Nhat V. Meyer — staff archives Stanford Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer talks to Cardinal women’s basketball player Talana Lepolo during their Nov. 30 game against the Santa Clara Broncos at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.
The Stanford and Cal women’s basketball programs go into their final season of Pac-12 play with something to prove.
For Stanford, it’s that a costly 2-3 finish last season was an anomaly and that the Cardinal is underrated now as a result.
For Cal, the challenge is to rise above .500 for the first time since 2018-19 in a crucial fifth season under coach Charmin Smith, going into the final year of her contract.
A seismic cross-country shift to the ACC is ahead for both in 2024-25, but that’s an issue for another day. Navigating the Pac-12 – with six AP preseason nationally ranked teams and nine projected by ESPN to make the NCAA Tournament – demands full attention.
“We love playing against Pac-12 competition,” said Tara VanDerveer, in her 38th season coaching at Stanford and 45th as a collegiate head coach. “It’s sad and hard to believe it’s the last time we’re going to be playing these teams. It’s very surreal for me. But I’m really focused on this year, this team, and having a great season.”
The same is true for Smith, who played for VanDerveer at Stanford and also served as an assistant coach, before joining Cal’s staff in 2007-08.
“We want to finish strong in the Pac-12 and have a really great year,” Smith said. “It is sad to see the best conference in college athletics disappear, but hopefully people have learned from this. We’ll be excited about the ACC when it’s time to do so and be ready to attack that. There’s some fabulous teams in that conference, and we’ll be excited about competing against them when that time comes.”
Brink among four Stanford returning starters
Stanford is ranked 15th (AP) and 13th (coaches) and picked to finish third in the Pac-12 by league coaches behind Utah and UCLA.
All perfectly respectable — except when you’re a blue-blood school that won a national title as recently as 2021 and begins every season expecting a Final Four finish
But those late-season losses cost the Cardinal sole possession of the Pac-12 regular season title, then produced a semifinal exit in the Pac-12 Tournament and, worst of all, a second-round NCAA Tournament loss at home to No. 8 seed Mississippi.
All-America Haley Jones moved on to the WNBA. Three players transferred out including rising sophomores Lauren Betts (to UCLA) and Indya Nivar (North Carolina).
All of which, while creating some skepticism, is offset by VanDerveer’s enthusiasm for a team that likely will move her past former Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins in college history regardless of gender. Krzyzewski retired with 1,202 wins. VanDerveer’s 17th win this season will give her 1,203.
“We have had a fabulous off-season, to be honest,” VanDerveer said. “People have been working very hard. I’ve seen excellent improvement. We’re a new look, but it’s going to be fun.”
Stanford actually has four returning starters led by 6-4 All-America Cameron Brink, whose summer highlight was being named MVP at the 3×3 FIBA World Cup off a gold medal U.S. run. Hannah Jump, Talana Lepolo and Kiki Iriafen also started on a 29-6 team that went 15-3 in the Pac-12.
Iriafen, Brooke Demetre and Courtney Ogden combined for 36 rebounds Wednesday in a 126-53 exhibition win over Division II Dominican. Seven players scored in double figures including freshmen McDonald’s high school All-American Ogden and Nunu Agara with 16 apiece.
“Every disappointment is a blessing,” said VanDerveer, who sees a retooling similar to that of the Golden State Warriors. “Yeah, we were disappointed last year, but we have used it to fuel improvement. The team is close, they’re working hard, unselfish. This team has great experience coming back and some new pieces that are willing to do whatever we need them to do. Our freshmen are really special.”
The Cardinal open at home Wednesday against Hawaii. They also host No. 9 Indiana on Nov. 12 and future ACC opponent Duke on Nov. 19.
Cal’s transfer portal exchange
Cal’s 13 wins last season are a high under Smith and a significant improvement since a 1-16 record in the 2020-21 COVID-impacted season.
But starters Jayda Curry (to Louisville) and Evelien Lutje Schipholt (South Florida) were among four transfers, replaced by Ionna Krimili (from San Francisco), Marta Suarez (Tennessee), McKayla Williams (Gonzaga) and Ila Lane (UC Santa Barbara).
How this transfer portal exchange plays out will largely determine the Bears’ fate. They are picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12 and haven’t finished higher than 10th since 2018-19, when Lindsay Gottlieb (now at USC) still was head coach.
