Spartans seek Final Four slot Ex-Maine coach guides MSU

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – They both have senior leaders, productive guards and aggressive posts. They both have beaten Connecticut by double digits, have not lost in months and have wanted nothing less than a trip to the Final Four.

There is a reason the Stanford women’s basketball team will play Michigan State on Tuesday in a regional final. The teams practically mirror each other, from their impressive victories over three-time defending champion Connecticut (Michigan State in December, Stanford on Sunday) to the makeup of their rosters.

Most of the things they do look the same.

“We have a good inside, outside game, which they do also,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said Monday. “Michigan State is not the most athletic team out there, but neither are we. But we shoot the ball well, and we’re very fundamental teams.”

VanDerveer has second-seeded Stanford (32-2) on the doorstep of the Final Four for the second consecutive season, looking to end an eight-year drought. Top seed Michigan State (31-3) is the new kid at the dance, reaching the Elite Eight for the first time.

But like Stanford, the Spartans have been cruising toward this moment all season. They beat Boston College and Notre Dame during a 10-1 start and served notice with a 67-51 rout of Connecticut in Hartford on Dec. 29.

“The teams we’ve beaten have fortified them,” Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie said of her players. “When you can say we beat Connecticut at Connecticut in front of all those people, by 16 points, that will do a lot for you. I think our experiences have helped us, and I think they have a natural ability to stay in the moment. They’re excited to play.”

The Spartans haven’t done it overnight. It took McCallie two seasons to get Michigan State to the NCAA tournament and two more to get it out of the second round. Now in her fifth season, the former Maine coach (1992-2000) is generating headlines such as “‘Intense’ McCallie transforms Michigan State” and “Spartans built to win titles.”

“She is kind of a new wave of coaches,” VanDerveer said. “She took a smaller school like Maine, worked her way up, and is doing a great job at Michigan State. The fact that they draw so well is very good for women’s basketball. They are a very well-coached team. She has a system, her players believe in her system, and her players execute it very well.”

VanDerveer has seen that firsthand. Six years ago, McCallie’s Maine team handed Stanford its second consecutive first-round loss in the NCAA tournament, 60-58. It was Maine’s first-ever NCAA tourney win in women’s basketball.

Asked if that was a springboard to the Michigan State job, McCallie said, laughing: “I guess that was a good thing. What a great game that was. We had been knocking on the door, and that obviously was an exciting time.

“I left Maine after eight years, so I would think it was more of a composite of the things we did over the eight-year period. But without question, that was a highlight.”

McCallie’s team this season is at another level. But so is Stanford. The Cardinal has won 23 in a row, all but one by at least 10 points, and is ranked No. 1 in the country. Stanford was seeded behind Michigan State only because the selection committee viewed the Cardinal’s loss at unranked Oregon more damaging than the Spartans’ losses to unranked Texas Christian and Penn State.