Coming into the 2024-25 NCAA season, the Stanford Cardinal had the second-longest NCAA Tournament appearance streak behind only Tennessee, as per Alexa Philippou of ESPN. But following the retirement of legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer, Stanford’s NCAA Tournament streak is in danger.
Following the Cardinal 63-46 loss to Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament, Stanford now finds themselves in the hands of the selection committee for a possible NCAA Tournament berth. Selection Sunday is slated for March 16, so the Cardinal will be waiting for a while to learn their fate.
However, it’s probably safe to say that Stanford’s 36 consecutive seasons of making the NCAA Tournament is going to come to an end. With an overall record of 16-14, and an ACC record of 8-10, they do not have a strong case for March Madness.
This was Kate Paye’s first season as Stanford head coach after replacing Tara VanDerveer. In college, Paye played for VanDerveer from 1991-1995. Upon her graduation, she initially went into coaching as an assistant at San Diego State.
But Paye got the playing itch again and ended up playing professional basketball from 1996-2002 in the WNBA and the now defunct American Basketball League (ABL). In the WNBA, Paye played for the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm.
Paye joined VanDerveer’s coaching staff as an assistant coach ahead of the 2007-2008 season following coaching stints at Pepperdine and a return to San Diego State.
VanDerveer had been the head coach at Stanford from 1986-2024. During her time with the Cardinal, VanDerveer complied a record of 1,064-220. She held the record for most coaching wins in NCAA history, before that record was broken this season by UConn coach Geno Auriemma.
During her time at Stanford, VanDerveer led the Cardinal to 36 NCAA Tournament appearances including three national championships in 1990, 1992 and 2021. Following her retirement, the Cardinal lost Cameron Brink to the WNBA Draft and Kiki Iriafen to the transfer portal and USC.
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