- 2 days ago
A behind-the-scenes look at the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team and its quest for a national championship.
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00:00I have this book, The Art of War.
00:22My mother, of all people, sent it to me.
00:24But one of the quotes in that book is,
00:27the battle is won before it's fought.
00:30You know, we have worked hard,
00:31we've gotten ready to do the right things.
00:33You know, we're in a different league,
00:35and we're in that league if we work hard
00:37and do the things we're capable of doing.
00:39You know, you make an effort to do the right things.
00:41All right, we're not satisfied with where we're at
00:44and how we're playing, we want to get better.
00:46All right, let's have a good game. Let's go.
00:52In the two short decades women have had the opportunity
00:55to play varsity basketball at Stanford,
00:58the game has changed dramatically.
01:00So have the athletes, their abilities, and their goals.
01:06Let's go.
01:10This is the story of one coach
01:40One team
01:41And the season they try to live out
01:43The biggest dream in college sports
01:45To win a national championship
01:48The 1989-90 season
01:58Would be Tara Vanderveer's fifth at Stanford
02:01You got that left side
02:06Hiring Tara was a coup for the university
02:11She came from Ohio State
02:13Where she had built a successful team
02:15And had a bright future
02:16Other coaches were shocked by Tara's move
02:19Stanford had won only 14 games
02:22And lost 42 over the previous two seasons
02:26It was a challenge of it
02:28It was everyone saying
02:30It's impossible
02:31That you can never win
02:32And part of it was
02:33It was a challenge of
02:35Having people really be students
02:37And for women recognizing
02:39That you're not going to go on to the NBA
02:41So your education is really important
02:42Stanford presented unique problems
02:47Tara would have to aggressively search
02:49The whole country
02:50To find top athletes
02:52Who could also meet Stanford's
02:54High academic standards
02:55In the summer of 1985
03:03Tara's assistant coach
03:05Amy Tucker
03:05Spotted a player they believed
03:07Could be the foundation
03:08Of a new team
03:09Amy saw Jennifer playing
03:12And basically said
03:14Here's a great high school point guard
03:16We want her
03:18She's smart
03:19She can run
03:20I said great
03:21And she said one problem
03:23I said what's the problem
03:24She's from Tennessee
03:25I said oh that's a problem
03:27Tennessee is a powerhouse
03:29Of girls basketball
03:30And the best players
03:32Are usually snapped up
03:33By the University of Tennessee
03:34But to Tara's surprise
03:36Tennessee passed on Jennifer Azee
03:39That same summer
03:42Tara took another gamble
03:43By recruiting moody but talented
03:45Six foot Katie Stedding
03:47From Lake Oswego, Oregon
03:49She was a successful
03:51High school player
03:52But she wasn't someone
03:53That every single college team
03:55Was beating down her door
03:56To recruit
03:56Some of the scouting reports
03:58On her were you know
03:59Average player
04:01Below average attitude
04:03Below average effort
04:04That's alright
04:04Not to let the three go
04:05But Angela
04:06You and Chris
04:07Gotta get out on that street
04:08Six foot three center
04:11Trisha Stevens
04:12From Philomath, Oregon
04:13And Sonia Henning
04:14From Racine, Wisconsin
04:15Both straight A students
04:17Were recruited the year
04:19After Jennifer and Katie
04:20Trisha lived for sports
04:25But Sonia saw a basketball scholarship
04:28Primarily as her ticket
04:29To law school
04:30By the 89-90 season
04:33Jennifer, Katie, Trisha
04:35And Sonia
04:36Had been joined by
04:38Julie Zylstra
04:38From Vernal, Utah
04:39And a nationally acclaimed freshman
04:42Val Whiting
04:43From Wilmington, Delaware
04:44Tara's first recruits
04:52Are now seniors
04:53If these young women
04:57Are to win a championship
04:58It's now or never
05:00Just 20 years ago
05:04Stanford didn't have
05:05A women's team
05:06It wasn't until 1972
05:09That women were given
05:11A real chance to compete
05:12That year
05:13The Education Amendments Act
05:16Included a provision
05:17Title IX
05:18Which stipulated that
05:19No person on the basis of sex
05:21Could be denied the benefits
05:23Of any educational program
05:25Or activity receiving
05:26Federal financial assistance
05:28The person who hired
05:31Tara Vandebeer
05:32Athletic director
05:34Andy Geiger
05:35Took Title IX seriously
05:37I love women's athletics
05:39Like I love men's athletics
05:42And I don't see a difference
05:44I smile when I
05:47When I think about
05:48The reaction of boosters
05:49To women's athletics
05:50I've had so many men
05:51Oppose women's athletics
