First Round Saturday - Part 1
Stanford opens its NCAA Tournament at home for the 20th time
Courtesy: Stanford Athletics
03/15/2018
No. 15 Stanford (22-10, 14-3)
vs. Gonzaga (27-5, 17-1)
Saturday, March 17 • 3 p.m.
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
THE GAME:
Making its 31st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, No. 15 Stanford (22-10) begins its postseason as the No. 4 seed in the Lexington Region when it hosts 13th-seeded Gonzaga (27-5) on Saturday, March 17 in Maples Pavilion at 3 p.m. PT.
THE RUNDOWN:
Stanford is 84-29 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 34-4 in such games on The Farm ... Maples Pavilion has hosted more NCAA Tournament games (65) than any facility except Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena (66) ... The Cardinal, which has been to 10 consecutive Sweet 16's was placed in the Lexington Region for the third straight March ... Tara VanDerveer leads all coaches in NCAA Tournament appearances with 33 ... Stanford surrendered 54.2 points on 32.1 percent shooting at home all season, including 21.6 percent from behind the arc ... Its field goal percentage defense in Maples Pavilion this year was the sixth-best home mark in the country ... Brittany McPhee is averaging career highs in points (17.0), rebounds (5.0), assists (2.4) and steals (1.2) and will be the first Stanford guard to average more than 15.0 points per game in a season since Candice Wiggins in 2007-08 ... Kiana Williams was voted to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.7 points on 70.4 percent shooting (19-of-27), including 72.2 percent from deep (13-of-18) ... In the past month the freshman is shooting 61.1 percent (22-of-36) from 3-point range, the third-best mark in the country ... Kaylee Johnson is one of five players in Stanford history in the top 10 in school history in both career rebounds and blocks ... Marta Sniezek owns a career 2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio in the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES:
Stanford earned its 31st consecutive and 32nd overall NCAA Tournament bid via an at-large selection into the field. Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990, 1992), reached 13 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014, 2017), 19 Elite Eights, 24 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 84-29 (.743).
Stanford's 13 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 32 overall appearances rank third behind only Tennessee (37) and Georgia (33). Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 31. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 37 NCAA Tournaments.
The Cardinal's 84 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (124) and Connecticut (113) as are its 113 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 152 and Connecticut 131. Stanford's .743 NCAA Tournament winning percentage is fourth all-time among programs with a minimum of 20 appearances. Connecticut is No. 1 (.863; 113-18), Tennessee is No. 2 (.816; 124-28) and Baylor is No. 3 (.750; 42-14).
The Cardinal is a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time. It advanced to the Sweet 16 from the same position in 2015 and the Elite Eight as a No. 4 seed in 2016. No. 4 seeds are 224-144 all-time in the tournament.
Tara VanDerveer leads all coaches in NCAA Tournament appearances with 33. Pat Summitt (Tennessee) and Andy Landers (Georgia) are tied for second with 31.
VanDerveer's 82 tournament wins are third all-time behind Geno Auriemma (Connecticut - 113) and Summitt (112) and her .732 tournament winning percentage (minimum 20 games) is sixth behind Auriemma (.863), Summitt (.830), Linda Sharp (USC/Texas State - .760), Kim Mulkey (Baylor - .750) and Leon Barmore (Louisiana Tech - .747).
This is the third consecutive season the Cardinal has been placed in the Lexington Region. Both previous trips included wins over No. 1 seed Notre Dame. Stanford advanced to the Elite Eight in Rupp Arena as a four-seed in 2016 when it knocked off the Irish, 90-84, before falling to seventh-seeded Washington in the regional final, 85-76. A No. 2 seed in 2017, Stanford made its seventh Final Four appearance in 10 years last March when it beat No. 3 Texas in the Sweet 16 in Lexington, 77-76, and erased an 18-point, second-half deficit to defeat No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the Elite Eight, 76-75. Stanford has advanced to the Sweet 16 for 10 consecutive years and hasn't lost a game on the first weekend of the tournament since 2007.
MADNESS IN MAPLES:
As a city, Stanford has served as a host for 65 NCAA Tournament games, the third-most behind Knoxville, Tenn. (82) and Norfolk, Va. (67). Each of those games has been played in Maples Pavilion, which has hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other facility except Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena (66). The Cardinal is 34-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at Maples Pavilion and has won 14 straight. Its last loss came to Florida State, 68-61, in the Second Round on March 19, 2007. This season will be the 21st in which Stanford has hosted NCAA Tournament games in Maples Pavilion since staging its first in 1989 and the 20th in which the Cardinal has opened up its postseason at home. Of the program's four home losses in the NCAA Tournament one came in the First Round (Harvard, 1998), two came in the Second Round (Florida State, 2007 and Minnesota, 2003) and one came in a Regional Final (Purdue, 1994). In its most recent NCAA Tournament games in Maples Pavilion, Stanford collected wins over No. 13-seed San Francisco (85-58) and No. 12-seed South Dakota State (66-65) in the first and second rounds in 2016. The victory over the Jackrabbits was the 1,000th game as head coach at Stanford for Tara VanDerveer. Despite being a No. 2 seed, the Cardinal was unable to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament last season because the Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Championships, which rotate to host sites around the conference each year, were in Maples Pavilion the same weekend.
