At Stanford, Kate Paye is retooling a titan

On Sunday afternoon, before the unranked — yes, that’s very, very weird — Stanford Cardinal tipped off in a nationally televised game against Gonzaga, Tara VanDerveer walked gingerly along the sideline to near center court to watch the unveiling of the logos marking ‘Tara VanDerveer Court’.

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Geno Auriemma is expected to pass VanDerveer as the sport’s all-time wins leader as soon as Nov. 20. Soon, VanDerveer will hand off the record, but keep the Nike leather bomber jacket that bears the tallies of all her wins.

VanDerveer says she is both happy and busy in retirement — particularly, as she recovers from a mid-October hip replacement. She should be back on the lake getting pulled behind a boat by next summer. All the while, VanDerveer is doing speaking engagements, working as a “coaches’ coach” in her new office next door to Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir, and teaching a class on basketball starting in January.

Meanwhile, over in the Cadrinal’s gym, head coach Kate Paye is rebuilding VanDerveer’s former titan. So far, the results have been positive. Having returned the entire coaching staff, Paye is bringing consistency, continuity and confidence to a team that is defining itself in real time.

This is an undersized Stanford team without a true star, but the Cardinal already seem to be homing in on their identity. Under Paye, they are a 3-point shooting team who plays great defense, looking to wear out opponents with their balance, execution and depth. They have experienced guards in Talana Lepolo and Elena Bosgana, are getting noteworthy offensive contributions from Jzaniya Harriel and Chloe Clardy, are integrating transfers Tess Heal and Mary Ashley Stevenson, and are riding the play of emerging standout forward Nunu Agara.

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“We are a new roster and we are starting to build and find our identity,” Paye acknowledged. “Our team is extremely unselfish. We move the ball really well. We have balanced scoring and a very balanced attack.”
Gonzaga is always a great barometer match-up for the Cardinal, an NCAA caliber program that has often pushed Stanford hard. Case in point, the Cardinal falling in Spokane last season.

And what did the barometer tell them? With an 89-58 win, where the Cardinal led 26-4 after the first quarter, Stanford is on the right track.

The Cardinal’s early three-point shooting barrage has been impressive. They connected on a school-record 18 treys in the season-opener against LeMoyne on Monday. Then, they hit 14-of-18 attempts against Washington State on Thursday, and another 13 against the Bulldogs. That’s 45 3-pointers over three games at a .577 clip.

Ten different players have hit a 3-pointer so far this season. Harriel leads the way with 11 on 16 attempts. Clardy has hit seven of 10, and is averaging 13.0 points per game so far — a far cry from last season’s 2.0 points per game for the sophomore from Arkansas.

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“We have all put in a lot of work on our shot,” Clardy said. “We know not every game [the shots are] going to fall, but we still have other things that we hang our hat on. We are going to play hard defense every game. We’re going to play for each other.”

Stanford’s limited size inside means playing to their strengths, the rare depth at guard putting Stanford in a better position to run and spread the floor with multiple shooters.

“Last year, we knew we were trying to get the ball inside,” Paye said. “More than anything, we are focused on taking what the defense gives us and we do have excellent shooters at all five positions and when we put somebody out there, we have a lot of confidence in their shot … It’s not like we are out there just trying to jack up threes. We are trying to take great shots and that’s what’s been available to us.”

The Cardinal will continue to measure themselves in this new era, with next week’s road match-up at Indiana, a Dec. 5 road game against LSU and a Dec. 20 game against Ohio State in San Francisco’s Chase Center.

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VanDerveer moved from the court to the ESPN broadcast table during the second quarter and then upstairs to the Stanford VIP box to sit with her family — her mother Rita and three of her four siblings, sisters Marie and Beth and her brother Nick, making the trip to mark the occasion. Her youngest sister Heidi was coaching her UC San Diego team in a game against Arizona.

VanDerveer cheered for the Cardinal as they expanded their lead. A friend sitting nearby leaned in and asked her if it was weird to be sitting in the stands.

“It really is,” VanDerveer replied. “But it’s great. They are doing great.”

Paye, the person now holding the torch, is making sure of that.

“We are learning a lot about ourselves every single game and every single step of the way,” Paye said. “We are in this for the long haul. Every single player on this team knows there is opportunity for them out there and they know our strength will be playing together.”