MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has been diplomatic about this all along. The Cardinal have known the entire season they wouldn't get to host the NCAA tournament because their home, Maples Pavilion, was the site of the Pac-12 gymnastics championship, held Saturday. No. 2 seed notwithstanding, the Cardinal would be on the road for the Big Dance.
And it looked for a while Saturday that it was going to be a pretty short trip for Stanford. New Mexico State took the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles. The Aggies had won 17 games in a row coming into the NCAA tournament.