05:54Until their daughters
05:55Become 15
05:55And all of a sudden
05:57They say
05:57Wow this is pretty terrific
05:59And you mean she might be able
06:00To get a scholarship too
06:01Ironically
06:0380 years before Title IX
06:05Stanford had a
06:06Women's basketball team
06:07In 1896
06:09They made history
06:11When they played
06:11In the first
06:12Intercollegiate
06:13Women's basketball game ever
06:14Against neighboring
06:16University of California
06:17At Berkeley
06:18Stanford won the game
06:20By a score of
06:212 to 1
06:22But three years later
06:27A faculty committee
06:28Would ban Stanford women
06:30From all intercollegiate team sports
06:33This ruling
06:35The committee said
06:36Is to guard the health
06:38Of the individual player
06:39Today Stanford women
06:49Are expected to play
06:50All out
06:51All the time
06:52They play the same
06:53Number of games
06:54As the men
06:55And use the same
06:56Equipment
06:57But their program
06:58Gets only half
06:59As much money
07:00Still
07:01By national standards
07:03This is progress
07:04Before Title IX
07:06Women's programs
07:07Received no scholarships
07:09Almost no funding
07:10And less than 1%
07:12Of national media coverage
07:13It's stretching around
07:17It looks good
07:18It looks good
07:19I said
07:20My bangs aren't too short
07:23What did you get cut
07:25Just trimmed
07:26Did you get cut
07:27No
07:27Who did it
07:28Some
07:29It's tremendously high pressures
07:32You need a pump
07:33To provide that pressure
07:34To run the solvent
07:35Through the system
07:35All the players
07:37Are on full sports
07:38Scholarships
07:39Around $22,000
07:41A year each
07:42They must maintain
07:44A C average
07:44To stay on the team
07:46But they will devote
07:47Five hours a day
07:48Six days a week
07:49To basketball
07:50During the season
07:51And spend over a month
07:53On the road
07:53Now here you have
07:54A solvent
07:55As a mobile phase
07:56If I were them
07:57You know
07:58And I had that team
07:59I would have called up
07:59Boston College
08:00They're the only team
08:01We've been behind
08:02At halftime
08:02They're the team
08:03That's played us
08:04The closest
08:04And I said
08:05Well how
08:05Did you take
08:06An average team
08:07And how did you ever
08:07Stay close to Stanford
08:08And she'd say
08:09Tara recalls
08:10The strategies
08:11And outcomes
08:11Of most of the
08:12Hundreds of games
08:13She's coached
08:14And remembers the
08:15Birthday of every
08:16Player who has
08:16Played for her
08:17She finds meaning
08:18In numbers
08:19The clothing she wears
08:20And random events
08:22The reason that
08:22It kind of comes to mind
08:23You know I'm kind of
08:24Funny about my clothes
08:25But I wore this
08:26Last time I wore this
08:27Was Louisiana Tech
08:28And I've been thinking
08:29A lot about Louisiana Tech
08:30And about beating them
08:31Now this
08:32This outfit's got to
08:33Get back in instead
08:34I need a win
08:35On this outfit
08:36Or I ought to wear it again
08:37So you've got to
08:38Work really hard
08:39And I'm thinking
08:40About rebounding
08:41This has been on my
08:42Brain the whole time
08:43And how we want to
08:44Get to where we want
08:45To get in terms of
08:46Jennifer eats an orange
08:47Before every game
08:48And Val Whiting
08:50Has a friend
08:51Wish her good luck
08:52Standing in exactly
08:53The same spot
08:54In front of the dorm
08:55Before each home game
08:56J Jeez
08:58Warriors
09:00Drugs
09:01Drugs
09:02J
09:24Stanford came into the 1989-90 season ranked second in the country, just behind the school
09:45that beat them in the regional finals the previous season, Louisiana Tech.
09:54It's mid-season, and the NCAA tournament is two months away.
10:24Playing at this level requires a delicate balance of talent, luck, healthy players, and team chemistry.
10:31One of the things that I will always remember about the game is if someone makes a good play,
10:39or after you make a good play, it doesn't have to be you personally.
10:43Just the feeling of, you know, you're all celebrating it together.
10:50Everybody on the team is celebrating it together.
10:52While the game is actually going on, I think the part that I like about the most is when you're running.
10:58Because I think once you start running and then you get momentum on your side, then there's sort of a feeling within me and within our team that we can pretty much do anything.
11:09Thinking that you can pretty much do whatever you want to do at a given time, and knowing that, boom, at a certain time you might have to do it,
11:26and believing in yourself that you can get it done.
11:28It probably does a lot for all of us, confidence-wise, because it gives you the confidence to know if you put your mind to it, you can succeed.
