Next 38 seasons at Stanford, the schoolteacher who made the Cardinal right into a perennial ladies’s school basketball powerhouse is retiring. The varsity introduced Tuesday night time that Tara VanDerveer had known as an finish to her mythical profession.
VanDerveer coached for 45 seasons, origination at Idaho, shifting to Ohio State and later discovering the easiest are compatible for her legacy at Stanford. She received 3 nationwide championships with the Cardinal, outlined Percent-12 ladies’s hoops, coached the 1996 Olympic crew date on a quick crack from Stanford and helped usher the varsity duel from its humble AIAW beginnings within the Nineteen Seventies to nowadays’s NCAA fashionable age.
Alongside the best way, VanDerveer mentored one of the largest gamers in ladies’s basketball as she become the all time winningest schoolteacher in ladies’s or males’s historical past in January.
“There’s so many Stanford success stories out there,” mentioned VanDerveer, who led the Cardinal to fourteen Ultimate 4 appearances. “They come back and say to me, ‘When things get tough, I learned how to be resilient at Stanford. I learned how to balance my time at Stanford. I gained confidence at Stanford. So I’m really proud of that.”
Bearing in mind their skilled enjoying careers or professional attainable, plus alternative tactics they’ve affect the game, listed here are the ten largest to play games for VanDerveer at Stanford.
The eldest Ogwumike sister has had the most productive WNBA profession of any Stanford graduate, and at 33 she displays refuse indicators of slowing indisposed, coming off every other standout season in 2023. The WNBA’s Negative. 1 draft select in 2012, Ogwumike has averaged 16.5 issues and seven.5 rebounds in her 12 seasons within the league, all with the Los Angeles Sparks. She received the 2016 MVP award and has been named All-WNBA six instances, All-Defensive crew six instances and an All-Famous person 8 instances.
She could also be president of the WNBA gamers’ union and has been one of the concerned contributors in each and every facet of the league’s expansion, together with being an influential determine serving to get the WNBA throughout the difficult 2020 season within the COVID-19 “bubble” in Bradenton, Florida.
A 3-time All-American at Stanford, Ogwumike helped the Cardinal build 4 consecutive Ultimate 4 appearances. She ranks 5th in Stanford historical past in scoring moderate (17.2 PPG) and rebounding moderate (8.5 RPG) and 3rd in overall issues (2,491).
2. Jennifer Azzi: 1986-90, cover
Azzi used to be a dynamic power at the 1989-90 crew that took Stanford to its first Ultimate 4, first NCAA identify and put the Cardinal at the map in ladies’s basketball. Winner of the Wade Trophy and Naismith Award because the nationwide participant of the pace in 1990, the Tennessee local lived out the dream of profitable the nationwide championship in close by Knoxville and used to be the Ultimate 4’s Maximum Exceptional Participant.
She is this system chief in 3-point capturing share (minimal of 150 made) at .452, ranks 2d in assists (751) and 3rd in steals (271). She could also be twelfth in overall issues (1,634). Her 16 assists towards BYU as a freshman left-overs Stanford’s single-game file.
Azzi performed for VanDerveer at the landmark 1996 Olympic crew, the recognition of which helped foundation each the short-lived ABL and the WNBA. Azzi competed in each leagues, completing with 5 seasons within the WNBA, the place she averaged 9.1 issues and four.5 assists. Since her enjoying days, she has been a faculty schoolteacher and administrator, and now works for the Aces.
3. Candice Wiggins: 2004-08, cover
A four-time WBCA All-American, she has the perfect profession scoring moderate (19.2 PPG) in program historical past, leads in separate throws (556) and steals (281), and is 2d in 3-pointers (295). She led Stanford to the Elite 8 as a freshman and sophomore. As a senior, she had 41 issues towards Negative. 1 seed Maryland within the regional ultimate to ship Stanford to its first Ultimate 4 in 11 years. VanDerveer has known as that victory one of the remarkable and noteworthy of her profession.
