It's all wrong talking about Stanford in "big comeback" terms. This isn't exactly the Jennifer Capriati "I am resurrected from oblivion" story.

 

	Lindsey Yamasaki leads Stanford with an 18.5 scoring average, and has scored at least 20 points in four games.

Admittedly, it will seem a little like that when Stanford plays host to Tennessee at 4 p.m. ET Sunday at a sold-out Maples Pavilion, just because Stanford hasn't really been Stanford the last three seasons. But in 1998, it was a No. 1 seed and ...

Oh, brother, here it comes again.

... Uh, lost to No. 16 Harvard in the NCAA Tournament first round. Which came after Kristin Folkl's freaking ACL, which came after Vanessa Nygaard's F-ACL, which came after Stanford losing in three consecutive Final Four semifinals.

Neither Stanford fans nor anyone else will ever figure out how a team that had such a fascinating core of Kate Starbird, Nygaard, Wideman and Olympia Scott, etc., didn't win an NCAA title and ...

Enough! Shut up! Move on!

Ahem, as we were saying, that three-straight-Final-Four group was such a rare convergence of captivating personalities, intelligence, quirky humor and social conscience ...

What decade are you living in?! What millennium?!

Um, are you hearing something, too? Anyway, there was certainly still an element of that mystique to the '98 Stanford team. And, thanks mostly to Folkl, the Cardinal maintained its place among the elite. Until the back-to-back ACLs ...

What is this, The History Channel?

Oh, I know who must be interrupting us. It's Stanford's five seniors -- Lindsey Yamasaki, Enjoli Izidor, Bethany Donaphin, Cori Enghusen and Lauren St. Clair -- sick of being unappreciated by lovelorn Stanford fans still staring into the past, not embracing the present.

Right?

Well, no. Actually, I was faking being them. Because I just figured that had to be how these Cardinal seniors felt, like a bunch of Jan Bradys saying, "Jamila, Jamila, Jamila. Look, just because no one ever wrote a best-seller about my high school team ..."

But here's a somewhat surprising thing. These seniors, who have lost in the NCAA first round once and second round twice, fully understand why they didn't inspire quite the desired affection.

"We haven't been up to par," Yamasaki said. "The entire time I've been at Stanford, it's always been in the back of my mind that we as a class need to hold up this tradition. Year after year, I've said, 'It's going to be next year.' "

And now with Stanford at 8-0 ...

"For the first time, it's here. We're accomplishing more as a team," Yamasaki said. "The way we are, how hard we work, the way we interact with each other -- it's more like Stanford basketball than any time in my career."

Certainly, there's been some love lost at Maples the last three seasons.

"Our fans are sophisticated fans, they know good basketball when they see it," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They have really high expectations."

Yes, but they're ready to love again. No, there isn't anybody wearing an "I'm a Nerd" shirt like Starbird, nobody who could probably channel the ghost of Emily Dickinson like Wideman, nobody who tells nutty stories like Nygaard.

But there is a Stanford team that's ready to be embraced. Cardinal fans, they want to win your hearts. Just look at Yamasaki.

Sure, there's a lot of storylines in Sunday's game. Tennessee's Ashley Robinson and Stanford's Susan King, both sophomores who are recovering F-ACL victims, are probably going to see their first action of the season. Stanford's Nicole Powell, one of the best triple-double threats in women's hoops, will be on display. She's Stanford's second-leading scorer (16.6) and leads in rebounding (9.6) and assists (5.3). And there's the outstanding Tennessee rookies we're getting to know.

Both teams are undefeated; this should show us if they are indeed evenly matched. Or close to it. And that might indicate whether we'll have an actual western team to compete for the NCAA West No. 1 seed, which we haven't had the last three seasons.

But, again, look at Yamasaki. She's as compelling a story in this game as anything else.

She's averaging a team-best 18.5 points, shooting 52.4 percent and proving she can be everything she was expected to be.

For anyone who's never been sure just how important all this is to her, listen to her talk about playing Tennessee: "I'm excited. I'm even shivering right now thinking about it."

	“	"We haven't been up to par. The entire time I've been at Stanford, it's always been in the back of my mind that we as a class need to hold up this tradition. Year after year, I've said, 'It's going to be next year.' For the first time, it's here. We're accomplishing more as a team ... it's more like Stanford basketball than any time in my career. ”
		— Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki

You know, maybe it was a little bit of bad luck for this kid, another volleyball/basketball star, that she showed up right after Folkl left. That's an almost impossible act for anyone to follow.