11:42The team has played 15 games and won them all.
11:47But there is a long way to go.
11:49Winning like you have and so easily, are you worried about maybe going through a flat period?
11:56We just know that this is our season, you know, and we want it all, and so there's nothing going to get in our way.
12:02The thought never crosses our mind that we're going to lose.
12:04And honestly, it doesn't cross my mind either.
12:06You know, and I'm not worried about it.
12:08Real quick, who can beat you?
12:10Nobody.
12:11Okay.
12:12We can only beat ourselves.
12:13Okay.
12:14Really, there's nobody left on your schedule then that's going to...
12:16Anybody that's on our schedule can beat us if we don't come out ready to play and do what we're capable of doing.
12:20And if we come out ready to play and do what we're capable of, then it's on our court.
12:27The team has played two road games in the last five days.
12:31Their record is now 20 wins, no losses.
12:36They will play their next game here in Seattle tonight against the University of Washington.
12:41Washington was the strongest team in the conference when Tara took the coaching job at Stanford.
12:48They lost to Stanford by 40 points in their first matchup this year.
12:53Washington's coach, Chris Gowbrick, has made sports headlines in Seattle this week after saying that Stanford is at the top of her team's hate list.
13:01The Pac-10 conference office has urged Gowbrick to apologize to Tara for unsportsmanlike comments.
13:16Edmondson Pavilion, which holds 8,000 fans, is sold out for the rematch, making this one of the largest attendances ever at a Pac-10 game.
13:24The event is being televised nationally.
13:36Now, this whole town is extremely excited about Washington, and they're going to be very, very rowdy.
13:42Don't let them change your focus from what we're here to do.
13:46You know, just take the crowd out right away. Come out and do your thing.
13:49In the first half, Washington, in white, keeps Stanford's post players Val Whiting and Tricia Stevens off balance.
14:16At halftime, Washington has a seven-point lead, only the second time this season that Stanford trails at the half.
14:45In the second half, Washington continues to hold its lead.
14:46With a little over six minutes left in the game, Stanford is down by eight points.
14:48In the second half, Washington continues to hold its lead.
14:49With a little over six minutes left in the game, Stanford is down by eight points.
14:53In the second half, Washington continues to hold its lead.
15:00With a little over six minutes left in the game, Stanford is down by eight points.
15:01The team fights its way back, and with little over two minutes left in the game, Stanford is up by two.
15:03But Washington regains the lead.
15:34With time running out, Stanford is down by four.
15:35With time running out, Stanford is down by four.
15:41Then with five seconds left, Jennifer Aisy hits a three and quickly signals for a timeout.
15:42But Stanford has used up its timeouts.
15:48And she has called for a technical foul.
15:49No, we don't have a timeout.
15:50We don't have a timeout.
15:51Stanford calls a timeout.
15:52Stanford calls a team, but it's a technical foul.
15:55out, Stanford is down by 4. Then with 5 seconds left, Jennifer Azey hits a 3 and quickly signals
16:07for a timeout. But Stanford has used up its timeouts, and she has called for a technical
16:13foul.
16:25Washington makes both free throws and gets to take the ball out of bounds. Stanford fouls
16:39quickly, hoping to rebound a missed free throw, race across midcourt, and hit another 3. Washington
16:47misses, but a Washington player grabs the rebound. Stanford has lost for the first time this
17:02game.
17:17I think they played a great game. I do not think that we showed up playing with the intensity
17:26that we need. They didn't like getting beat by 40, and they worked very hard, and they
17:31changed that. We've got to have people running your offense. You've got to learn from this.
17:36You're going to have to listen and practice and do the things that all the time we're trying
17:40to get you to do. You don't win on your terms. Do you understand what I mean? You've got to
17:48commit to what we're doing. We're in a situation where we're hosting a regional, and we want
17:53to be in that regional. We want to go to the Final Four. We made 8,000 people, and they're
17:59being happy. That's great. This is the middle of the season. We're working for the NCAA. Don't
18:06get excited reading press releases or newspaper articles or any other of that bullshit. Get
18:11the ball, go up strong, and start playing and listening and really concentrating on the
18:15things that we need to do. I'm not discouraged. We are better than them. We did play well tonight.
18:22We have a great team. Whether we're one, two, or three in the country in terms of any of
18:27that stuff, it doesn't matter. We know where we want to go. Let's remember where we want
18:30to go and work hard to get there. Let's go. We're working for the next seven games getting
18:37ready for the NCAA. Team, one, two, three. Team.
18:43Stanford's ranking has dropped to third after the loss at Washington. Teams were intimidated
18:52by us before, Tara tells the players. Now they're not.