Wiggins additionally had 44 issues in the second one spherical of that 2008 NCAA match, 25 issues and 13 rebounds in beating UConn within the nationwide semifinals, and she or he received the Wade Trophy. The spell ended with a loss to Tennessee within the NCAA ultimate, however Wiggins had returned Stanford to the nationwide highlight.
The 3rd select within the 2008 WNBA draft by means of the Minnesota Lynx, she received a league identify with them in 2011 and spent 8 seasons total within the WNBA.
4. Nicole Powell: 2000-04, cover/ahead
Wiggins were given Stanford again to the Ultimate 4 then a drought, however Powell used to be the participant maximum liable for protecting the Cardinal at an elite degree when this system went thru what used to be — by means of Stanford’s elevated requirements — somewhat of a indisposed duration, with two losses in the second one spherical of the NCAA match. Through Powell’s senior pace, Stanford used to be again within the Elite 8. A 3-time All-American, she is essentially the most flexible participant in program historical past: fourth in scoring moderate (17.3 PPG), 2d in rebounding moderate (9.6 RPG) and 5th in overall assists (577). She additionally had six triple-doubles.
Powell used to be the 3rd select within the 2004 draft and performed 11 seasons within the WNBA, profitable a league championship with Sacramento in 2005. She is lately in her fourth season as head schoolteacher of the UC Riverside Highlanders.
Chiney adopted sister Nneka to Stanford and is the Cardinal’s all-time chief in issues (2,737) and rebounds (1,567) and ranks fourth in restrained pictures (202). A 3-time All-American, she helped Stanford build 3 Ultimate 4 appearances. Her 24 rebounds towards Oregon in 2014 is this system’s single-game file. In 2014, she received the Picket Award and used to be the Negative. 1 select within the WNBA draft.
Ogwumike has performed seven seasons within the WNBA in spite of struggling with accidents. She’s a two-time All-Famous person and has been with the Sparks and Nneka since 2019. Chiney could also be a basketball analyst for ESPN.
6. Jayne Appel: 2006-10, heart
She ranks 2d in program historical past in restrained pictures (273), 3rd in rebounds (1,263) and 5th in issues (2,125). Appel helped Stanford achieve the Ultimate 4 thrice and has this system’s perfect single-game level overall, scoring 46 in an Elite 8 victory over Iowa Atmosphere in 2009. The 5th select within the 2010 draft, she performed seven WNBA seasons, all with San Antonio. Now Jayne Appel Marinelli, she is director of participant members of the family with the WNBPA.
7. Kate Starbird: 1993-97, cover/ahead
A 6-foot-2 participant with cover abilities, Starbird is one in every of two Stanford gamers (the alternative is Wiggins) to attain 40 or extra issues in a duel two times in her profession. She completed fourth all-time in issues (2,215) and 5th in steals (252), serving to Stanford build the Ultimate 4 thrice. Starbird began her skilled profession within the ABL and later spent 5 seasons within the WNBA.
8. Kayla Pedersen: 2007-11, ahead
She helped the Cardinal build 4 consecutive Ultimate 4 appearances and performed essentially the most mins (4,762) of any participant in Stanford historical past. Pedersen is 2d in rebounds (1,266) even supposing her profession overlapped with 3 alternative superb rebounders within the Ogwumike sisters and Appel. Pedersen could also be 9th in issues (1,941). She used to be the 7th select within the 2011 draft and spent six seasons within the WNBA.
9. Val Whiting: 1989-93, heart
Identified for her tough within presence, she used to be on Stanford’s nationwide championship groups in 1990 and 1992, and went to a few Ultimate Fours. Whiting is 6th in program historical past in each profession issues (2,077) and rebounds (1,134), and 5th in restrained pictures. Whiting performed professionally within the ABL and the WNBA.
10. Cameron Brink: 2020-present, ahead
As a freshman, Verge of collapse helped Stanford win this system’s long-awaited 3rd NCAA identify in 2021. She simply completed her profession as Stanford’s profession chief in restrained pictures (424). She additionally had 1,892 issues and 1,223 rebounds. She is expected to be a WNBA draft lottery pick on April 15.
