Stanford Women's Basketball will be Aggressive in 2024-25

Jason Burke | Oct 10, 2024

Mar 10, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Stanford Cardinal guard Talana Lepolo (10) dribbles the ball against Southern California Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) and center Rayah Marshall (13) in the first half of the Pac-12 Tournament women's championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Stanford Cardinal women's basketball program met with the media at ACC Media Day in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday, and one key takeaway from the press conference that featured new head oach Kate Paye, guard Talana Lepolo and forward Brooke Demetre is that the team will be more aggressive this upcoming season.

The moderator of the discussion asked Lepolo what she specifically had learned from new coach Paye, a former point guard herself. "I think everything that I've learned as a guard came from her. Whether it be pace or directing my team or being a louder point guard. I think all of those things is what she's helped me with."

As far as something that she has been working to add to her game? "Just aggression on offense. I think especially in our system that we have now I think it allows for a lot of guard attacks. So I'm excited for it."

The moderator followed that up by asking Demtre what we could expect from her in the new season, and her response echoed what Lepolo said. "I think my role this season -- every year my role has looked different, but I definitely think this year I'll have to look to be more aggressive, look to find my shots a little bit more within our offense, but also be a great leader on the floor for our underclassmen and kind of being somebody that we can always rely on."

Part of that need to be a leader on the floor is due to the fact that the Stanford women lost Cameron Brink to the WNBA Draft and Kiki Iriafen to USC via the transfer portal. This will also be the first season since 1996 that Tara VanDerveer will not being drawing up plays on the sidelines. VanDerveer was the coach since 1985, but missed one season in the middle there to coach the USA Women's team for the 1996 Olympics.

There are a lot of changes coming to the women's program in 2024-25, which will make them a fascinating team to watch throughout the course of the season. They'll be looking for their next wave of leaders to step up and to find their footing under a new head coach, all while also trying to maintain the incredible standards of the teams that have come before them.