Folkl always insisted that she never felt pressure in basketball because it usually seemed as if she were just "helping out" in that sport. Granted, there hasn't been a more effective part-time hoops player. But volleyball was her primary collegiate sport, the one she won three titles in.

VanDerveer accepted that, which was probably made easier for her because TVD was away with the national team for one of the years Folkl didn't play and then got the "helper" back at the end of the next season.

What we're getting at here is that there wasn't any friction between Folkl and VanDerveer. Nor with Folkl and teammates in both sports. She is a rare combination of very driven and easy-going; nobody tried harder to blend into the scenery than she did.

Yamasaki has a real charm about her, a presence. But she's not exactly a blender, if you will.

"Kristin and I are very different people and players," Yamasaki said. "She played a post in basketball, I'm a guard. Our personalities are different. I'm very loud and outgoing. She isn't, and it might have been easier for her because of that.

"When I came in, I was trying to focus on how I was going to do things and not try to match what she did. But I know a lot of people did compare us."

Yamasaki's talked to Folkl, of course.

"She knew what I was going through. But she also knew we would handle things differently," Yamasaki said. "Mostly, I asked her questions because she knew my situations with volleyball and basketball. Things like how to interact with Tara, how did it work for her?"

Ah, yes, coach VanDerveer. She can be somewhat hard to get a read on. She has this sixth-grade math-teacher voice, which is to say, kind of like a robot's.

And as we mentioned with Louisiana Tech's Leon Barmore recently, VanDerveer really doesn't look all that comfortable smiling. Because ...

She has this sixth-grade math-teacher expression, which is to say, kind of like a robot's.

Now, I don't think VanDerveer is mean or anything. But she can be a little intimidating at times. She's a blunt perfectionist, a Xs and Os addict.

That can be amusing, especially when she pokes fun at herself. Talking about the 14 days the Cardinal will have had between their last game and Tennessee, VanDerveer said, "You know me, I love to practice."

When Yamasaki was asked if she though VanDerveer actually would enjoy a "season" where all teams did was practice and never actually played games, Yamasaki almost sounded a little unnerved, as if that were a nightmare she hasn't had yet -- but might now.

Stanford's catch phrase this season, "It's no secret ... that hard work and great attitude leads to championships," also could be, "It's no secret ... that Yamasaki and VanDerveer make Felix and Oscar look like the Miller twins."

Yamasaki, in the media guide, says one word that describes herself is "fun." There's as much chance VanDerveer would offer "fun" as a self-description as there is that she'd say, "Hey, I think I'll pick the starting lineup out of a hat! Wouldn't that be zany!"

Yamasaki's had volleyball (though she played just one season), she's had injuries (tendinitis in both knees, but especially bad in the right) and she had, well, fun the last three years. And all of those things have, to some degree, either thwarted her basketball career or her relationship with VanDerveer.

Yamasaki has never been a basketball "helper." Hoops is her main thing -- and because of personnel, VanDerveer has really needed her more for her entire stay here than she actually needed Folkl.

So, yes, there have been rough patches between TVD and Yamasaki.

Yet, Yamasaki is a bright kid -- and the senior thing has clicked in. She could be torn about Stanford being in the volleyball Final Four this weekend, and her not there. But all she's thinking about -- well, now that finals are over -- is basketball. And her future there. Her play this season might well determine what that future is.

If the WNBA doesn't call, she'll probably come back for a fifth year at Stanford and play one more season of volleyball. If the WNBA does call, it will be because Yamasaki earned it through maturity.

With her play and her attitude this season, she's reaching out to VanDerveer. And to the coach's credit, she's tried to reach out, too.

"I think I'm still learning how to play for Tara, but I think she's still learning about me, too," Yamasaki said. "I'm playing the type of basketball that she wants me to play. For a long time, I saw the things she wanted me to do as restrictions to my game.

"I understand all that now. It definitely has been a lot more mental, it took a lot more of me growing up. But she also took steps in my direction."

VanDerveer doesn't throw out a lot of compliments, so her saying this means a lot to Yamasaki: "Nicole and Lindsey have done a great job for us ... Anybody's scouting report is going to start with Lindsey and Nicole."

And extend to that to Enghusen, Donaphin, Kelley Suminski, Izidor, Sebnem Kimyacioglu ...

That's Stanford. In the here and now.