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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Returning to the Sweet Sixteen

WITH THREE MINUTES remaining in the NCAA West Regional semifinal March 23, second-seeded Stanford and third-seeded Colorado were tied 56-56, and a game that had seen 10 ties and 15 lead changes was headed down to the buzzer.

With eight seconds left, Colorado sank two free throws to pull ahead 62-59. In the final four seconds, the Cardinal turned to senior Lindsey Yamasaki, the team’s leading scorer this season, who was playing in only her third game since undergoing a laparoscopic appendectomy on February 26. Yamasaki took the hand-off, but her three-point attempt bounced off the backboard as time ran out.

“That was one heck of a basketball game!” ESPN commentators kept repeating as members of both teams high-fived one another on court. And parents of seniors seated in the stands at Boise State Pavilion—including Syd and Kriss Yamasaki, and Bethany Donaphin’s dad, Robert, who played at Notre Dame—were visibly proud of their daughters’ final efforts.

In the past, the Cardinal has advanced to the Final Four six times, and won NCAA championships in 1990 and 1992. But it had been five years since either Stanford or Colorado had made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Before the match-up, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer e-mailed Colorado coach Ceal Barry, her assistant on the 1996 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team, that it was “fun to be back.” VanDerveer knew Colorado had a lot of speed and was hungry—players had “NR” stenciled on their hands, to signal that they thought they were getting “no respect” from the media. At the postgame press conference, she said, “I feel like this game could have gone either way.”

Yamasaki, who hopes to play for the WNBA, led the scoring with 14 points, and Donaphin shot for 13, topping 1,000 points for her collegiate career. For the first 12 minutes of the first half, the ballet-trained Donaphin was Stanford’s only scorer, leading one commentator to quip, “That’s Colorado 7, Donaphin 7.”

The Cardinal, which cruised to a 32-3 record and ranked as high as No. 2 during the season, will miss its seniors. In addition to Yamasaki and Donaphin, the Class of 2002 includes Cori Enghusen, the 6-7 stopper in the paint who blocked 58 shots this season, free-throw expert Lauren St. Clair and graceful perimeter player Enjoli Izidor.

But all is far from lost. Several underclassmen played important roles this year on a team that VanDerveer says was probably the most versatile she’s ever had. Every uninjured woman on the roster played in at least 19 games. Three freshmen—Kelley Suminski, T’Nae Thiel and Sebnem Kimyacioglu—saw action in all 35 games, each averaging more than 20 minutes per game. When Susan King, ’04, sustained a season-ending knee injury for the second year in a row, Suminski stepped into the point-guard spot, starting 27 games and shooting 88 percent from the free-throw line. VanDerveer herself, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in April, recently extended her coaching contract through 2007.

And don’t forget sophomore Nicole Powell. Known as “Magic” around Maples Pavilion, where she’s snuck in the occasional 2 a.m. practice, the 6-2 forward was named an All-American and Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year, and dubbed “Player of the Century” by the hometown Arizona Republic. She recorded back-to-back triple-doubles—her fifth and sixth of the season—in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament (20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Weber State; 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Tulane). And in the Cardinal’s 91-76 victory over Oregon on January 13, Powell grabbed 21 rebounds to break the Stanford single-game record—and, incidentally, scored 23 points. After that game, VanDerveer told the Bay Area media, “If you’re not impressed with that, you’d better watch golf or something.” Or just wait till next year.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

An Inconsistent Season

SINCE STANFORD'S EMERGENCE in recent years as a top-20 fixture in men’s basketball, judging a season’s success has become more complicated. Never more so than this year. The Cardinal finished 20-10, losing more games this season than in the last two combined, and were blitzed in the second round of the NCAA tournament by top-seeded Kansas. But they finished second in a rejuvenated Pac-10 and won 20 or more games for the eighth straight year.

Embracing the inconsistency of those results may be the only way to nail this year’s team down, for it was inconsistency that plagued the players to the end. Freshman forward Josh Childress sums it up: “When we’re on all cylinders, we’re very good. But when we’re off, we’re really off.”

They returned only one starter from last year’s Elite Eight squad, All-American guard Casey Jacobsen, and had only one senior, point guard Tony Giovacchini. Happily for the Cardinal, junior center Curtis Borchardt was healthy and his play much improved after missing most of his first two seasons with foot injuries. The Redmond, Wash., native dominated the paint all season, swatting 85 shots to shatter the school’s single-season blocks record of 50, and leading the Pac-10 in rebounding with 11.4 a game.

Jacobsen, ’03, led the Pac-10 in scoring at 21.9 points per game, and was dazzling at times. Facing Arizona State at Maples Pavilion on January 31, Jacobsen lit up the Sun Devils for 49 points, one shy of Hank Luisetti’s, ’38, single-game scoring record. Eight days later, Jacobsen led the Cardinal to a 90-87 overtime victory over No. 13 Oregon with 41 points. He is the only player in school history to score more than 40 in a game twice.

