Dec. 9, 2004
When Julie Rousseau found out her Pepperdine team would face No. 2- ranked Stanford on the reopening of remodeled Maples Pavilion Friday night, she had the following reaction:
"I thought, 'God certainly has a sense of humor,' " Rousseau said.
Rousseau is in her first season as the Waves' head coach after four years as an assistant on Tara VanDerveer's staff at Stanford. She has filled her coaching staff with familiar faces, including former Cardinal standouts Kate Paye and Vanessa Nygaard, both former WNBA veteran players with one season of coaching experience.
If it appears Rousseau is trying to turn Pepperdine into Stanford South, that's not far from the truth. She's banking that recruits are going to see it that way as well.
"Hopefully, we can be that successful," said Rousseau, who was the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks in 1997-98. "We are trying to build something special, capture some of that Stanford mystique here. We can definitely use that in recruiting. I think the kids that have already come to us already have a sense of coaching they're going to receive."
Thus far, the tone of Rousseau's first season at Pepperdine has been set by a multitude of injuries. She currently has just eight healthy players available to play.
Starting guard Shanell Law, a senior, sustained a broken foot, and there is no timetable for her return. Junior forward Kelly Greathouse is sidelined with a hip injury, and sophomore reserve forward Jasmane Clarendon is also out with a knee injury.
"It's challenging when you know that you've got some really good players, but there's not much you can do but wait for kids to get better," Rousseau said. "But I applaud the effort that the kids who are here are giving."
Even under the circumstances, Rousseau is excited about the homecoming.
"It's going to be a great atmosphere and I think it's appropriate,'' Rousseau said. "It will be friends and family coming back. It's kind of like a big get-together."
The reunion with Rousseau and her staff isn't the only notable date on Stanford's calendar this weekend. On Sunday, Stanford travels to San Francisco to face USF, which hired Tara VanDerveer's sister, Heidi, as an assistant coach in the offseason. Heidi VanDerveer was a head coach at Eastern Washington and in the WNBA with the Sacramento Monarchs and the Minnesota Lynx.
The two sisters have never coached on opposing benches.
"I never thought about it," Tara VanDerveer said. "I think I would be more stressed about it if she were the head coach. But she's going to know what we are doing, that's for sure. There won't be any surprises."
USF hasn't beaten Stanford since the 1983-84 season, a losing streak that spans 12 games.
Leading the Pac: It's been a good couple of weeks for the Pac-10, which might finally be meeting its own lofty expectations.
Stanford took 12 days off for finals, but jumped five spots in the Associated Press poll anyway, moving into the No. 2 ranking for the first time since March 4, 2002. Stanford becomes the fourth team this season to hold the No. 2 spot.
Then there's Arizona State. The Sun Devils' victory over Georgia on Tuesday was the latest big win among the Pac-10 best teams.
UCLA jumped to No. 18 with its fifth straight victory, a 70-64 win over Purdue that comes two games after the Bruins defeated Texas. They are not done battling heavyweights. UCLA still has a Dec. 21 game in Columbus, Ohio, against No. 10 Ohio State before opening the Pac-10.
E-mail Michelle Smith at msmith@sfchronicle.com
