Maybe Tara VanDerveer’s problem is that her Stanford Cardinal has too much talent.
Honestly, how can she possibly dole out enough playing time for everyone to stay happy? First, she has Nicole Powell, the Pacific-10 Conference’s Player of the Year two seasons ago. Then there’s all-Pac-10 guard Kelley Suminski. An underrated point guard in Susan King Borchardt.
And those are just three of the 11 letterwinners returning from last year’s conference champion. Powell, now a senior, averaged 18.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season, despite having missed the first nine games with back problems.
A healthy Powell gives the Cardinal a big edge in gunning for their 13th conference title and 17th NCAA Tournament appearance. And with so many teammates coming back, Stanford figures to be one of the elite teams in the country.
“The key for our team is to first to get and to stay healthy,” VanDerveer said. “We’re happy to have everyone returning, but most of the Pac-10 title contenders have their top players back, too. We’re going to have to be as or more determined than we were last year.”
The biggest challenge might come from Arizona, where sophomore center Shauntinice Polk returns from a season in which she was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year. Averaging 17.4 points and 10.8 rebounds a game, the 6-foot-5 Polk can dominate the middle as no one else in the conference can.
Polk has help. The Wildcats have one of the conference’s top backcourt duos in Dee-Dee Wheeler (16.2 ppg.) and Aimee Grzyb (10.5 ppg.). Both are quick, swarming defenders. And if someone drives around either, Polk is eager to help in the paint.
Look for the Wildcats to repeat their NCAA Tournament appearance of last season.
“The thing we most want to see is a renewed respect for our team on the national front,” coach Joan Bonvicini said.
The most resilient and together team in the conference has to be Washington, which has suffered so many personnel setbacks in the form of career-ending injuries and health conditions.
Most damaging is last year’s retirement of Kayla Burt, an Arlington High School graduate whose heart condition is well documented. Backup center Sarah Keeler suffered a career-ending knee injury at the end of last season. Both serve as student-assistant coaches for head coach June Daugherty. Reserve forward Kirsten Brockman, too, had to quit because of repeated stress fractures in both feet.
Then there’s Kristin O’Neill, arguably the team’s best defender, who will miss the season because of a severe stress fracture in her left foot.
Even before Keeler, Brockman and O’Neill were declared out, the Huskies lost 51 percent of their scoring and 45 percent of their rebounding from last year’s team that finished 22-8 and went to the NCAA Tournament. Gone is shooter extraordinaire Loree Payne, the second most prolific 3-point shooter in Pac-19 history (245 career treys).
Yet, just when you think the Huskies are dead, they come up with a sizzling effort in nearly beating third-ranked Texas Tech, which came back to pull out a 74-70 win last week.
The Huskies are doing it with a high-pressure defense, something different from years past. That, along with returning conference Player of the Year Giuliana Mendiola, post Andrea Lalum and dogged defender Gioconda Mendiola, should keep the Huskies in most games.
Washington relies on five freshmen to carry much of the load as well. Jill Bell is a terror on the boards. Cameo Hicks and Breanne Watson found places in the starting lineup. Angie Jones and Maggie O’Hara can defend anyone. O’Hara, especially, is adept in setting herself up to draw charges.
“Defensively, we were able to pressure a team that has so many offensive weapons,” Daugherty said after the Texas Tech game. “I thought we were able to get into traps and a lot of rotations to the backside, forcing them to take shots that I don’t think were characteristic of what we’ve seen on the Texas Tech tapes over the last couple of years.”
So all is not lost in Seattle. The Huskies will look young at times, but the best part about freshmen, it is said, is that they age.
USC forward/center Ebony Hoffman has been a pleasure to watch the last three years, but her team has shown little for her excellence. Now, coach Chris Gobrecht says, an infusion of young talent may help push the Women of Troy into the NCAA Tournament.
Seven freshmen, including forward Katie Henderson from Redmond High School, dot the roster.
“We have some really tough kids in this freshman class,” Gobrecht said. “They have really set the bar high by the way they’ve conducted themselves and the way they’ve trained this off-season.”
The remaining teams of the Pac-10 look to be in line for NIT bids. UCLA, Oregon State and Arizona State have young talent. Oregon has had a marvelous preseason and may surprise. California is an absolute thorn to play, with its high-pressure defense. Washington State won two games last year, but second-year coach Sherri Murrell is just getting started laying a foundation to a program that was simply stripped of talent and morale.
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