But the games that most clearly exposed Stanford’s inexperience were three losses to USC. During the regular season, the Trojans beat the Cardinal in Los Angeles, 90-82, and at Maples, 77-68. Then in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, they embarrassed Stanford 103-78—the Cardinal’s worst loss since 1998. “I think they kind of got into our heads a little bit,” Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery says. “I don’t know that if we played them again, we’d do any better.”

What’s to come next year? That depends on Jacobsen and Borchardt. Jacobsen declared for the NBA draft April 3, and Borchardt was expected to follow. If they don’t sign agents, however, players have until June 19 to remove their names from the June 26 draft.

Whatever happens, Giovacchini says, there’s a silver lining to the season: “Sometimes the inexperience this year leads to a lot of experience for the next few.”

—Jeff Cooper, ’01

Sports Notebook

For Tennis Teams, Double Winning Streaks
The No. 4 women’s tennis team was 16-1 overall in early April after recording its 10th shutout of the season—over Cal—and its 11th consecutive win since a February 9 loss to perennial foe Georgia at the National Team Indoor Championships. The doubles team of Lauren Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra, both ’02, is ranked second; Erin Burdette, ’05, and Lauren Barnikow, ’04, are ranked 14th. The No. 5 men’s team (15-1) extended its winning streak to eight on March 30, dispatching Washington 6-1. Senior K.J. Hippensteel is ranked fourth nationally in singles play.

Baseball Gets Off to a Strong Start
With solo home runs from junior outfielder Jason Cooper, junior catcher Ryan Garko and senior infielder Chris O’Riordan, the Stanford baseball team defeated the Trojans 5-4 on March 24 to complete its first three-game sweep at usc since 1997. As the No. 2 Cardinal (22-6) headed into Pac-10 play, head coach Mark Marquess, ’69, was praising the team’s talented freshmen. “I believe they feel they can work their way into the starting lineup,” he said. “They will put a lot of pressure on the nine returning position players to keep their jobs.”

On the Farm, the ‘Most Complete Athlete’ Contest
The 2002 modern pentathlon world championships will be held at Stanford July 15-21. More than 250 athletes from at least 40 countries will shoot, fence, swim, ride and run to vie for the title of, in the words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic games, “the complete athlete.” An Olympic event since 1912, the pentathlon was conceived as the course of action a military courier might follow in delivering a message through enemy territory. One notable participant: George Patton, the future American general, who finished fifth at the 1912 Olympic games in Stockholm.

After 30 Years, Men’s Gymnastics Coach Retires
Men’s gymnastics coach Sadao Hamada, who led the Cardinal to three NCAA championships (1992, ’93, ’95) and two Pac-10 titles (1990, ’92) in the 30 years he has coached at Stanford, will retire at the end of the school year. A three-time National Collegiate Coach of the Year and five-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Hamada trained nine individual NCAA champions and Olympians Steve Hug, ’74, and Jair Lynch, ’93. “He’s a very innovative coach who is willing to try something different but riskier in hopes of a greater payoff,” wrote walk-on Rico Andrade, ’01, in the Stanford Daily. “It might not always work, but when it works, it really works.” In Hamada’s final trip to the NCAAs in early April, junior Marshall Erwin placed first on the rings and sophomore Dan Gill won the vault competition. The Cardinal finished sixth

MEN'S SWIMMING

Touched Out by Texas

MEN'S SWIM COACH Skip Kenney has a lot of reasons to be happy. His team won its 21st consecutive Pac-10 title, went undefeated in dual meets and won seven events at the NCAA championships. But this year, that wasn’t quite enough.

Edged by Texas 512-501 at the NCAAs in March, Kenney and his swimmers had trouble looking past a near-miss national title. “I think it’s the most frustrating NCAA championship I’ve ever attended,” says Kenney.

“It’s a bittersweet success,” adds sophomore Andrew Schnell. “I don’t think we have anything to be disappointed about, except the outcome.”

The Cardinal entered the NCAAs ranked No. 1 in the country, and with good reason. After compiling an 8-0 dual-meet record, the swimmers demolished the field at the Pac-10 championships, finishing 200 points ahead of second-place UC-Berkeley. They seemed to be peaking at the right time, particularly a group of sophomores who comprise perhaps the best men’s swimming class in years. Markus Rogan (an Olympian in Sydney for Austria), Pete Marshall, Michael Bruce, Bobby O’Bryan and Schnell, all of whom earned All-America honors last year as freshmen, dominated the Pac-10 meet by claiming seven individual and relay wins between them.

But at the NCAAs, Texas kept pace with Stanford in the pool and outflanked the Cardinal out of it, claiming two firsts and a second place in the diving events. Their 11-point victory margin was the narrowest for an NCAA champion since 1984.

“Maybe four or five hundredths [of a second] were the difference between those 11 points,” says Bruce.

A slew of individual wins propelled the Cardinal to the brink of the championship: Rogan touched first in the 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley, complementing Marshall’s victory in the 100 backstroke, Bruce’s school record in the 200 breaststroke, and the squad’s wins in the 200 and 400 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

“There are so many positives,” says Kenney. “Except the damn trophy’s still silver.”

