Tara's Season Preview

LISTEN as Tara reflects on last year's run, expectations for this season, player progression, and more!

Keep an eye on Smith

Alanna joins Kiana on the list of Cardinals to watch in the 2018-19 season: Keep an eye on Smith

Farewell to the FBC website

Dave and I have been avid fans of Stanford women's basketball since March 26, 1994. We live near Stanford and had no plans for that weekend. On a whim, we decided to go to the women's basketball game at Maples Pavilion. It was the NCAA Elite Eight game and we came away smitten with the sport and with the Cardinal.

They've been a major presence in our lives — giving us much excitement and joy (and occasional despair) — for more than 20 years.

That pleasure has been enhanced for me by the FBC Website, which I began managing in the 2005-6 season. I briefly resigned from my self-appointed job a couple of years ago, but quickly returned to it when I realized how much I would miss it.

Now there is no turning back. I have a medical condition that will, I hope, allow me to enjoy another season of being a Cardinal fan, but that leaves me insufficient energy to continue the website. So I'm going to delete it next week before the first game of the upcoming season.

Another of my great pleasures has been knowing that the website has also enhanced the joy of being a Stanford women's basketball fan for many of you.

Go Cardinal!!

Watch Williams

Kiana begins the list of Cardinals to watch in the 2018-19 season: Watch Williams

Alexa's Andean Adventure

Alexa spent her summer in Peru as part of an archaeological excavation and research team at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Andes.

Warriors practice at Stanford

The Mayor of Maples

The mayor of Maples.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/jwsCmYEjrY

— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) October 12, 2018

Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Day

The major news each Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Day is the Coaches' Poll, although it's seldom a surprise. This year, Oregon was picked to finish first and Stanford second:

• Oregon Voted Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Preseason Favorite

Here are more stories about Media Day:

• Tara VanDerveer, legendary head coach and water skier by Kevin Danna (Pac-12)


• Storylines from Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Day by Michelle Smith (Pac-12)


• Stanford women lose top scorer and rebounder but appear deeper by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)

And a video featuring Tara, Kiana and Dijonai.

High expectations of Jenna

Stanford’s coaches and players can’t help but smile when asked about Jenna Brown, this season's dynamic freshman guard.

Kiana Williams,last season's dynamic freshman guard, said, "Oh man, Jenna is going to be a fantastic player. I'm excited for her first year. She is so smart. She has a really high basketball IQ. She’s a hard worker and loves the game. I'm really excited she came here. It’s going to be a fun three years with her, for sure."

Read more by Jacob Rayburn (Cardinal Sports Report): Jenna Brown will be tough to stop during her freshman season

Complete 2018-19 schedule announced

Stanford Women's Basketball announced its complete 2018-19 schedule yesterday.

The Cardinal is scheduled for 30 regular-season games. 19 of them will be televised — 17 on the Pac-12 Networks and two on the ESPN family of networks.

In conference play, Stanford plays Oregon and Oregon State only at home and Colorado and Utah only away. It plays the other seven Pac-12 teams both at home and away. As has been the case since the Pac-10 became the Pac-12, traditional rivals meet twice in a single week. Stanford and Cal play each other midway through the conference season.

The conference schedule is quite user-friendly. All the conference games are scheduled for Friday/Sunday, except for the Cal games which are Thursday/Saturday. However, the time varies from week to week.

This is the schedule from the FBC. Game information includes links to each opponent's women's basketball website, maps of the venues and media coverage.Links to FBC post-game events will be added as soon as the information is available. Event information includes pre-game chalk talks and post-game behind-the-bench sessions.

This is the announcement and the schedule from Stanford Athletics.

'Rebounding' is the word

It's a quick one-word answer when you ask Stanford's coaches what the focus is in practices as the Cardinal get ready for the season: Rebounding.

Head coach Tara VanDerveer said that generally she wants the team to be more physical than the version that was pushed around at times last season, so rebounding is an obvious tell of whether that's improving.

Tara and Kate offer their takes on the development of a number of players in Jacob Rayburn's (Cardinal Sports Report): Stanford has exciting potential; focused rebounding, toughness