“We were very bad defensively (No. 294 nationally in scoring defense),” Smith said. “It was an area of emphasis for us all summer long and even in the fall. We know if we’re going to be competitive, we have to lock in on the defensive end and be better there.”
Suarez, Lane, Michelle Onyiah and Claudia Langarita provide size at 6-3 or 6-4. Krimili, per Smith, is a better perimeter defender than anticipated. Fifth-year Leilani McIntosh is a proven point guard and Kemery Martin also returns as a starting guard.
Australian freshman Lulu Laditan-Twidale adds guard depth and is one of seven international players.
Cal, a 93-51 exhibition winner over Westmont (transitioning to Division II) on Thursday, opens at home Monday against Cal State Bakersfield. The Bears also have home games against Santa Clara (Wednesday), San Jose State (Nov. 24), and Saint Mary’s (Dec. 2).
“We’ve had some challenges, COVID definitely being one of them,” Smith said. “The transfer portal has created some interesting dynamics for us. I do think this is a year we get over the hump, and I’m really excited about it.”
Santa Clara
The pipeline from Melbourne, Australia is still going strong. The Broncos have five players from Melbourne, led by first-team all-WCC pick Tess Heal, who averaged 17.6 points and 4.3 rebounds last season as a freshman.
Heal paced a Santa Clara offense that finished second in the WCC at 71.3 points a game, just 0.3 behind Gonzaga. Other returning starters include sophomore forward Marya Hudgins and senior guard Ashley Hiraki, a Mitty product. Graduate student Emma Shaffer brings size – the 6-2 forward started all 30 games last season at Bucknell, where she averaged 10.5 points and 9.3 rebounds.
Santa Clara tied for third in the preseason poll — Gonzaga and Portland were 1-2 – the Broncos’ highest placing since being picked third 18 years ago.
Santa Clara opens the season at San Jose State on Monday and plays its first home game Saturday against Hawai’i, the preseason pick to win the Big West.
— HAROLD GUTMANN
Saint Mary’s
After leading Long Beach State to its first 20-win season in six years, Big West coach of the year Jeff Cammon brings a defensive focus to Saint Mary’s. LBSU ranked in the top 10 nationally in steals and turnover margin last season under Cammon, an assistant at Cal when the Bears reached the Pac-12 championship game in 2015.
The Gaels return four starters from a team that finished 13-18 overall and 6-12 in the WCC.
Ali Bamberger is a two-time WCC first-team forward who finished ninth in the WCC in points (14.2) and third in rebounds (8.4) last season. Her rebounding total includes a Division I program-record 24 against San Diego.
Three experienced starting guards are also back in seniors Tayla Dalton (7.4 points per game) and Leia Hanafin (4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists) and junior Hannah Rapp (7.0 points, 5.5 rebounds).
The Gaels did lose Taycee Wedin, who graduated as the WCC’s all-time leading 3-point shooter but candidates to replace her outside scoring include her sister, redshirt sophomore Addison Wedin, who is back after suffering a knee injury two years ago, and Maia Jones, who was a member of the U17 New Zealand Junior National Team.
The Gaels were picked to finish sixth in the nine-team WCC.
— HAROLD GUTMANN
University of San Francisco
The Dons went to their third consecutive WNIT in 2023 led by Molly Goodenbour who enters her eighth season as head coach.
USF lost two all-conference players in Ioanna Krimili (Cal transfer) and Kennedy Dickie (graduation), but retained reigning West Coast Conference Sixth Woman of the Year Jasmine Gayles. The fifth-year senior averaged 10.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season and is a 2024 All-Conference Preseason selection.
The Dons also added 6-foot-6 forward Seynabou Thiam from the transfer portal. She averaged 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds for Tarleton State last season.
The Dons were picked to finish last in the WCC.
— NATHAN CANILAO
San Jose State
The Spartans come into 2024 with optimism after notching just six wins last season in April Phillips’ first year as head coach. Phillips and her coaching staff were able to retool the Spartans’ roster with strong additions through high school recruiting and the transfer portal.
The Spartans added former Saint Mary’s center Finau Tonga and Chesapeake College guard Aniyah Quow from the transfer portal. SJSU also was able to recruit 2021 CIF Girls Basketball MVP Sydni Summers from Corona Centennial High School.
Though the Spartans lost leading scorer Jada Holland — she transferred to Grand Canyon University — sophomore guard Sabrina Ma is back after making the Mountain West All-Freshman team last season.
— NATHAN CANILAO
Originally published at Jeff Metcalfe