18:56One, four, two.
19:02Julie Zielstra, the only sophomore who starts, is playing with an inflamed Achilles tendon.
19:08Trisha Stevens has been playing with severe tendinitis in both knees and is in constant
19:14pain. If her knees don't hold up, a championship seems unlikely.
19:19Martha Richards' nose is broken, but she will be back playing tomorrow.
19:44What I'd like for you to do is to fill those out. You'll find 60 personality characteristics
19:56there. What I'd like you to do, circle each one of them, and how you view your head coach,
20:01Coach Vanderbair. Okay? This is for thesis research. Your head coach will receive the results
20:08from me to share with you.
20:11I feel distantly close to people on our team. I mean, you know, I'm the one that puts them
20:16in the game. I'm the one that has basically a lot of power over whether they play, whether
20:20they travel, what they do, and I'm best around other people who want to be the best.
20:27You just don't know.
20:28Spread out zone, then you can penetrate and dish in.
20:31I am totally into it, and I love it. I'm not going to say I don't. You know, I do it for me.
20:36I coach for my, I mean, it makes me feel good. You know, it makes me feel good when I see our team come out
20:41and do what they're supposed to do. And if they don't, it really makes me mad, and I'll tell them,
20:46and you know, whatever. They have to be doing it the way I want them to do it, or I'm not going to watch it.
20:51She is very concerned with our team playing as a team and one person spoiling that.
20:57She wouldn't tolerate one person spoiling that, and people are expendable.
21:02Make adjustments. See what they're beating us with.
21:04Not everyone enjoys playing for Tara.
21:07When Katie Stedding was moved to forward her sophomore year to make room for Tricia Stevens at center,
21:13she was reluctant. For her, the position was new and awkward.
21:18If someone asked me about her as a freshman, I would just say, well, she's, you know, she's a good player,
21:23but she whines and pouts and, you know, gets upset if you try to correct her.
21:28She just, you know, she's hard to deal with.
21:31When I got here, it was quite an adjustment, not just basketball, but just life in general, being on my own and stuff.
21:39And it was hard for me, really hard for me at first.
21:43Jennifer and Katie and I were on a flight down to L.A., and things had not been going really well in practice,
21:48and I just said to Katie on the plane, and in so many words, well, enjoy this media day
21:53because you're not ever going to be Pac-10 again, the way you're playing and the way you're working.
21:57And she just, you know, she said to me, I might not be Pac-10 again, you know, I'll Pac-10 or whatever,
22:02but I don't think I can even stand playing on a team that, you know, you're coaching.
22:05I think we both got pretty upset by it, you know, and then her junior year, I think that more than anything,
22:12we worked at working together.
22:15If I didn't start giving now, this is my last chance, you know.
22:22If I don't do it now, I may never get another chance to be on something this wonderful.
22:29It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl, it's the right way to play the game.
22:33I love Val Whiting. I mean, she just gets right into the middle and it's over.
22:37You pass the ball ahead, who should be filling in the post?
22:40But it gets frustrating if someone is supposed to be somewhere, and we do this every single day, and they're still not there.
22:45Well, it's frustrating for us when we watch the same thing every day, and we still see it, I mean.
22:50Jennifer didn't know what it felt like to lose until she came to Stanford.
22:56Her combined junior high and high school career included 94 wins and one loss.
23:03Jennifer's freshman year at Stanford, the team lost half of its games.
23:08Jennifer puts in an additional workout every day.
23:22You know, there are times after practice when I'm tired and I'll have to say, you know, look, stay and shoot.
23:27You know, you're going to be glad that you did.
23:29And I think there's something inside me that always says, you know, you have this ability, you know, why not use it?
23:37Why not make it, you know, the best you can?
23:39There are times when I questioned myself, why am I so interested in athletics?
23:45I do not want a Barbie doll.
23:47I do not want all these things that I'm supposed to want as a young girl.
23:52And then I started questioning myself a little bit, maybe.
23:55Like, am I just different or something?
23:58You know what?
23:59Is this not normal?
24:01That's pretty much the focus of the interview.
24:04And I'll also ask you some basic basketball.
24:08Basketball was just something that I don't know why I just started liking.
24:12And I think I remember liking it really in about the fourth grade.
24:15And it was really frustrating not to have the opportunity to get the experiences that the boys had.
24:21We had no coaching.
24:23I think that in a lot of respects, sports is one of the last bastions of a lot of male chauvinism and sexism.
24:30And it's, you know, when you're young and you're growing up, you don't understand those things.
24:34It's just very painful.
24:35You're not a boy.
24:36It's true.
24:37It's awful.
24:38It's all the time.
