Stanford women draw No. 1 seed for NCAA tourney, will face Utah Valley.

Selection Monday felt almost, well, normal.

Stanford was declared a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the players cheered, and UConn coach Geno Auriemma somehow upstaged everybody.

But, of course, it wasn’t normal. Not at all. Not coming 368 days after the last NCAA Tournament was abruptly canceled. Not with all 64 teams heading directly to the same location for a kind of semipermeable bubble. Not with the cheering players wearing masks and being socially distanced.

And not with Auriemma getting the spotlight not because of one of his pithy quotes or his fabulous topseeded teams, but because he tested positive for COVID19. Auriemma, who may have to miss the first two games of the Huskies’ run while he isolates, received the positive test just hours before the bracket was unveiled and just five days after getting his second COVID vaccination — a reminder to all that there are no easy answers in this pandemic. Even for a tournament being held in Texas.

“I hope he’s able to recover

very quickly,” Tara VanDerveer said of the coach who trails her in career wins by four. “It is a definite reminder to everyone — stay away. We have worked really hard and we want to stay negative through this tournament.”

That’s negative in terms of coronavirus tests. But Stanford is definitely positive in terms of chances of winning a NCAA championship. At 252, VanDerveer’s team is one of the best in the country, and in something of a wideopen season, has a good shot to win the whole thing.

Senior guard Kiana Williams is from San Antonio — where most of the tournament will be played — and joked that because of her status Stanford is actually the home team. That could be one of the Cardinal’s secret weapons. So are its overall depth, ability to get out in transition, and defensive mindset.

And, perhaps most of all, Stanford’s pandemic experience should serve it well in Texas. While the pandemic has been tough on all of college sports, and some women’s teams canceled their entire seasons while hundreds of other games were canceled or postponed, the Cardinal had a uniquely weird season.

Stanford stayed on the road for two months, in exile from the strict regulations of Santa Clara County. ESPN devoted a segment of the selection show to Stanford’s hopping around the western United States, while racking up 7,500 miles.

“I just learned how mentally tough everyone is,” Williams said. “It was exhausting and draining at times to go from practice to the hotel, where you have to watch your Zoom class in isolation.

“A story that sticks out, after the UCLA loss, we practiced at a high school gym and lights were off. The floor was slippery. How much worse can things get? What else can be thrown at us?”

Well, for starters, Utah Valley (136), the No. 16 seed out of the WAC.

Utah Valley will play topseeded Stanford on Sunday (7 p.m. on ESPN). The top seeds in the Alamo bracket are rounded out by Louisville, Georgia and Arkansas. Oregon, one year after it was supposed to be headed to a national championship with MiramonteOrinda alum Sabrina Ionescu, is in Stanford’s bracket as the sixth seed.

All of the different matchups and breakdowns loom, but there will be one shared feeling after two years without a tournament: gratitude.

For some this will be a brand new experience.

“I’m so excited for our sophomore and freshmen to experience it,” Williams said. “They say Christmas is the best time of year. I think this is the best time of year.”

For others, it’s a welcome return to normalcy. The pandemic interrupted VanDerveer’s streak of consecutive tournaments at 23 years.

“This whole year has been about that word: appreciate,” said VanDerveer who is headed to the 34th NCAA Tournament of her career. “Appreciate every single little thing because it was taken away from us. The gym was taken away from us. Games at home were taken away from us.

“It felt a little surreal to be honest. Is this really happening? We are going to do everything we can to stay healthy and keep playing because we know it can be taken away very quickly.”

And then VanDerveer put on her double masks and got ready to head to Texas.