Stanford Cardinal
After a 13th Final Four appearance by the Cardinal in 2017, Tara VanDerveer will lead Stanford once again in her 32nd season. She inked a three-year contract extension, which will take her through the end of the 2019-2020 season. The Cardinal graduated three starters from last year’s team and have welcomed four freshmen to campus.
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Numbers & notes
32-16 overall in ’16-’17, 15-3 (T-2nd) in Pac-12, eliminated in Final Four by South Carolina
VanDerveer has 1,021 career wins. She, Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski are the only coaches to have hit the 1,000-win mark in Division I basketball history.
Erica McCall was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2017 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
McCall appeared in all but four games for the Fever (1 start), averaging 10.7 minutes per game.
Lindy La Rocque joins the Stanford coaching staff this season after spending the previous two on the Belmont staff. She played for the Cardinal from 2009-2012.
Stanford tied with Oregon for second place in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll and received two first-place votes.
The Cardinal came out third in the preseason Pac-12 media poll, receiving three first-place votes.
Stanford was ranked 10th in the country in the AP’s preseason Top 25 poll.
Departures
Brianna Roberson — 6.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, ’16-’17 Pac-12 All-Defense
Erica McCall — 14.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.7 BPG, ’16-’17 All-Pac-12
Karlie Samuelson — 12.4 PPG, 96 3PM. 48.5 3PT%, 2.7 APG, 33.5 MPG (led team), ’16-’17 All-Pac-12
Returners
Brittany McPhee, G (Sr) — 13.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, ’16-’17 All-Pac-12
Alanna Smith, F (Jr) — 9.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.6 BPG, 19.3 MPG
Kaylee Johnson, F (Sr) — 3.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 15.3 MPG (23 starts), ’16-’17 Pac-12 All-Defense honorable mention
“I think going to the Final Four and getting a taste for it left us returners wanting more. We want to go back and we want to go further. I think that’s kind of a drive for us. And I think we’re trying to create that culture for our freshmen, too,” McPhee said at Pac-12 media day.
Marta Sniezek, G (Jr) — 4.5 PPG, 4.4 APG, 1.3 SPG, 24.9 MPG, played in all 38 games (9 starts)
Nadia Fingall (F, So, 8 starts), Anna Wilson (G, So), DiJonai Carrington (G, So, played in 35 games), Shannon Coffee (C, Jr), Mikaela Brewer (G, So) and Alexa Romano (G, Jr) are also back for Stanford.
Fresh faces
Alyssa Jerome, F (captain of Canada’s 2017 U19 World Cup bronze team in Italy)
Maya Dodson, F (2017 McDonald’s & Jordan Brand Classic All-American)
Estella Moschkau, F (Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year & Co-Miss Basketball)
Kiana Williams, G (2017 McDonald’s & Jordan Brand Classic All-American)
“I think Maya will dunk. But it’s going to happen. Maybe she’ll throw it down in warm-ups first,” VanDerveer said. “As far as our freshmen, I think as freshmen, they’re as good as any freshmen we’ve had. I hope they’re as great as sophomores as juniors and seniors and that they are the type of leaders and great people that we have on our team right now as juniors and seniors.”
5 games to watch
November 10 @ Ohio State, 3:00 PM PST (Big Ten Network)
November 12 v. Connecticut (in Columbus), 10:30 AM PST (ESPN)
December 3 @ Baylor, 11:00 AM PST (FS1)
January 21 @ UCLA, 3:00 PM PST (Pac-12 Networks)
February 4 @ Oregon, 12:00 PM PST (ESPN2)
Stanford’s non-conference schedule is stacked with marquee opponents. These five games alone would give viewers a taste of three AP preseason top five teams and two other preseason Pac-12 favorites.
“I hope our players are excited. It happened by accident, honestly. We were supposed to play Ohio State and Louisville, but because of the game times, it got switched to Connecticut. I’m fine with it,” VanDerveer said about the marquee games atop the schedule.