24:39It's awful.
24:40During the 1990 season, Tara's team has begun to outdraw the men's.
24:43But her salary of around $65,000 a year is half the salary of the men's coach.
24:49This disparity is common across the country and could be a violation of Title IX.
24:55But the courts have not taken a clear stand.
25:10Now I see it as a start of a new season for us.
25:13I know you guys think I'm absolutely crazy, but I know I wore this for the very first game we had.
25:18I thought about it tonight and said I'm ready for a new beginning for this team.
25:22It would be a crime to have the talent and all of the hard things that we've worked on all year go down the tubes because we're not making the effort.
25:29Stanford's first game since the upset is against the University of Southern California.
25:34Stanford struggles.
25:46At the half, Stanford is ahead by only three and there is fear of a repeat of the Washington upset.
26:04And there is fear of a repeat of the Washington upset.
26:07The five team, one, two, three.
26:22Team!
26:23Team!
26:45But in the second half, Stanford pulls together and wins by 26 points.
26:51We need this type of defensive effort against UCLA and every team down the road,
26:57but we're going in the right direction.
26:59Well, I talked to Mary Ann Stanley, and I know this sounds a little bit different,
27:05but I asked her after she talked to her team if she could come in here.
27:11It's an unusual event for the coach of the opposing team to come to the locker room
27:16and give a talk to the players.
27:19Most of you know Mary Ann Stanley.
27:24She's coach at Old Dominion, three national championships,
27:27and doesn't even remember if they won them when they were undefeated or not.
27:31You did tonight what good teams do.
27:33Second half, you did what you needed to do to put the game away.
27:37You came out like that and jumped on us.
27:39I thought you executed better.
27:41I saw fire in people's eyes, and I knew we were in trouble after about 35 seconds.
27:47That's what good teams do.
27:49I haven't seen you play enough to know, do you have killer instinct?
27:52I guess I just asked the question, do you have killer instinct?
27:55That's something you're going to need to carry you through the rest of the way.
27:57I don't want to tell you right now, I hope you do it.
27:59Let me ask you a question.
28:01What goals did you set for yourself when you started the season?
28:05To win the national championship.
28:07Did you set that as a goal?
28:09Yeah.
28:10If you can't think it, you can't possibly do it.
28:13Okay, so that's great.
28:15Don't think about, let's just make it to the Final Four.
28:17That's the kiss of death.
28:18You think about winning it all.
28:19That's why I asked you what your goals were.
28:21Don't think about, oh, you know, we got the regional tournament here,
28:25let's just make it to the Final Four.
28:27Bull.
28:28Go for all of it.
28:29And I'll be sitting up there saying, yeah, I told them.
28:31They're going to be there.
28:32Don't worry about it.
28:33I'm going to be back.
28:35I'm going to be back.
28:37You're welcome.
28:46To me, Sonia is the soul of our team.
28:50She, Jennifer might be the heart of our team, but Sonia is the soul.
28:53She is what makes us go.
28:55We are not the same team without Sonia.
28:57We're above average team without her.
28:59With her, we're a great team.
29:04If Sonia were on another team,
29:06she'd be the player advanced for All-America consideration.
29:09But here, she is overshadowed by her teammate and good friend, Jennifer.
29:13It really kills me when Sonia doesn't get what she deserves.
29:17If she doesn't make, like, the All-Pac-10 team,
29:19or if she doesn't get the recognition she deserves,
29:21it probably hurts me the most.
29:23It doesn't hurt her.
29:24And she just takes it in stride.
29:26You know, she understands how things work.
29:28Jennifer is the only returning All-American in the country.
29:36If Stanford makes it to the NCAA Finals,
29:39sports writers predict she could be National Player of the Year.
29:43If she was a male athlete, she'd be a top draft pick in the NBA,
29:48making, you know, a million dollars or more.
29:50You know?
29:51I mean, she brings an incredible amount to her team.
29:54She's a Magic Johnson.
29:55You know?
29:56She's a Larry Bird.
29:57She's just, you know, Isaiah.
29:58She, unfortunately, you know, won't be able to do the things that she wants to do.
30:09And maybe her, you know, maybe the way that she's going to have to channel that
30:13is to play on the Olympics.
30:15The regular season is almost over and the tournament will begin in two weeks.
30:32These are the last games Jennifer and Katie will play in college.
30:45Basketball has given me self-knowledge that I can see the changes that I've made just in basketball.
30:57And that gives me confidence to know that I can do things in other areas of my life.
31:03Basketball has given me ten wonderful friends that I see every day
31:10that I get to come out and play with.
31:13Stanford beats UCLA, 91 to 65.
31:34California, 112 to 84.
