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Chat Reel: Tara VanDerveer
Stanford's hoops coach talks Pac-10 ball with users
Posted: Wednesday February 16, 2000 11:22 AM
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VanDerveer: 'I think the most satisfying win is ahead of us yet.' Allsport |
CNNSI Host: Welcome to today's chat with Stanford women's hoops coach Tara VanDerveer. Hi coach, thanks for joining us.
From RZ: I've been a devoted Card fan for years and I'm a great admirer of what you have accomplished at Stanford. I have two questions: Why does the team seem to play so much better at home than on the road? And what will it take to get Stanford back into the top 5 in the country?
Tara VanDerveer: Two answers. I think we're a little more relaxed at home. We have a great crowd and great support. I think that might intimidate some teams. Being at home, you're well rested. When you're on the road, the teams you play against have those advantages.
But we need to do better on the road to be a top team in our conference. Second question, we need specific people producing better for us. We need a better post game to get in the top five. With some of the players coming back and the players we signed, I think we have a shot. A combination of talent and experience gets you in the top five.
From Guest: The race for the Pac-10 title is so close right now. What are you telling your team that they going to have to do to win it?
Tara VanDerveer: I think it's really important to focus on the game that you're playing that week or that day. You can't overlook anyone and have to be ready to play each game. Doing the things that make your team successful. Like rebounding, defense and executing on offense.
From Guest: Stanford is a great three-point shooting team this year. Are you just lucky to have great shooters or is it something this team has specifically worked on?
Tara VanDerveer: I think we have a tradition of three-point shooting at Stanford. Starting with Jennifer Azzi, Katie Steding, Molly Goodenbauer, Christie Hedgepeth and Kate Starbird. Our players really work on that in the offseason. It's not something you can just put into your offense. The players have to have it.
From Guest: Having coached the Olympic team in 1996, what do you think of this year's team? Did the team's loss to Tennessee surprise you?
Tara VanDerveer: I think this year's national team is extremely talented. They're a great team, and I was surprised by the loss to Tennessee. I think that kind of shows that you have to be ready to play, regardless of how good you are. They'll be very successful in Sydney and they'll be a lot of fun to watch.
From Guest: What do you think of the Pac-10 moving to a conference tournament?
Tara VanDerveer: We haven't decided that will happen. I'm not a big proponent of it, but I'm not totally against it either. I like the double round-robin, and I'd like to keep that in the tournament without missing a lot of school. But that's the challenge. I think it'll help with visibility in the NCAA's. A lot of other conferences are having tournaments. You kind of have to keep everyone involved to infuse some enthusiasm.
From Guest: Did you expect Jamie Carey to step up and play as well as she has as a freshman?
Tara VanDerveer: We hoped she would. She had a great freshman year so far.
From Guest: What has been the most satisfying win of the year for your team?
Tara VanDerveer: In some ways, the most satisfying game was not a win. It was playing as well as we did against Tennessee. I think the most satisfying win is ahead of us yet. We've had some great wins, though. Like UCLA and Arizona. Iowa State was a great win for us. We've had a lot of them.
From Guest: What do you credit as the reason for the success of women's basketball across the country over the past five years or so? Where do you think it is going?
Tara VanDerveer: I think there's a general interest in basketball, and I think women are very talented and they try hard. People like to watch sporting events where there's a lot of emotion. I think the women's game will continue to grow and improve and will keep getting bigger and bigger.
From Guest: Do you ever see yourself coaching in the WNBA? After coaching pro players in the Olympics, is that something you would like to do again?
Tara VanDerveer: I really enjoyed coaching the professional players in the Olympics, and I wouldn't rule anything out. But I'm very happy in the situation I'm in, coaching collegiate players at Stanford.
From Kathy: What do you think have been the major benefits from Title IX? What things still need to be worked on?
Tara VanDerveer: In a lot of ways, I wish we didn't need Title IX, but obviously we did. The benefits have been more opportunity for women to participate. We still have a long way to go to make things more equitable for women. Facilities, resources, including players and coaches.
From Guest: Stanford has been in and out of the Top 25 a good bit this season, but is that something you ever focus on? Is the Pac-10 getting enough respect in the polls?
Tara VanDerveer: I think that I'm not much of a poll fan. We have great competition in the Pac-10. We play a national schedule, so I see the other competition. You have to win outside of your conference to get respect, and the Pac-10 needs to do a better job winning outside the conference. We have some great competition, but we're playing well. Even the teams who started out slow are doing very well now. The polls are opinion, and it's important to know what other people are thinking about our team. I think we can play against any team in the Top 25 when we're playing well.
From Guest: Do you change anything as you head into the final month of the regular season?
Tara VanDerveer: We do. We change our practice schedule to be shorter. We work on more specific things that we're not doing well. We try to add some new things that people haven't seen. We try to practice more "time and score" situations.
From Melanie: When most big time men's programs falter a little bit, there is a lot of criticism in the local media about what is wrong. Would you welcome that level of attention so that when you are up, people would praise you and your team and when you are down, people would criticize instead of ignoring you?
Tara VanDerveer: I feel that our team is in that situation. We do kind of get the good and the bad of it. I think probably moderation of both is good... both praise and criticism... but an extreme of either is probably not good, for men or for women.
CNNSI Host: Thanks for joining us today coach. Good luck the remainder of the season.
Tara VanDerveer: Great! Thank you.
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