San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Stanford looking ahead as run ends
VanDerveer idle during March for first time in ages
Tara VanDerveer’s streak has ended.
For thirty-two consecutive years, Stanford has spent at least a part of March in the NCAA Tournament.
Until now. With the coronavirus shutting down March Madness, VanDerveer on Friday told The Chronicle she isn’t sure what she’s going to do without her regular routine.
“Well, I just went swimming,” said VanDerveer, who last missed the tournament in 1996 when she stepped away from the Cardinal to coach the
Olympic team. “I hope Stanford keeps the pool open, so we can keep our sanity.
“And I’m going to clean my garage.”
VanDerveer got the news about the NCAA canceling the tournament when the rest of us did, on Thursday. She held a meeting with her players at 2 p.m., and by 7 that evening most of them were on their way home, putting away their uniforms, some permanently, after the abrupt end of their season.
No hosting NCAA games at Maples Pavilion. No flying to regional sites. None of the customary steps that version after version of the Stanford women have experienced for more than three decades.
“There were a lot of tears,” VanDerveer said of the final team meeting. “And then a lot of laughs, reflecting on what a great year we had, all the fun we had. It was a great group, a young team that battled.”
There were two true seniors on the team. Nadia Fingall, who tore her ACL in January 2019 and was having a strong comeback season, and Mikaela Brewer. Their Stanford careers are over. Anna Wilson has petitioned for a fifth year, and so will DiJonai Carrington.
Just because the majority of the team will return doesn’t mean there wasn’t a sense of finality in Thursday’s meeting.
“It was sad, it was deep,” said VanDerveer. “You just know that the room is never going to be that same way again. It was the end of something.
“Our seniors told the others, in that last circle, don’t take anything for granted. Enjoy every minute.”
VanDerveer had a sense this development was coming. She had experienced some uneasiness at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas last weekend. Her main concern was her 92-yearold mother, Rita, who traveled with the team.
“She wanted to be there,” VanDerveer said. “She loved it. Now she’s taking her temperature every morning.”
VanDerveer had asked the Pac-12 Conference for guidance on whether players and coaches should shake hands. When she was in Las Vegas, people hugged each other in greeting. Now it all seems like a million years ago, not just a few days.
“The only thing I can compare this to is 9/11 and the (Loma Prieta) earthquake,” she said. “Everything was canceled. Everyone was on edge. “Now, we know we’re doing the right thing. But why aren’t we more prepared? We’re flying blind. We need to copy other countries’ playbooks.
“But I think we, in athletics, can set an example.”
VanDerveer said it is difficult to see such a stellar year for the Pac-12 women end the way it did. Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu has been the most high-profile player in all of college basketball. Three Pac-12 teams finished the season ranked in the top 10, six in the top 25.
“This was our year,” VanDerveer said of the conference. “In some respects, this was Oregon’s year, and that opportunity was taken away. Whether it’s Sabrina, or any of the seniors, it’s sad.
“March Sadness.” VanDerveer agrees with Friday’s NCAA decision that extends the eligibility of spring sport athletes who have had their season canceled. But she doesn’t think such an extension applies to basketball, even if seniors missed their tournament chance.
“For spring sports it’s legitimate,” she said. “But basketball is different. We played our whole season. What it means is 64 teams didn’t get one more game.”
VanDerveer is planning to make some recruiting calls and take notes on the past season, because she knows she won’t remember everything about her players and their progress when the team reconvenes in the fall.
In the coming days she’s going to walk her dogs, cancel a planned bike trip to Spain, binge-watch some movies. And tackle that garage.
But, for now, VanDerveer said she wakes up with the thought that she has to work on a play or a drill.
“It’s surreal — it’s like, ‘Is this April? What should I be doing?’ ” she said. “Now I understand what retirement feels like. I don’t like it.”
For the first time since her second year at Stanford, back in 1987, there is no March Madness.
The silver lining? Stanford’s coaching legend has discovered that retirement is not for her.