31:43Oregon, 75 to 45.
31:5745.
32:06And in the last regular season game, Oregon State, 94 to 48.
32:14The season ending 27 wins and one loss is a new Stanford and Pacific 10 record.
32:21Stanford has reclaimed their number two ranking in the national polls, behind Louisiana Tech,
32:27the only team in the country still undefeated.
32:38At this point, only one team wins the rest of their games.
32:43We want to be really working hard, we can go to the Final Four, we can win our regional
32:47championship, we can win a national championship, if people are willing to give a little more,
32:51work a little extra hard.
32:53We need people to really get ahead in their studying.
32:56The regionals is during finals week and I thought we had a good effort, we're going
33:00to need more for where we want to go.
33:06There are four regionals across the country.
33:09Stanford is seated first in the West Regional, which they will host.
33:13They must win three games to advance to the Final Four in Knoxville.
33:30Tara is concerned about exam pressures and that the team get through the tournament without
33:36major injuries.
33:37I watched these young ladies give up a lot through socially, you know, in pain.
33:53they still practice.
33:54But the love that I feel for them, this group of girls, I mean, they were just so unselfish
33:58and so giving, you know, something that I don't think I'll ever be around that again.
34:06You hope you climb the mountain with them, you know, you hope you get to the top and they
34:20get to see the view, you know, because this is it for them.
34:23Since Tara's first Stanford games, when she saw the bleachers empty and interest in the
34:39team almost non-existent, she has carried a vision inside to bring the sport to a level
34:45where one night she'd look up into the highest corners of the bleachers and see them crowded
34:49with fans.
34:51Maples Pavilion, where the team plays, has never been sold out for a women's game until
34:56tonight.
34:58The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.
35:11Whoever we play, people that get a chance to watch our team will see some of the most intense
35:15basketball they've ever seen in their life because we want it and we want it bad.
35:20In the regional tournament, Stanford beats Hawaii by 30 points.
35:27A tough Mississippi defense by 13.
35:28And in the regional final, a young Arkansas team by 27.
35:34A regional tournament record.
35:35Tara describes the Arkansas win as one of the best games she has ever won.
35:36In the regional tournament, Stanford beats Hawaii by 30 points.
35:41A tough Mississippi defense by 13.
35:43And in the regional final, a young Arkansas team by 27.
35:57a regional tournament record.
35:58Tara describes the Arkansas win as one of the best games she has ever watched one of
36:04her teams play.
36:06The team runs its fast break perfectly.
36:09Jennifer's full court passes astound the crowd.
36:11And Stanford hits a regional record number of three-point shots.
36:16It's great that we have so much support that I think we can't lose the essence of, you know,
36:26the greatness of where we come from.
36:29Just the love of the game, you know, the playing for each other and playing for the team.
36:33While Stanford is securing its place in the final four, Virginia, Auburn,
36:46and Louisiana Tech win the other regionals.
36:49Stanford is giving Louisiana Tech a message.
36:53We will be in Knoxville.
36:56Beautiful, two-unless.
36:59Tara Vanderveer, Stanford, you're going to the final four.
37:05Stanford is on its way to Tennessee after playing in front of two sellout crowds.
37:33to playing in front of two sellout crowds in a row.
37:40But as the team arrives in Knoxville,
37:43disturbing news breaks from the University of Oklahoma.
37:46This is the first of our four press conferences today
37:49that will surround practices here at the NCAA tournament,
37:52and we will begin.
37:55Tara, could you talk a little bit about Oklahoma's decision
38:00to drop women's basketball and your reaction to it
38:04and maybe what ramifications that might have around the country?
38:08We just had a sellout crowd at both of our regionals,
38:12just tremendous media attention,
38:15and it is something that people on our team are going to remember
38:19for the rest of their lives, and it's such a special experience
38:22that it's really disappointing to see that women at Oklahoma
38:29won't get the same opportunities that men will.
38:31It feels like a major slap in the face and a major step backwards.
38:39Stanford must win the semifinal game against Virginia
38:42to play for the championship on Sunday.
38:46Tara and her assistants have watched many hours of videotape
38:50on every Virginia offense.
38:52The press is calling Stanford's appearance at the Final Four
38:58a storybook ending for Jennifer Azey.
39:01A young woman leaves a state known for its great basketball tradition
39:04to play for a mediocre team and comes back a star.
39:10It won't be storybook, Jennifer says,
39:12unless Stanford wins it all.
39:14Stanford wins it all.
39:33Stanford wins it all.
39:34Stanford leads by just a few points most of the game
39:40Tyler tells the team at halftime, you'd better wake up or you're going to give this one away.
