Stanford’s women’s basketball team, a No. 1 seed, was shockingly eliminated from the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday by No. 8 Ole Miss, a historic loss that marks only the fifth time since 1994 that a No. 1 seed has been seeded was eliminated before the Sweet 16. Stanford never led in their 54-49 loss.
This is the first time Stanford has failed to make the Sweet 16 since 2007, and head coach Tara VanDerveer tried to be objective about the season when she spoke to the media after the loss — perhaps a little too objectively. After being questioned about whether they need adversity to perform well (the last time Stanford won the championship was in 2021, when they were forced to relocate home games due to COVID-19 health orders), he used VanDerveer Stanford’s men’s team as a yardstick for the women’s team’s relative success.
So the Stanford men’s team definitely didn’t have as good a season as their peers. They had a 14-19 record and ended the season with a loss to Arizona in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament earlier this month.
Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer tried to be objective about her team’s shocking loss in the second round of the NCAA women’s tournament. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It may have sounded like VanDerveer was criticizing the men’s team for being bad, but it almost certainly wasn’t. It’s not like it was a secret that the men’s team had a bad season. Nothing is hidden in their 14-19 record. Given that difficult season and their loss in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament, you can imagine they would have been thrilled to go dancing for a few games.
Despite the poor ending, VanDerveer reiterated that a March Madness second-round loss doesn’t mean the entire season was a failure. Objectively, they did incredibly well, even if they didn’t live up to their own standards.
As they say in sport, there is always next year.