HOW WE GOT HERE:
Stanford's 22-10 record heading into the tournament is its worst since the program was 18-10 in 2001. This season is the second since 1999-2000 that the Cardinal has not won some form of a Pac-12 championship - regular season or tournament. The last time that happened in 2015-16, Stanford advanced to the Elite Eight in Lexington. Stanford won 20+ games for the 17th straight season and 29th overall and had double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 31st consecutive year. Its victory at Washington on Feb. 23 was the program's 500th conference victory as a member of the Pac-12. No other school has more than 400. The Cardinal's regular-season finale at Washington State on Feb. 25 was canceled due to the sudden death of the Cougars' strength coach. This is the first year since the formation of Pac-12 women's basketball in 1986-87 that everyone did not play a full 18-game conference schedule. Stanford entered conference play with a 6-6 record, the program's first time heading into league action with at least six losses since 1998-99. Stanford was 4-7 in its regular-season nonconference slate in that season, which was also the last time the Cardinal lost multiple regular-season, nonconference home games as it did this year with results against Western Illinois and Tennessee.
SETTING THE STAGE:
Stanford is 161-12 (.931) at home the last 11 years and one of nine schools to have at least 160 home wins during that span (Baylor - 195; Connecticut - 189; Maryland - 174; Ohio State - 169; Notre Dame - 166; Tennessee - 161; Duke - 160; Green Bay - 160). Its .931 home winning percentage since 2007-08 is fourth behind Connecticut (.974), Baylor (.961) and FGCU (.934). Stanford is 7-1 against Gonzaga and dropped the last meeting at home on Nov. 18, 2016, 68-63 despite 22 points from Brittany McPhee and a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double from Erica McCall. The Cardinal was down 10 early in the third quarter, but closed the final 6:24 of the period on an 18-3 run and took a five-point lead heading into the fourth. Stanford was up two, 61-59, when McPhee made a layup with four minutes to go, but that would be its last field goal. Elle Tinkle, the younger sister of former Cardinal Joslyn Tinkle, made a layup to tie it and Laura Stockton hit a 3-pointer to push Gonzaga ahead. McPhee sank two free throws with under a minute left and was poised to regain the lead for her team when she drove left with 17.3 seconds on the clock, but Tinkle came up with the biggest of her game-high three blocks to stymie Stanford. Jill Barta and Stockton made all four of their free throws down the stretch to seal it. That loss came immediately following a 71-59 win over No. 8 Texas and it was the second consecutive year Stanford followed up a win over a ranked team with a home loss to a West Coast Conference opponent. In November 2015, Santa Clara beat the Cardinal 61-58 two days after Stanford beat No. 22 George Washington by 21, 84-63.
Following a one-year hiatus after featuring matchups every year from 2009-13, the series against Gonzaga resumed in November 2015 in Spokane, a 65-48 Cardinal win that featured a 23-point, 13-rebound double-double from Erica McCall. Stanford closed the game on a 19-1 run over the last 5:28 and held Gonzaga to 0-of-12 shooting over that stretch.
ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS:
Brittany McPhee and Alanna Smith were voted to the 15-person All-Pac-12 squad, Kiana Williams was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in addition to earning an All-Pac-12 honorable mention nod and Kaylee Johnson and Marta Sniezek received Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention accolades on Feb. 26. Stanford now has 72 All-Pac-12 honorees in program history and 156 all-time Pac-12 awardees including honorable mention, freshman and defensive teams, the top totals in league history. On Feb. 27 Tara VanDerveer was named the John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year and Brittany McPhee the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. VanDerveer, who was honored by the WBCA with the 2018 Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award earlier in February, was chosen by her peers as the conference's best coach for the 15th time. It's the first conference coach of the year award she's received since a four-year run ended in 2014. McPhee is the fourth Stanford women's basketball player to be named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year along with Chiney Ogwumike (2013-14), Kayla Pedersen (2010-11) and Jayne Appel (2009-10).
BAPTISM BY FIRE:
Stanford is tied for third nationally in games against top-25 teams with 12. South Carolina leads in that category with 15, Oregon is second with 13 and Arizona State, Notre Dame and Tennessee have also faced 12. Stanford started its season 1-7 against top-25 opponents, but is 3-1 in its last four. Of those 12 AP Top 25 games, six have been true road contests. Stanford has two top-25 road wins, one of just nine schools in the country with multiple road victories over ranked opponents. Notre Dame has four, Connecticut, Baylor and Purdue three and Oregon, Tennessee, Mississippi State and South Carolina two each. The Cardinal is also second in games against top-10 teams with seven, including five from the nonconference portion of its schedule. Kentucky has played eight. For comparison, Stanford played five top-10 opponents all of last year, which was the program's most since 2010-11 (7).