39:55Val Whiting is very nervous, a freshman playing in the Final Four on national television.
40:12Her shots aren't going in against Virginia, but she rebounds aggressively.
40:24When the team gets a break, Dawn Staley, Virginia's leading scorer, is forced to sit out critical minutes of the second half because of severe leg cramps.
40:47The final score is Stanford 75, Virginia 66.
40:54Later that day, in the other semifinal game, a surprising upset takes place.
40:59Louisiana Tech, undefeated, ranked first in the country, loses to Auburn.
41:05Tara will not face the team that has loomed before her all year.
41:10Now she worries that she hasn't spent enough time scouting Auburn.
41:14Most of the players have trouble sleeping the night before the championship game.
41:26Tara watches videotape until the early hours of the morning.
41:32On the bus on the way to the arena, an assistant glances over at Tara, whom she describes as looking positively ill.
41:49Jennifer is suited up and on the court long before Auburn gets to the arena.
41:56She says to Tara in surprise, Tara, I'm not nervous.
42:00Tara says, neither am I.
42:05Auburn has a tough pressure defense, and Stanford must break Auburn's traps.
42:10The most critical thing, Tara feels, is to stop Auburn's small forward.
42:15Tara tells Katie privately, if you let Evelyn Thompson drive left, you'll have to deal with something bigger than her scoring.
42:22If you stop her, you stop them.
42:25Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Thompson Bowling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee, for today's women's championship game.
42:36Again, the Oklahoma basketball women's basketball program has been terminated.
42:40Here at the national championship, Stanford and Auburn, we're set to go.
42:45The tip is controlled by Jennifer Azee, the player of the year from Stanford.
42:50Sonia Henning up top, it's his own defense. Henning fires from three.
42:56Long rebound, followed by Zealstrom, and she walks.
42:59You saw all the room that they gave Sonia Henning up against her.
43:02Very traditional for them.
43:03Nice spin move. Thompson can't get it to go down.
43:06Stevens pulls the rebound. This is Stanford.
43:09Team, I don't expect the shot clock to be much faster today.
43:14Katie's getting for three.
43:16Tara feels that the team comes out strong.
43:19She's fouled.
43:21Most of her shots are coming up short.
43:24She's fouled.
43:28Katie Steading guards Thompson effectively.
43:34But Auburn's 6-6 center and All-American shooting guard lead a run.
43:40A chance to catch up.
43:42You're going to see Katie sloughing off into the middle.
43:44And with just minutes left in the half, Auburn is up by nine points.
43:49Tara, to the surprise of some fans, doesn't take a timeout.
43:53God be it.
43:55In there with the basketball.
43:57Henning has the wide open shot.
43:59It was blocked.
44:00She didn't hang her head.
44:01She went right after the ball and caused Linda...
44:03Stanford makes a run.
44:05And she penetrates and hits.
44:07If you look at Tara Vanderveer, and that should do it.
44:16And at the buzzer, the score is tied 41-41.
44:20As the teams head into the locker room, Tara turns to an assistant and says,
44:2541 was my college number.
44:27We're okay here.
44:28We're going to do it.
44:30You know, in terms of attendance, this has been a record-breaking weekend in Knoxville.
44:34But the success of this tournament has been tarnished just a bit by the disturbing news out of Oklahoma.
44:40It was just a few years ago Oklahoma was a top 20 team.
44:44But this season, attendance has dropped to an average of 65 fans a game.
44:49That lack of support prompted the university's action.
44:52Women's programs in general operate at a deficit.
44:56They produce no revenue.
44:58And so you're putting on programs that do not produce anything.
45:03So athletics is a fact.
45:06It's becoming a business.
45:08And I don't know anybody that runs businesses that have things that definitely are money down the drain.
45:15Tubbs' assertion that most women's sports lose money is correct.
45:19But contrary to public perception, the most recent NCAA study found that almost half of Division I football programs also lose money.
45:29A few days after Oklahoma's announcement, the women's team would threaten a lawsuit.
45:34Within 24 hours, the women's program was reinstated.
45:46In the halftime locker room, Tara tells the players,
45:51you must want this game so badly that they are not willing to work as hard as you will for it.
45:57Inside to Zealstra. Nine pass to Stephens.
46:00One of the things that's doing Zealstra does so well is that pass right there.
46:04In the second half, Stanford takes the lead quickly, and Auburn seems unable to make another significant run.
46:13Auburn's defense leaves Stanford free to shoot from long range,
46:17and Jennifer and Katie hit a tournament record number of three-point shots.
46:21With minutes left, the team is up by 12, and Tara says to assistant Amy Tucker,
46:29we're going to do it.
46:31Amy points out that there is a lot of time left.
