The Stanford Cardinal and UConn Huskies will face off in the Final Four. Head coach Tara VanDerveer leads Stanford against Geno Auriemma and UConn. Both of these coaches are two of the best coaches of All-time. VanDerveer had this to say about going up against Auriemma once again.
“You know, we have been competing for a long time, playing against each other. I think it goes back to actually when he was at Virginia as an assistant coach coaching Dawn Staley, so the three of us are here. But he’s done a great job at Connecticut. They have had tremendous success. So I’ve learned a lot from competing against them.”
Stanford
Stanford uses a balanced scoring attack to beat teams; they average 76.7 points per game while giving up on 58.7. Cameron Brink and Haley Jones are the Cardinal’s leading scorers. Brink averages 13.9 points per while Jones adds 13.2 per game. Stanford must continue to share the basketball and play strong defense. They are long on defense, and it could be not easy to score against them at times.
Stanford is a strong rebounding team that likes to control the paint, but the Cardinal has some good three-point shooters that can space the floor. Lexie Hull and Hannah Jump are shooting in the high 30s in three-point percentages. Beating Stanford is a challenging task because they have so much depth. They will look to slow down Paige Bueckers.
UConn
If UConn wants to win against Stanford, their frontcourt will need to play well. Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwards must show up in this game. They can not let Stanford just dominate the paint. Nelson-Ododa and Edwards must be active and play smart without fouling. With Dorka Juhasz out, the Huskies are thin on the front line.
Christyn Williams and Bueckers must dominate; Bueckers had excellent second half against NC State; look for her to try to carry it over against Stanford. Williams is a capable scorer; she must remain aggressive as well. Auriemma Says you know what you are going to get from a Stanford team.
“They still play the same style of play. When you watch them, you know exactly what you’re going to get. There’s no surprises when you play Stanford. It’s not like they’re going to come up with a new and different way to play every year. They play hard, they play together, they play positionless most of the time, they shoot the ball great every year. It’s the same Stanford team that I remember 25, 27 years ago playing around here. It’s just different people, but it’s the same.”
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