While no more local men's or women's college basketball teams remain in either the NCAA or NIT postseason competitions, there is a strong Buffalo connection to the women's NCAA Final Four.
Top-seeded Stanford will take on the University of Connecticut Friday at 9:30 p.m. in a semifinal game. Stanford' Head Coach Tara VanDerveer is not only the all-time winningest coach in women's college basketball, she has also been inducted into both the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2002, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2011.
VanDerveer also spent her high school years at Buffalo Seminary, graduating in 1971.
As head of the Stanford women's basketball team since 1985, VanDerveer has led them to national championships in 1990, 1992 and last year. This marks her team's 13th appearance in the Final Four.
Buffalo Seminary held a pep rally this week to celebrate VanDerveer and her team, highlighting the coach's pledge and challenge to others to donate $10 for every three-pointer made in the NCAA Women's Tournament, toward humanitarian efforts to help victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