46:33Penetrates, has the layup.
46:34By Julie Zealstra.
46:35I'm sorry, it was Katie Stedding, and then the three-point attempt, and it's good.
46:36It's better than anybody I've seen in women's collegiate basketball.
46:37That's what happened to me.
46:39Katie Stedding is keenly aware that it's all at stake.
46:54If we let up, she thinks, it will all be taken away.
46:58Boy, I'll tell you, she doesn't even blink at night.
47:03Just try to put an exclamation point on it.
47:0587-78 Stanford.
47:07Five seconds remain.
47:09Auburn hits a three-point shot at the buzzer,
47:11and the final score is Stanford 88, Auburn 81.
47:15Stanford wins the national championship.
47:28Five years after Andy Geiger hired Tara, they have their national championship.
47:41eight-year-old basketball team,
47:47two hundredmarks girls,
47:51and walks toward Walker's national championship.
47:54We will go back for three weeks after tomorrow.
47:55Congratulations
47:57rezch.
47:59Before the graduates go home over to Adam Augustus,
48:01two hundred and fifty over,
48:03a 20-year-old football team is two hundred and fifty over,
48:07down to dollar,
48:09broke over 100 records, 40 in the Pac-10, over 50 Stanford records, and 10 NCAA tournament records.
48:39Tara would be invited to coach the U.S. team at the World University Games and would bring home the gold medal.
48:52A year later, her Stanford team would win a second national championship.
48:56After the second championship, seven years after coming to Stanford, she would receive a pay raise that would double her salary to make it commensurate in four years with that of the men's coach.
49:09Val was voted National Freshman of the Year.
49:16She had the fabulous college career Tara predicted for her, breaking Stanford's all-time scoring and rebounding records,
49:23becoming a two-time All-American, and helping Stanford win its second national championship.
49:31Trisha Stevens had surgery on both knees shortly after the championship game,
49:36but the rehabilitation was unsuccessful.
49:40She played in great pain her senior year, and in the first minutes of the regional tournament,
49:46ruptured the patellar tendon in her left knee, ending her college career.
49:52Sonia Henning never veered from her main objective, to get a college education and apply to law school.
49:58Her contributions as an athlete were finally acknowledged when she was named an All-American her senior year.
50:09Katie Stedding ended a sometimes turbulent career on warm terms with Tara,
50:13and as a key contributor to the championship.
50:16She played professionally in Japan until American women were banned from All-Japanese Leagues in 1993.
50:21Jennifer Aizzi received most of the major awards in collegiate basketball.
50:31She went to Europe to play, in Italy one season, and then to France for two seasons.
50:37She did not realize her dream of playing on the 1992 Olympic team.
50:42She was one of the last three players cut from the squad during trials, along with Katie Stedding.
50:46After graduation, many of the best college players, like Sonia, will put the ball down.
50:55They will walk away from the sport that has consumed most of their recreational time since they were young girls,
51:02and they will pursue other goals.
51:05Some women, like Jennifer and Katie, keep holding on to the dream,
51:10reaching their peak as athletes years after playing opportunities are over in their own country.
51:15By 1993, women's basketball at Stanford outgrew the men's program by more than 1,000 fans a game.
51:24That year, the university announced a four-year plan to achieve equity for its women's sports programs,
51:29and is the first Division I school in the country to make such a commitment.
51:33The players from that team think sometimes of the season they won a national championship.
51:43I am always trying to recapture the completeness of that experience, one says,
51:49of winning as a team.
51:52I haven't found it again.
51:53Sonia attended law school at Duke University in North Carolina.
52:04Jennifer is playing professionally in Europe and has her hopes penned on the next Olympics.
52:09Trisha Stevens is an assistant coach at Boise State University in Idaho.
52:18Her knees are often painful, and she now regrets playing through her injuries.
52:25Val was accepted to medical school, but hopes to play pro ball in Europe first.
52:30Katie completely severed her anterior cruciate ligament while playing professionally in Spain
52:40and had major knee surgery.
52:42She lost her opportunity to play on the U.S. national team in the Goodwill Games,
52:46but she hopes to play in the next Olympics.
52:53Tara was selected to represent the United States as head coach at the Goodwill Games in 1994.
52:59She's the odds-on favorite to coach the next Olympic team.
53:29She's the odds-on next but once, when she's theĂ”es if sheIf Skyç© giorni powers that have boomed,
53:35she gets Wide intermid a new one, she knows where the girls have an eye on the correct position
53:43and she gets a job.
53:50I brightening to the same when she-like KLMG came out.
53:51And I didn't believe that the parents can be fed the road,
53:56but I really appreciate the evidence of her being and the naissance,
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