PALO ALTO, California. — The packed house at Maples Pavilion didn’t wait for the final horn to sound before Tara VanDerveer’s serenade began.
As freshman forward Nunu Agara dribbled toward the attacking zone and Oregon State coach Scott Rueck motioned for his Beavers not to huddle, what was inevitable was becoming official. The crowd rose to its feet, roaring loud enough to make this historic occasion tangible.
VanDerveer hit the gym Sunday tied with Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins in NCAA basketball history. She would go alone at the top.
Senior guard Hannah Jump gestured for the serenade to appear. Time expired. The 65-56 victory over Oregon State (win number 1,203) went down in the record books. Kiki Iriafen scored a career-high 36 points, including the first two 3-pointers of his career. But his performance was just the appetizer, warming up the crowd for the main event. VanDerveer had chosen Coach K to become the winningest coach in college basketball. It was time for the house that Tara built to celebrate the architect of her. The foundation was now the showcase.
The crowd began to sing fervently: “Ta-ra! Tare! Tare!
But wait. Not so fast.
Tara loves basketball and he loves her too 🫶🏀#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/fiYsUd4ZiC
– Stanford WBB 🤓🏀 (@StanfordWBB) January 22, 2024
Before Cameron Brink could throw a Gatorade bucket full of gold confetti at his coach (who seemed relieved that it wasn’t Gatorade). Before the roughly 4-foot numbers, 1203, could be installed as props at this hoop party in Palo Alto. Before the stage could be set up, videos played and speeches given. VanDerveer walked to the other end of the sideline and hugged Rueck.
Because you cannot reach 1,203 without perseverance, without discipline born from ancient times, without humility relevant to any era. She climbed this mountain without skipping steps, valuing each repetition. Even reaching the summit is not worth deviating from principles.
So VanDerveer followed the line. He hugged opposing assistant coaches. He shook hands with every Beavers player and greeted them with a smile and a kind word. It wasn’t until he surpassed them all that he allowed the spotlight of the occasion to focus on her.
Now the final deflector had to accept its flowers.
“When I think of you, one word comes to mind,” said Cardinal Hoops mainstay Jennifer Azzi in a video played on the big board. “And that is excellence.”
This place should be called Tara Pavilion. He didn’t build it with his own hands in 1969. He didn’t renovate it in 2005. But he gave it life. She made it relevant. The teams of her. The success of her. Her tradition.
The last time the men’s team won a championship here was in 1942. But it hadn’t gotten here yet. Maples wouldn’t open for another 27 years. The value of this place centers on the standard the women’s basketball program set when VanDerveer took over in 1985. The outpouring of love has been bred by years of kinship-worthy teams and players.
He didn’t shy away from Stanford’s elite academic standards, which can be a barrier to recruiting, because it absolutely fits with his holistic work ethic message.
She has won three national titles, 14 Final Fours, 15 first-team All-Americans, 25 conference championships, 30 WNBA players and countless moments.
And 1,203 victories.
Any Mount Rushmore of basketball coaches must include a bob with bangs.
GO DEEPER
From piano lessons to swimming, Tara VanDerveer’s success is based on continuous learning
“We all know that beyond the statistics,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in the tribute video, “beyond the wins and losses and everything else, is the impact that you have had on so many lives. youths”.
The meaning of this moment was present in the energy. Who was present? Condoleezza rice. Lucky Andres. Chiney Ogwumike. Azzi flew with two children, ages 6 and 3, who could be as impressive as becoming Stanford’s first National Player of the Year in 1990.
“I’m not usually speechless,” he said, addressing the fans. “But it’s pretty impressive. All these people here. All the former players returning.”
A flood of former players joined the festivities. Background vocals were provided by the sea of cardinal red-clad fans, many of whom have spent years watching VanDerveer mold young women as he racked up victories.
What everyone here knows is that this celebration belongs here. This place, this audience, this central figure are worthy of this spotlight. This danger zone is critical to the sport that is thriving at new levels.
The torch carried today by figures like A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley and Sabrina Ionescu, got some of its spark from this lively basketball center nestled in these manicured forests of intellectual prosperity. The story of women’s basketball cannot be told without Stanford women’s basketball. And the name Tara VanDerveer is an adjective to her quality.
Former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, here with his two daughters, on Tara: “I’m just a fan. She’s part of what makes a place like this so special. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned from “anyone in any profession, especially in sports and how she does it. I know I’m learning from her.”
– Janie McCauley (@JanieMcCAP) January 22, 2024
Nike commemorated VanDerveer’s achievement with a white bomber jacket covered in red markings. One for each victory. The 70-year-old athlete, still fit enough to jump off the bench and light a fire among twenty-somethings, put on his jacket. It seemed that racking up another 500 wins wasn’t out of the question.
“I’ve had an incredible life,” VanDerveer said on a stage erected as his pedestal. “I want nothing. What I have is here.”
The stage was named by Ros Gold-Onwude, who played five seasons for VanDerveer, appeared in three Final Fours and earned a reputation as a defender. She is now a versatile broadcaster for ESPN and hosted the festivities. She did a Q&A session with Azzi and Ogwumike.
A video played at Maples included praise from Billie Jean King, Coach K, Staley and 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike. But it was Lisa Leslie who crashed the Stanford party to declare herself VanDerveer’s favorite. Leslie, the USC star, played with VanDerveer in the 1996 Olympics, along with basketball royalty like Sheryl Swoopes, Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo and Staley. VanDerveer took a year off from Stanford to coach this team on a 52-0 exhibition tour that laid the foundation for women’s basketball in America.
Later in 1996, the American Basketball League was launched as the country’s first women’s professional basketball league. In 1997, the WNBA followed.
“I’m not perfect,” VanDerveer said. “I never claimed to be perfect. “We are talking about victories, but we have also lost a lot.”
A whopping 267 games in 45 seasons. But his point is real. Winning 81.8 percent of her games isn’t just the reason she’s worthy of this moment. It’s because of the bar Stanford has represented in women’s basketball, held by her ironic arms and her ancient conviction. Those who celebrated his Sunday did not speak of his treasure of victories but of his principles and modus operandi.
“You have personally helped influence my life and the way I move,” Leslie said in the video. “I always remember that repetition of the mistake…”
Leslie pointed to Chiney Ogwumike, who finished the last part of VanDerveer’s platitude:
“It shows a lack of intelligence.”
No disrespect to Roscoe Maples, whose $1.7 million donation led to the construction of Stanford’s original basketball home.
But this is Tara’s house. She built it. She held him. And, as the winningest college basketball coach, she deserves to have it named after her.
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
