourth in the Pac-12, have an imposing frontline behind 6-7 Sedona Prince and 6-5 Nyara Sabally. The forwards dominated Georgia (21-7) scoring 22 and 15 points, respectively. Sabally also had nine rebounds while Prince had four blocked shots.
Oregon is peaking at an opportune moment while reaching its fourth consecutive Sweet 16. The Ducks’ opponent this weekend is second-seeded Louisville (25-3), which defeated No. 7 Northwestern (16-9) 62-53.
Louisville is led by All-American guard Dana Evans, the two-time Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year. The Cardinals, who spent three weeks atop the AP rankings, won the ACC regular-season title but lost to North Carolina State in the tournament final. The victory led to NC State earning one of the four top seedings in the NCAA Tournament.
While Louisville looks like it would be Stanford’s roadblock to the Final Four, Oregon also would give it trouble in an all Pac-12 game.
If Stanford reaches its eighth Final Four in 13 years it probably would face long-time rival Connecticut in the semifinals. UConn ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll with the Cardinal No. 2.
But in a season without a dominant team, the Huskies and coach Geno Auriemma are not assured of another Final Four appearance. They are barreling toward a heavyweight showdown against second-seeded Baylor. Like Oregon, the Bears seem to be peaking while looking like one of the country’s most complete teams. Stanford graduate transfer Dijonai Carrington averages 13.9 points per game as Baylor’s top substitute.
With so much good competition Van Derveer said she and the Cardinal understood from the start of the second-round game nothing would come easy.
But the Hall of Fame coach saw enough Tuesday night to steady her nerves. Freshman Cameron Brink impressively slowed Oklahoma State’s senior All-American power forward Natasha Mack, who led the country in blocked shots. On Tuesday, Brink had five blocks, Mack had one.
“Cam can guard anyone when she puts her mind to it,” said Wilson, the Pac-12’s defensive player of the year.
Wilson held Oklahoma State’s other big threat, Ja’Mee Arberry (17.4 points per game), to five points.
Wilson made all three of her 3-point attempts, had four rebounds and three assists in a game Stanford star Kiana Williams struggled with her shot.
It seems Stanford has had one hold-your-breath triumph during every Final Four run since 2008. But it does not feel as if the Oklahoma State game will be the last of it.
“We were discombobulated on offense,” VanDerveer said. “We weren’t playing with the fluidity that we wanted. We made some big shots but we missed shots people routinely make.”
The Cardinal players did not get to Stanford as C students. It’s time for their A games if they plan to reach the championship on April 4.