Bus, plane troubles make for adventure
Although the Stanford women advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 21-point win over Kansas State, little else has gone smoothly for the Cardinal so far in the NCAA Tournament.
They struggled to beat New Mexico State in the first round. Then their bus broke down a few times on the way to Monday’s game against the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan.
“We coasted to the gym,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said Wednesday on a conference call.
The first time the bus malfunctioned, the team was still a way away from Bramlage Coliseum, she said. “It would have taken 30 minutes to walk.”
The bus finally made it, but after the game the team’s charter flight didn’t make it. The plane that was supposed to take them home late Monday was stuck in Arkansas, waiting for a part to arrive from Houston. After a long wait, the decision was made to go back to the hotel rather than try to fly home at 3 or 4 in the morning.
“We tried to stay loose and enjoy being with each other,” VanDerveer said. “Honestly, our team rolls with it pretty well.”
So the team got to sleep and, after having its laundry done by the helpful Kansas State staff, flew Tuesday afternoon to Lexington, Ky., where it will play Texas at 6 p.m. Friday.
“It was definitely unexpected, a little unorthodox,” forward Kaylee Johnson said of the plane problem. “Everybody buckled down and stepped up.”
The fact the team is still alive in the tournament meant that the players are busy taking final exams and writing papers in their Lexington hotel.
Meanwhile, assistant coaches Amy Tucker and Tempie Brown flew back to campus to get another set of uniforms and take care of things like moving players’ cars and moving Erica McCall out of her apartment.
Stanford (30-5), the No. 2 seed in the regional, is one of a record five Pac-12 teams in the Sweet 16, out of a record seven teams to make the tournament.
VanDerveer said she has texted the other conference coaches to wish them good luck, including Cori Close, whose UCLA team takes on mighty UConn at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn. Oregon plays Maryland at 8:30 a.m. in the same regional.
As for the two conference teams that reached the Final Four last year, Washington plays Mississippi State on Friday in Oklahoma City, and Oregon State plays Florida State on Saturday in Stockton.
Texas has improved since the Cardinal beat the Longhorns 71-59 at Stanford in November, VanDerveer said. But so has her team.
“Our defense is a lot better,” she said. “We play great defense. We’re rebounding better.”
After the K-State game, she said the officials were calling the game more tightly than Stanford was used to in the regular season. She reiterated that sentiment Wednesday.
“Usually in the tournament, things are let go — things that would be called in the regular season,” she said. “It’s usually looser, not that I think that’s right. But we found that not to be the case here.”