Women's basketball offseason update and Q and A

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Stanford's women's basketball program has made numerous deep runs into the NCAA Tournament under Tara Vanderveer. The 2015-2016 team's Elite Eight appearance was the latest, and perhaps one of the more unexpected.

The Cardinal had 24 wins and and a third-place finish in the Pac-12 under its belt heading into the NCAA Tournament, sure, but they had to overcome No. 1 seed Notre Dame, which had lost only once all year (to UConn) to advance to the round of eight.

The momentum from the Cardinal's strong close to the season has carried over into the spring and summer months.

"We have had a terrific offseason," Cardinal assistant coach Kate Paye said. "We are really excited about next year. We have had one of the best springs that we've ever had, just in terms of how hard the players are working, how excited they are. They've done a great job in the weight room with our sports performance coach, Brittany Keil. We had great workouts on the court. We did have a few players who had some health things that they had to address and they're getting healthy, which is of primary importance. Our team was in the gym a ton playing pick up. They had some of the football guys out there playing with them. They got a lot of good games going. So we've had a great spring.

"We also did some new and different things, just around leadership and building our team culture. David Shaw spoke to our team in our locker room one morning and addressed our team and answered a lot of questions. Julia Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen, came and did a workshop with our team. Jon Gordon, a very well-known author, Skyped with our team from his home in Florida, talking about one of his books, The Hard Hat, which our entire team read. So we've just had a terrific spring and we're off to a good start here this summer.

"We just feel like we have a really special opportunity next year to have a great year. We're returning so many players. We're excited about our freshmen, the way we finished and looking at our schedule."

The offseason is a critical period in identifying and cultivating team leadership, and Paye thinks there's no shortage of qualified and willing candidates to fill those roles.

"I think a lot of our returners, our upperclass players: Erica McCall has really emerged as a leader for our team," Paye said. "Karlie is a tremendous leader for our team. She really was our rock all season long - just a very smart player, very unselfish, caring about her team. We're counting on her a lot. Kaylee Johnson - it's hard to believe she's going to be a junior. She's a very experienced player, very mature. She plays a huge leadership role. Brittany McPhee I think is coming into her own. It's exciting to see her assume more of a leadership role on our team.

"We're really counting that it's going to be a team effort. But you look at the way we finished in that Notre Dame game and the plays that Bird and Karlie are making and Kaylee is making and it's really exciting. And even our young players - you look at Marta Sniezek at the point guard position and how she finished the year really being a vocal floor leader and orchestrating things on the floor. We have a lot of players who we're really excited about a lot of leadership things that we're doing. You can really see it translate."

The Cardinal is still in the process of getting healthy. McCall and McPhee are working through knee and ankle injuries, respectively. Paye was optimistic both would be cleared relatively soon when she spoke with Cardinal Sports Report. (The interview was conducted and all injury updates are as of 1.5 weeks ago.)

"McCall just had to get a knee taken care of it," Paye said. "It was something she was dealing with toward the end of last season but is doing much better. Brit, her ankle was bothering here a little bit over the spring so she's been resting that."

Shannon Coffee might have a longer-term issue. She had surgery on her ankle and "the rehab has been taking a little bit longer," Paye said.

Anna Wilson, meanwhile, is still working through some lingering effects of a concussion that she suffered during the McDonald's All American game. Dijonai Carrington suffered a torn ACL and meniscus last summer.

"The best part about it is we have great medical care here and this summer they can be on campus and really take their time to get healthy," Paye said.

For many years, Stanford's program was synonymous with the triangle offense; the Cardinal won many games utilizing that system.

They moved away from the triangle a few years ago to better suit their personnel, however, and they aren't looking back.

"I think we'll probably do a lot of what we've been doing," Paye said. "I think that we're trying to obviously tweak things and tinker things, and we'll see how the freshmen fit into the mix. It's really exciting to see how much everyone has improved - Bird, Karlie, Kaylee, Brit. We'll continue, in general, always trying to run the floor, play up-tempo. We've been working a lot on our passing - we want to pass more. A little bit less dribble. But we'll do a lot of the same stuff and maybe look to take advantage of some of the improvement that you saw. Bird really developed her perimeter shot, so maybe now she can play facing the basket a little bit more. She's working on her perimeter skills, her passing. And then we'll try to incorporate the freshmen into that mix, too."

"It will look similar (to the last few years). Any time you do something new it takes time. We'd run the triangle for 10, 12 years. And the past two years adopting a new style, dealing with new concepts, we've learned a ton and I think you saw - we played beautiful offense versus Notre Dame. And we'll spend some time working our zone offense - that was a real Achilles heal last year. It hurt us early in the year and it hurt us in our very last game. As coaches we're sitting down, we're looking to see what we can do better to attack a zone, how we can help our team more, how we can utilize the players that we have and their strengths to be effective against the zone."

The 2016-2017 season will mark Paye's 10th as an assistant at Stanford. Naturally, there have been changes in the way programs recruit prospects over the last decade. The biggest, Paye said, is the methods in which coaches communicate with recruits.

