SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jennifer Azzi is quick to point out that as a first-year college coach she never would have scheduled Stanford, her alma mater, to play at San Francisco. That one was already on the calendar when she took the job back in April.
Still, she acknowledges the intrigue: Azzi and USF assistant Katy Steding facing former coach Tara VanDerveer and the eighth-ranked Cardinal on Wednesday night — with VanDerveer making her third attempt at 800 wins against Azzi’s 2-9 Dons.
Not many mid-major schools with a long tradition of losing have someone with Azzi’s Hall of Fame basketball pedigree running their program. She and Steding helped lead the VanDerveer-coached 1996 national team to Olympic gold in Atlanta and also brought Stanford an NCAA title in 1990.