March 17, 2011STANFORD PAGEWOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL PAGE
NCAA TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
STANFORD, Calif.Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Womens Basketball Tara VanDerveer was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Womens College Coach of the Year award, the Atlanta Tipoff Clubs National Voting Academy announced Thursday.
Along with VanDerveer, Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt and Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey make up the rest of the finalists.
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VanDerveer, in her 25th season at the Stanford helm, has guided the Cardinal to a 29-2 overall record, the programs 20th Pac-10 regular season title (and 11th consecutive), eighth Pac-10 Tournament crown and a No. 1 seed in the Spokane Region of the NCAA Tournament so far in 2010-11.
Those achievements earned VanDerveer the John R. Wooden Pac-10 Coach of the Year award, the 11th time she has been honored with the conferences top coaching award.
Earlier this season, VanDerveer became the fifth Division I womens basketball coach to reach the 800-win mark when Stanford defeated San Francisco, 100-45, on Dec. 22.
This season VanDerveer has overseen a Stanford team that recorded a 9-2 mark in a non-conference slate that included nine opponents that ended up making the 2011 NCAA Tournament. That non-conference schedule included high-profile wins over then-No. 4 Xavier (89-52 on Dec. 28) and No. 1 Connecticut. Stanfords 71-59 victory over the Huskies on Dec. 30 snapped Connecticuts NCAA-record 90-game winning streak.
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The Cardinal would then record its second straight perfect 18-0 Pac-10 season, en route to an 11th consecutive regular season title. The unbeaten run, along with two Pac-10 Tournament victories in March, extended Stanfords winning streak against Pac-10 schools to a conference-record 57 games.
Over the 18 regular-season victories against the Pac-10, VanDerveers squad won those games by an average margin of 30.4 points, setting a new Stanford record for highest scoring margin in Pac-10 play. The Cardinal also held its Pac-10 foes to a school-record low of just 50.8 points per game.
VanDerveer enters this weekends NCAA Tournament, the 24th straight trip for the Cardinal, with a career record of 822-197 in her 32 years as a head coach, and a 670-146 record in 25 years at Stanford.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club will announce its coach of the year in early April.
Courtesy Stanford Athletics media relations.