"I think certainly social media - that's kind of an obvious answer, I think," Paye said. "When I first got here you were hand-writing letters to kids and maybe email. And then all of a sudden email is passe and kids don't even have email and then its Facebook. And then Facebook's out and it's Twitter. And then Twitter is out and now they're all on I think it's Snapchat. A lot of it is how you communicate and interact with young high school student athletes is different and it's very much part of how you communicate messages about Stanford, about our program. So think that's probably the biggest change.'

The type of talent available to Stanford has remained mostly consistent, but there has been a notable change there, too.

"I don't see a huge difference (in the available talent pool)," Paye said. "I think one difference is for the first time we have international kids. Alana is our first Australian. We have Mikalea coming in as our first Canadian. There are more and more international players in college women's basketball. For us, because of admissions and language and everything, Australia and Canada are natural fits in making that really work. We're really excited about that. I think that's a big change.

"But in general, I think that's one thing that's really unique and special about Stanford - the type of woman, person who's attracted to this program has been pretty consistent over the years. They are very bright, academically motivated, hard working, mature. I wouldn't say I see a big difference in the type of kid we're recruiting. We are in different states in different years depending on where the most talented players who have great grades are, and that's what kind of makes it fun."

When Anna Wilson committed to Stanford in August of 2013 - just a few months removed from her freshman year of high school - the nation took notice. For many, the commitment drew attention because of Wilson's name - her older brother is NFL star quarterback Russell Wilson.

In the Stanford community, however, it made news because of Wilson's ability, of course, but also due to the timing. Stanford's women's hoops generally receives commitments from seniors, not rising sophomores who have not been admitted into the university.

"It has never really happened to us before, Paye said. "And I say happened to us - it was kind of a really unique situation. I know it happens a lot of in football, but women's basketball, it's different. Anna came to camp after he freshman year and had a great time. (We) got to meet her mom - talked a lot about Stanford. (Anna) called a couple of times over the summer. I started to talk to her about hey, if you're interested in Stanford - because she was a solid student - but, you know, this is what you'd have to do. And we talked and talked.

"She called me right before her sophomore year was going to start and she said, 'Hey coach, just calling to check in.' I said, 'OK, well, tell me what classes you're signed up for.' We talked for about 45 minutes about what classes she was going to take and what tutors she was going to get lined up with. We had been on the phone for a while and I said, 'Hey, I'm going to let you go so you can get ready for school.' She said, 'Coach, coach, wait!' I have something that i want to tell you.'

"She said, 'I'm coming to Stanford.' I said, 'Well, OK. That's fine with us - first call Tara and tell her. Second, this is what your'e going to have to do. You have your work cut out for you.'

"I think in her mind, something just clicked with her. And I think it happens a lot with young people who decide ultimately they want to come. She knew this is where she wanted to be. She wanted that challenge academically, athletically, personally to really grow and stretch and improve at the very highest level. Because she made her mind up so early, that's what allowed her to work with her guidance counselor, her teachers, taking our counseling and feedback we know from admissions about the classes she should be taking. She worked really hard. She had a really good sophomore year where she picked up her grades. She developed new study skills, new study habits, learning how to utilize the resources she had. She went to a wonderful school in Richmond, Collegiate, where Russell had gone. They really helped her and supported her and challenged her. Her sophomore year was better, and then she was on track to take AP classes her junior year. She knew that nothing was guaranteed and she had to work for it. But because she was so determined and had such great support around her, we were really confident and optimistic that she could do it. but she went through that process, she took all the classes, she took the test multiple times. She got the application and we knew she would ado a really great job on the application - she had written a lot of things for ESPNW, some blogs, and obviously was a really good writer. She had some really interesting ideas and thought processes. So I knew she would do a good job on the application and clearly she did, because she was accepted. But there was nothing given about it. And I give her a lot of credit, because to make up her mind that early, she put herself out there. Because she might not have gotten in. We talk about early commitments - I know it's different in football, but for a young person to commit themselves early and not know if they can get in, that takes a lot of guts."

To be clear, the early, pre-admissions commitment is not the new norm for Stanford. The Cardinal is still without a verbal pledge in the 2017 class, for instance.

But in special cases like that of Wilson, it make make sense for both sides.

"(More early commitments) could happen," Paye said. "It happened with Anna and it's just the way it happened. It really worked for her and worked for us. I'm not saying it won't happen it again. I think every individual is different. But it was unique for us. But nowadays with the whole early offers thing, the way the recruiting process works kind of the offer is the ante to get in the game. You offer, but for us, you have to get in. And Anna did the work to get in."

After signing four players in 2016 , Stanford will have room for a large class again in 2017.

"We have five scholarships," Paye said. "We could use them all. I doubt we will. We might carry one over just to balance out the class sizes a little bit. A lot of it plays itself out in the admissions process."

The Cardinal isn't focused on specific positions or individual skillsets. Rather, they have enough room in this class to recruit all spots on the floor.

"The class size would be big enough that I think we're kind of recruiting all positions," Paye said. "First and foremost we're always looking for really skilled offensive players who have great grades and are great fits for Stanford. That's kind of the profile. It feels like there are fewer and fewer really true big body posts out there. But we're always looking for that, always looking for great point guards, always looking for kids who can shoot. So the kids that are in the mix right now are all positions, really."