"We can schedule it so that we are 12-0 or 10-2, but this team went to the Final Four last year and that's the level that we have to get to," Tara VanDerveer said of her team's non-conference schedule. "We need our tough schedule to pay off for us, but it only pays off if we build on it. Don't get frustrated. Get mad and go to work. We are looking up at people right now. We need people to look up at where we need to be and embrace that challenge."
WHAT'S BACK, WHAT'S NOT:
The Cardinal returned 10 letter winners, but just two starters to a team coming off its seventh Final Four in the past 10 seasons. Stanford posted a 32-6 overall record last season and a 15-3 mark in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal won its 12th Pac-12 Tournament championship and celebrated Tara VanDerveer's 1,000th career victory during the program's 14th 30-win campaign. Gone are Erica McCall, Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson, seniors that accounted for 45 percent of Stanford's minutes, 46 percent of its scoring and 35 percent of its rebounds in 2016-17. The Cardinal's young squad has eight underclassmen and entered the year with just one returner on the roster that averaged more than 20 minutes per game in her career (Marta Sniezek).
AGAINST RANKED:
The Cardinal is 4-8 against ranked teams this season, 2-7 on the road and at neutral sites, 2-1 at home and has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 16 seasons. Stanford is 75-42 (.641) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins the past 11 years and fourth in percentage. Connecticut (.906), Baylor (.768), Notre Dame (.725), Stanford (.641), Tennessee (.613), Duke (.552), Maryland (.535) and South Carolina (.513) have winning records against ranked teams over that span.
NATIONAL RANKINGS:
The Cardinal dropped out of the AP rankings for the first time in 17 years on Dec. 25, worked its way back a week later at No. 24 following its home victories over UCLA and USC and dropped out again for three consecutive polls after it lost at No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 7 (73-66). Stanford is back and finished the season at No. 15. It had climbed 10 spots in the two weeks from Jan. 29 to Feb. 12 and its seven-place jump from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 was the largest in program history.
The Cardinal is 13th in the RPI and has played the nation's fifth-toughest schedule. Stanford hadn't been unranked since 2001, when a 72-54 loss at No. 20 Oregon on Jan. 13 knocked the No. 24 Cardinal out of the polls. It wouldn't get back in until opening the next season at No. 9. The Cardinal has been in 528 AP polls, the fourth most all-time, and had its stretch of 312 in a row snapped when it was unranked Dec. 25. Stanford's streak is tied for the third longest in the history of the poll. Tennessee had the longest run at 565 weeks, Connecticut has an active 468-week streak and Duke also appeared in 312 consecutive rankings.
HOME COOKIN':
Stanford finished as the only Pac-12 team undefeated at home in conference with a 9-0 record following those two home losses to conclude nonconference against Western Illinois and Tennessee. The Cardinal surrendered 54.2 points on 32.1 percent shooting at home all season, including 21.6 percent from behind the arc. Stanford's field goal percentage defense in Maples Pavilion was the sixth-best home mark in the country behind Baylor (.312), Green Bay (.315), Central Arkansas (.316), Norfolk State (.320) and Texas Southern (.321). Stanford shot 42.1 percent from the floor at home this season compared to 40.2 percent on the road.
OF LATE:
In its first 20 games of the season, Stanford was averaging 16.3 turnovers per game and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.85. In the last 12 it has cut its turnover number down to 11.4 with a 1.18 assist-to-turnover ratio. Stanford's defense in conference was some of the best in the nation. The Cardinal gave up just 59.5 points on 36.9 percent shooting in its 17 Pac-12 games. Among Power 5 conference teams in league play, that opponent points per game number was sixth in the country and the field goal percentage defense was fourth. Louisville surrendering an average of 55.6 points in ACC contests, Baylor was at 56.1 in Big 12 games, Mississippi State gave up 56.3 points per game in SEC matchups, Georgia 58.3 in its SEC matchups and North Carolina State 58.6 in the ACC. In terms of field goal percentage defense in conference games, Baylor led in that category (.329), Georgia was second (.345) and Oregon State third (.368).
OFFENSE/DEFENSE:
After shooting just 39.3 percent in the non-conference, Stanford hit 43.5 percent in Pac-12 play and at the conference tournament. Overall, the Cardinal is shooting 41.9 percent from the field (104th in the country), 30.9 percent (202nd) from deep and 63.9 percent (317th) from the free throw line. The program's all-time lows in those categories are 42.6 percent from the field (2015-16), 31.1 percent on 3-pointers (2011-12) and 64.8 percent on free throws (1978-79). Stanford's turnover margin (-1.2) is also 235th in the nation. At the other end of the court the Cardinal is 24th in the country in field goal percentage defense (.361), 30th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.283), 21st in blocks per game (5.19) and 46th in rebounds per game (40.9). Stanford has finished in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense 10 of the last 11 years.
NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga Bulldogs And Cardinal Set To Meet Once Again
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