Every point scorer from this year’s NCAA meet returns next season, so don’t bet on the team’s three-year title drought lasting much longer.

“These guys will respond,” says Kenney. “There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll win next year.”

—Jeff Cooper, ’01

WOMEN'S SWIMMING

Third in the Nation—'We're Not Satisfied'

AFTER SPENDING THE ENTIRE season at No. 1 in the polls, going 8-0 in dual meets and reclaiming the Pac-10 title, the women’s swimming and diving team had only the NCAA championship meet in March left to cap another stellar season. And they came close—third place, behind Auburn and Georgia. “There’s a lot of schools that would be very satisfied with third place,” says head coach Richard Quick. “We’re not satisfied.”

With its last NCAA title won in 1998, this is the longest the team has ever gone without a championship. After finishing second to Georgia last year largely because of a lack of team depth, Quick had had enough; he went out and recruited five divers and 12 swimmers, by far the largest freshman class in team history.

“The energy on the team was amazing because of the freshmen,” says senior Shelly Ripple. “I think I’ve smiled more.”

The upperclassmen did their part, too. Ripple capped an undefeated season in the 200 butterfly with her first NCAA title in the event. Senior Jessica Foschi, the defending NCAA champion in the 500 freestyle, carried a two-year win streak through this season before finishing second in the Pac-10 and NCAA championships. And sophomore Tara Kirk went undefeated in her signature event, the 100 breaststroke, finishing off with an NCAA-record swim at the championships. Kirk then tacked on a win in the 200 breaststroke, setting an American record in the process.

As for the freshmen? Quick’s gambit paid off; of the first-years, six swimmers and two divers qualified for NCAAs. With another six freshmen already committed for next season and a year of experience for the Class of 2005, the team will again be a favorite to contend for the title.

—Jeff Cooper, ’01

ATHLETICS

Coaching Parents to Be Positive

IT'S A TIE GAME, final inning, with two runners on base. Your child is playing center field. The fly ball comes to her, but she loses it in the sun.

With that setup, Tonya Booker turned to the audience of Little League parents and said, “Now drain her emotional tank! What could you yell that would be really critical?”

The parents were momentarily speechless. They thought they had turned out on a rainy Sunday afternoon to learn what they could do to help make organized sports more fun for their kids. But then a few giggles bubbled up and they gave it their best and loudest shots. “You blew it!” appeared to be the top vote getter, followed by “What were you thinking?”

Okay, Booker said. “Now try to fill the child’s emotional tank.”

The volume, she would later point out, immediately dropped. Booker had to listen hard to hear one mother offer these encouraging words: “You did a great job of getting in position in the sun, and the ball just went off the tip of your glove.”

As manager of trainer development for the nonprofit Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), based in the Stanford athletics department, Booker crisscrosses the United States to present two-hour workshops to parents and coaches involved in youth sports. The 30-year-old former basketball player at the University of Illinois draws on coaching experience at Lawrence University, Clemson and Stanford, plus years of sandlot pickup games in Ohio. “We used to play all afternoon,” she says in the middle of a presentation about how parents can interact with referees. “We decided who would bat first and we called our own games, and sometimes I think we’ve lost some of that spirit today.”

The evidence—including media stories about parents of 10-year-old girls coming to blows at New Jersey soccer games and Florida T-ball games ending in brawls, not to mention the recent conviction of a “hockey dad” in Massachusetts for killing another parent—suggests that Booker is right. But she maintains that parents can be educated. “It’s not about ‘happy talk,’” she says, “but about giving people some language to talk about these things.”

The target of the PCA message is the “win-at-all-cost attitude” that can dominate organized youth sports, says the alliance’s director, Jim Thompson, former director of public management programs at the Graduate School of Business. “We want to drive a stake through that notion and create a culture where coaches can say, ‘That’s not how we do things here.’”

Thompson, MBA ’86, and his staff have presented workshops to more than 10,000 coaches in the United States in the past three years, and they’re conducting research with the Center for Sports Character and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. The PCA also has superstar backing from Olympians Donna de Varona, Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner and Summer Sanders, ’94, who serve on its advisory committee.

But Booker and her fellow trainers are the foot soldiers. As she negotiated her way around music stands and folding chairs in a Pleasanton, Calif., high school theater, she encouraged parents to reward efforts, not just results. Instead of asking, “Did you win?” she suggested they try, “What was the best play of the day?” or “Did you have fun?” Your child was tagged out at first? How about “Look how you sprinted all the way to the base.” And that drive home in the car after a losing game? “Probably not the best moment to have a talk about how to hold the bat.”

The 25 Little League parents paired off to share experiences they’d had in the bleachers, and they penciled in worksheets that asked them to redefine concepts like “winner.” As they gathered up their umbrellas and headed off, they were still chatting with representatives from rival teams. Said Rammi Luther, team mom for the Major B Angels, “I’m only sorry that the parents who need this most weren’t here.”