The secret to Stanford's victory
By: Matteus Owens
Tags: Basketball, Basketball Player, NCAA Basketball, Coaching, Stanford University

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

When I first watched the 2021 NCAAW Tournament I was confused why my hometown team and the school I wanted to go to was just crushing the whole entire tournament. In fact it wasn’t until the elite eight that the Stanford team had a tough time getting open looks and not committing turnovers. The secret to Stanford’s success all comes down to two factors. Anna Wilson with her lock down defense made all of the difference in the two games that Stanford won by only one point. Anna Wilson astonishingly holds players she guards to 36% of what they usually score. In the championship game Coach Tara VanDerveer put Anna Wilson on Arizona’s Aari McDonald by far the best player.

McDonald was held to only 22 points, You’d think that’s a lot but Aari McDonald averages 20.6 points per game. Only 4 of those points were in the first half when Anna Wilson was in, and the rest of the points were scored in the second half. Anna Wilson sat the whole third quarter, coincidence? I’ll leave you to decide that. The other element of Stanford’s success is their ability to have any person on the team step up any given night. They always have a person who can create offense and defense. Sometimes it can be two of the players. One night Lexie Hull (12) stepped up and helped Stanford. Ashten Prechtel stepped up with her long range shots, so did Kiana Williams.

Can we appreciate the old and young talent from Stanford? I mean these players are good enough to play for, arguably the best coach in basketball history. The team is united by players like senior guard Kiana Williams who leads the team. Sophomore Haley Jones is helpful too, since she is clutch on last minute shots like against South Carolina University (66–65) in the final four. Cameron Brink (#22 / Forward) is in the starting five as a freshman, I mean how amazing is that? Also Kiana Williams knew the Arizona wildcats defense before they even set it up. She was able to tell Cameron Brink to trap Aari McDonald from going right so she could not make a shot. That right there won the game for the Stanford Cardinal. In the final game the team won by one point but If they didn’t have all those turnovers they would have won by a lot more. What can I say the (Arizona) wildcats defense is amazing. I have a feeling that I know what the Stanford will be practicing for a long time to come.

Let’s switch the subject a little to the coaching. The most winning, three time championship holder, 67 years coaching and still going, coach named Tara VanDerveer is in my opinion the best coach in basketball history. You might be able to see why. Tara VanDerveer is like magic, every time her team goes into the locker room you’d better be ready to see some ideal basketball in the first play of the third quarter. Every time she calls a timeout, some crazy stuff happens on a board, especially in the last seconds of a game. If you ever want to be on her team you should work very hard to become a very good basketball player. You also need to be ready to work even harder then you've ever worked before when you are on her team.