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NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 1, 2009

Tara VanDerveer

RICK NIXON: I'll ask Coach VanDerveer for opening remarks.
COACH VANDERVEER: Thank you very much. It is an honor and a privilege for me as a coach, our staff and our team, to be going to St. Louis to represent Stanford and have an opportunity to play in the NCAA Final Four and to have a shot at winning a national championship.
It never gets old. It's very exciting. Our team is absolutely thrilled. We had a chance -- a lot of the players had a chance last year. And it was such an exciting time and so much fun that I think they really inspired the younger players to work extra hard and we want to go back.
Our team is playing well. I feel like we're going to do everything we can to prepare for the semifinal game, and we just want to continue to play well and to enjoy the experience.
RICK NIXON: Questions for Coach.

Q. (Indiscernible) with Pat Summitt, obviously the tragedy of losing Coach Yow, it's been a terrific tournament with I think a very compelling Final Four, and I wonder if you could talk for a moment just about the state of women's college basketball.
COACH VANDERVEER: As you mentioned, we do miss Coach Yow and when someone wins a thousand games, if nothing else, both things happening give you perspective, perspective that this is such a great game and the perspective that while you're in it you want to enjoy it and it's not going to last forever.
The state of women's basketball, I think, is growing. We're seeing so many exciting new teams. There is more breadth and depth to our game. And I think that's all good for the future of women's basketball and for the young women that play it and for everyone involved.
I think this has been one of the most exciting tournaments ever, and probably one of the most unpredictable tournaments, which makes it exciting.

Q. Three out of the four teams coming to St. Louis have players who were -- centers who landed on the Associated Press All-America team. Could you comment on the importance that that position has and is that really a strong common denominator here among these teams?
COACH VANDERVEER: I do believe it is. I think having an inside presence, and with women's basketball, we're a young sport. We're growing. In some ways we're similar to some of the maybe old-school men's teams with the great centers.
Jayne Appel is a tremendous center for us. Tina Charles, Courtney Paris, probably the three you're referring to, they all have great back-to-their-basket moves and create offense for other people. So this is a big part of the women's game, and for our team it's really important.

Q. Are you at all surprised that a team like Louisville could make it without having a real strong inside presence?
COACH VANDERVEER: I think there are other ways to win, and some of it also depends on the matchup, the bracket they came through didn't have a Courtney Paris, Jayne Appel or Tina Charles in their bracket. So playing some teams, sometimes you match up better with teams depending upon your personnel.
But they have excellent personnel, and they do other things. Sometimes it's hard for maybe a big, quote, center to guard a tremendous faceup player or some of the -- like the All-American that Louisville has in Angel McCoughtry.

Q. You've been around awhile. So have I. You've watched this game grow, as you said, and it is. It seems to be more -- there's more depth and more balance, which is terrific, Title IX working its magic, what have you. But respect and support can also take a while. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the respect and support you have found for women's basketball in the Stanford community and maybe how that might compare and contrast with maybe some of the more grudging support for the game that you might hear about in other areas of the country?
COACH VANDERVEER: I think the Bay Area is very supportive of not just women's basketball but women's sports. I felt that when I came out here and even interviewed for the job 23 years ago. Women's volleyball, women's soccer. I think there's great support for women's sports. And I feel like it has been here for quite a long time.
Women's tennis was big in California. Other places I've seen it really grow. And I was thinking of this today how exciting it is for Oklahoma to have a team in the Final Four again and to have the great support that they have, when I remember wearing a ribbon at a Final Four because they were cutting Oklahoma women's basketball team.
I think it's growing in different pockets. And one of the things that was exciting also is to see a team like Ball State, you know how well they did, and to get it going in different places throughout the country, not just in Connecticut, which they have tremendous fan support.
But spread that passion and excitement all over the country. And I think the NCAA tournament is we're kind of experimenting with different ways to do that. But let's play places where we can get fans in the stands and show the game on television with great support so people see it as such an enthusiastic sport and a great opportunity to come and support young women.

Q. Just following up, do you feel a little bit like a basketball coach extraordinaire but also feel like Johnny Appleseed, sort of?
COACH VANDERVEER: Well, I think that what I really try to focus on is not just coaching Xs and Os, but try to teach and understand that part of our teaching is to be fan friendly. With our players, I will say to our players, There's someone in this gym that's watching women's basketball for the first time. Have them come back with their 10 loudest friends.
We do have to do more than just show up and play. I think we do have to do the extra things to help promote women's basketball and we do have to have our women be role models and be articulate and do all the things to really do the grassroots recruiting of fans.
So if that is, as you said, a little Johnny Appleseed, then I'll do it.

