THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512100275
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
From here, they go to Arkansas. Then it's on to Indiana and Ohio, before a break for Christmas.
``We're feeling it,'' Tara VanDerveer said of her U.S. women's national basketball team, which has been on the road all but three days since Oct. 26 and has logged almost 15,000 miles through the air.
``We don't want people getting run down, and we don't want them to get hurt,'' she said, ``but we're trying to learn who can hang.''
In defeating Old Dominion 97-40 Saturday night, VanDerveer's globe-trotters showed once again that not even the finest college teams can hang with our 1996 Olympians.
As it racks up victories by an average of more than 40 points, the national team is learning that the games are the easiest part of its tour over America.
``We go from the airport to the hotel to the gym,'' guard Jennifer Azzi said. ``I took a walk by myself the other day, and I had forgotten how good something like that could feel.''
VanDerveer acknowledges the unusual demands placed on her staff and players. A national team is something new for U.S. women's basketball as it tries to move out of the bronze age and grab the gold.
Throwing together an all-star team still works when the players are NBA legends in the making. But the women have gone back to the future by using the old Eastern-bloc blueprint.
As a result, for all its extraordinary talent, the women's national team couldn't be more different from the men's Olympic squad. First of all, it is an actual team. The women are not a collection of free-lancing egos turned loose to dunk, howl and posture for the cameras.
In part because of the men's embarrassing demonstrations of bizarre masculinity, the women's game becomes all the more appealing. It is safe for basketball fans - and all Americans - to root for the U.S. women. They will not make you feel ashamed or exploited.
Not that the women aren't promoters, too. They appear at schools and shopping malls. They sign autographs after their open practice sessions.
``You get to touch a lot of lives,'' is the way Azzi puts it.
But trying to sell your game can be an exhausting job.
``To a certain extent,'' VanDerveer said, ``this is all very mental.''
It beats the alternative, she figures.
``They could be not playing basketball at all,'' she said. ``Or they could be working at a J-O-B job. Or playing and living in a foreign country where you spend a lot of time by yourself and you have huge phone bills.''
Most of the players have spent several seasons in Europe, reaping the financial rewards that come with the loneliness of working in places with different customs and languages.
``If you can deal with that,'' said Azzi, 27, who has played in Sweden, Italy and France, ``this is nothing. At least if you're having a bad day, you can talk to somebody.''
For patriotic and psychic reasons, the players gladly accepted the pay cuts that came with joining the national team, in some cases giving up six-figure salaries for the $50,000 stipend USA Basketball is shelling out.
``You can't put a dollar amount on what we're doing,'' said Carla McGhee, a 27-year-old forward from Tennessee. ``It's a chance of a lifetime to represent your country.''
Also, McGhee said, it feels good to be home ``watching normal TV and eating normal food.''
In January, the national team gets a different taste of basketball and life when it travels to Siberia for a two-week tour. Later comes a series of games in Australia and China.
``If you can't push through this,'' VanDerveer said, ``what are you going to do when you face the tough national teams?''
The world has caught up with American women's basketball, as a U.S. bronze at the '92 Olympics and another the '94 world championships prove.
As the Atlanta Games approach, the desire for a gold medal, always a priority, has apparently grown into a crusade. How else do you explain why eight major U.S. corporations have joined the effort?
The financial contributions, national publicity and marquee players combine to create huge expectations. This time, only gold will do. There is a lot of work yet to be done.
``Just because you throw together great musicians,'' VanDerveer said, ``that doesn't mean you have a great orchestra.''
This is a cautious coach's warning: The games against top collegiate talent might be misleading. And maybe they are.
But if the women of the national team keep hitting the sweet notes of cooperation and finesse, the rest of us should be more than willing to hang with them. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot\ Coach Tara VanDerveer
knows she's putting her U.S. women's national team under a lot of
pressure.
by CNB