STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford could wind up staying put in
California for its first four NCAA tournament games if the Cardinal
last that long.
Tara VanDerveer's team received a No. 2 seed Monday night in the
Fresno Regional and the Cardinal already are hosting the first and
second rounds at Maples Pavilion on Saturday and Monday.
Stanford (28-4), ranked fifth in the final poll after winning
the Pac-10 tournament and a school-record seventh straight
conference title, opens against Big Sky tournament champion and
15th-seeded Idaho State (17-13) on Saturday afternoon.
"I personally was hoping for the Fresno Region for our fans,"
VanDerveer said. "We can play anywhere and we can play against
anybody, but when you're in the West ... the last three years in a
row people could not drive if we advanced. They couldn't drive to
Oklahoma or San Antonio. This gives, if the seeds hold, our fans an
opportunity to come over. They did respect geographical
considerations. It's good for the tournament, not just good for
Stanford."
Not that the Cardinal are looking past their first-round game.
The last time they hosted the tournament, in 2003, No. 3 seed
Stanford lost its second-round game 68-56 to sixth-seeded
Minnesota, which made school history by advancing to the final 16
for the first time.
The Golden Gophers also dealt the Cardinal their first home loss
all year that ended Stanford's 26-game unbeaten run on its home
floor.
In the three NCAA tournaments since then, Stanford has traveled
to Norman, Okla., Kansas City and San Antonio for the regional
rounds. And the Cardinal's seedings haven't been as high as they
would have liked either.
Now, Stanford is headed to its 20th straight NCAA tournament
with some nice momentum: riding a nine-game winning streak
following a win over Arizona State in the Pac-10 tournament final
March 5. The Cardinal have their sights on reaching the program's
first Final Four in 10 years.
"It's definitely a sense of urgency. We do want to make the
experience last," post Brooke Smith said. "That's still the goal.
But we know we can't talk about the Final Four."
It's been since 1996-97 that the Cardinal have reached the Final
Four. After that run, there were back-to-back first-round losses,
followed by consecutive second-round defeats.
Last season, Stanford lost 62-59 to top-seeded LSU to miss a
trip to the Final Four. The Cardinal also came up just short of
advancing to the Final Four during the 2003-04 season, when Nicole
Powell took her team within a basket of advancing as a senior
before losing to top-seeded Tennessee, 62-60.
If the Cardinal win their first two rounds, they will travel to
California's Central Valley to play at Fresno State's Save Mart
Center.
That could feature a rematch with LSU in the semifinals followed
by a potential date with top-seeded Connecticut, which was
eliminated by Stanford in the round of 16 two years ago -- ending
the Huskies' three-year run as NCAA champions.
"It's going to be a tough bracket," VanDerveer said. "It
doesn't matter where you're playing, you have to play well. We're
not going to win because we have Stanford on our jersey. We're not
going to win because we're playing at Maples. We're going to win
because we do the right things. Those things include playing great
defense, rebounding, executing offensively, and people playing hard
for and with each other. ... I think the best scenario is people
being healthy."
Stanford star Candice Wiggins, a junior and two-time Pac-10
player of the year, is healthy and unconcerned about a tender left
hamstring that held her out of the final two conference games and a
troublesome right ankle. She scored 65 points and shot 14-for-25 on
3-pointers in Stanford's three wins in the Pac-10 tournament --
including a career-best and tournament-record eight 3s in a
semifinal win against Southern California. The performances earned
her MVP honors.
"I always feel 100 percent, even if I'm not," Wiggins said
with a smile Monday. "The hamstring feels good. I'm starting to
get my strength back with that. My ankle is just great now. The
swelling's gone down, the pain's gone down. Everything else feels
great. The feeling of winning the Pac-10 tournament was so great, I
wasn't in pain. I was tired, maybe, because I hadn't played a
lot."