Q. Just wondered, you've been around with both your Stanford team and international teams with some great point guards, just wondered if you could comment on what you think about Renee Montgomery?
COACH VANDERVEER: I think she's fabulous. She just -- she really runs our team, just a great 3-point shooter, passer, defender, takes it to the basket. What I was really impressed with at the Final Four, you should see her dance. I mean, wow. Everything she does, she does -- I mean, she does really well. And great personality. Seems to have great leadership skills.
And I see just how -- I see Geno hanging on to every game that he's coaching her in the same way that I remember doing that with Candice. And I know that she's really special to not only their program but to him. And that's a real compliment to her.
I really enjoy watching her play and have ultimate respect for her game and just I think she's terrific.

Q. One of your freshman, Sarah Boothe, is from our coverage area here in Chicago. I'm just wondering how she's done this season and what kind of role she might play for you at the Final Four?
COACH VANDERVEER: Sarah is having -- I think she's having an excellent freshman year. I think the number one thing for Sarah is that every day in practice she gets to go against a terrific player in Jayne Appel. And Sarah has made Jayne better. And Sarah has also come in -- she plays about maybe 10 minutes a game. And a lot of it is based on the fact that Jayne is doing so well. But Sarah gives us a different -- first of all, she's big, she's strong. She runs the floor well. She scores well.
And I think it's just going through some freshman adjustment, playing in a faster pace, playing in a more physical game, and I think also she just sometimes she just rushes. We just need her to maybe not -- she fouls people occasionally, and just slow down and not turn it over. She's really a great shooter, and we just need her to be more experienced and that will come with time.
I think she's a future All-American. She has tremendous moves. And she can really help us down the stretch.

Q. In practice, what do you think is the number one thing that she's taking away from a player like Jayne?
COACH VANDERVEER: Just how efficient Jayne is. In high school, Sarah's probably used to getting a lot of shots. In college, there's some games where Sarah might go like 1-for-3 or 2-for-7. It's like, hey, you've got to shoot 60 percent. And that's what Jayne and Nnemkadi, our other kind of power forward, are shooting a higher percentage and I think Sarah sometimes just slows down. She gets rushed a little bit. But she's doing really, really well and she has incredible moves.
She's got some great moves, really ambidextrous, and I think she can be a great player for us.

Q. Can you reflect back over the last 10, 20 years and what are some of the things you remember doing as a coach to promote the game in your community from a grassroots standpoint, whether it was offering free pizza, what are some of the things you've done over the years to build that support you guys have?
COACH VANDERVEER: Well, I think -- really I think the number one thing is recruiting quality players. And fans are intelligent and they're savvy enough to know -- they know when it's good basketball. Probably the best thing I ever did was recruit Jennifer Azzi. When she comes out, she plays exciting basketball.
And I think more than anything, it's not the gimmicks of free pizza or hot dogs and Coke or something like that; it's when people come to the game and they see women that are fit, women that play team basketball, that play intelligent basketball. They play with a purpose.
When women play with passion, I think that that's what they want to see more than anything else. It's not necessarily the size of the players or even the strength or skill as much as putting it all out there.
And that's what I think Jennifer, for us, really she's the poster child of women's Stanford basketball. Playing hard, fit. She brought electricity to the gym, as Candice has done, as Jayne is doing for us. And then for me, personally, I think playing an up-tempo game.
It's not to say that we will do little things like my favorite thing this year, we had -- we were playing the Fresno Bulldogs so we had a dog day. And we had like people up on the JumboTron, I had me with my dogs, and we did things like that.
We do have a special theme of each game. But that to me is not the reason that people come. But it might be that they'd have fun when they get there.

Q. When you look at Connecticut now on film, how much better or how much different do they look than the team you saw in the Final Four last year?
COACH VANDERVEER: They looked pretty good last year. They have some -- they have more experience with -- Renee Montgomery is more experienced. This is Maya Moore's second Final Four. Tina Charles is big and strong and physical as she always has been.
You know, they don't have -- I think they played more people last year. Unfortunately, they had some of the injuries that they had last year, the ACL, as we have had.
But, you know, I don't know that they -- they look really good. They looked really good last year, and they look really good this year.

Q. The other two teams in the other bracket have both played them this year and didn't fare so well. Is there any advantage to maybe not having played them this year yet and not having been beaten?
COACH VANDERVEER: I like playing a team, and I don't think it will work as a disadvantage to us. But I like the advantage of playing against them. I like the fact that we have players that have guarded Renee Montgomery or guarded Maya Moore so we see how they match up.
But I don't know that it's going to be a disadvantage for us, but sometimes I feel like it could be helpful.
RICK NIXON: Thank you, Coach.

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