Tara VanDerveer looks like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary.

	While at Stanford, Jamie Carey was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

"How's practice?" someone asks as the Stanford coach nods, eyes wide. "How about those freshman?" comes the follow-up. VanDerveer continues nodding, looking like she's about to burst.

Why shouldn't she? VanDerveer has spent the last three years watching the program she built into a national powerhouse struggle, albeit at a level that many other programs around the nation would hardly consider struggling.

The team that made four consecutive trips to the Final Four went two years (1998 and 1999) without a Pac-10 title and without getting out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Cardinal did get out of that first round, beating Michigan in overtime before falling to Georgia. And the road to rebuilding was laid.

"Last year we wanted to go further," sophomore guard Jamie Carey said. "This year we expect to go further."

And the expectations reach outside of Maples Pavilion as well.

As the 2000 season begins, the Cardinal begin where they have started so many others -- high in the rankings and as the prohibitive favorite to win the conference.

"This is a return in some respects," concedes VanDerveer. "This team definitely has a retro feel. We expect to have a great year."

On paper -- the only real way to judge until the first ball is tipped -- Stanford would appear to have all the requisite qualities of an elite team: size, depth, experience and a load of young talent.

Back are Carey, the reigning Pac-10 freshman of the year, juniors Bethany Donaphin, Lauren St. Clair and Lindsey Yamasaki, who elected to end her volleyball career, as well as seniors Carolyn Moos and Sarah Dimson.

And then there are the freshmen, from Minnesota-bred point guard Susan King to guard Nicole Powell, regarded by some as the finest girl's basketball player ever to come out of Arizona. Rookie Chelsea Trotter, the forward/center out of Brea-Olinda in Southern California, led her prep team to three straight state titles.

Beyond Carey and King, everybody else is at least 6 feet 1.

Flashback to the mid-1990s, when Stanford could bring wave after wave of big, talented players off its bench to pound opponents ranked and otherwise into submission.

Unlike 1995, when VanDerveer was blessed with the freshman class of Olympia Scott, Naomi Mulitauaopele and Heather Owen, VanDerveer's current youngsters are spread all over the court.

All this depth gives VanDerveer choices. It also makes practices very competitive, as even the veteran players know they are fighting for a spot on the floor.

"This team is extremely talented, and I think it will make people accountable," VanDerveer said. "You have to bring your A-game to practice and your A-game to games because people are going to push you."

At the moment, good health prevails, with slight bumps in the road. Yamasaki did not get as much offseason work as her coach would have hoped with a stress fracture in her left foot. Carey had offseason surgery on her ankle and St. Clair also had surgery on her left shoulder.

The depth of talent will allow those players to heal. And the experience of those veteran players will allow the youngsters to be shielded from some of the growing pains that many on the roster had to experience when they were forced to play -- and play a lot -- before they were ready.

"This group isn't going to get thrown to the wolves," VanDerveer said. "The juniors I have now had to play right away. They didn't get to benefit from the experience of veteran players and they had to deal with situations they weren't ready for."

VanDerveer's one-year absence from the program in 1996, when she coached the U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal, had an undoubted effect on recruiting. It also drained the coach's energy, even months after she had returned from Atlanta and to her basketball program.

"The fact is, I couldn't be out there watching," VanDerveer said. "And high school players don't care if you are coaching the Olympic team. They want you to be writing to them, calling.

"But if you talked to Nell (Fortner) right now, she'd probably say she is exhausted. It's the energy that gets you more than anything, the energy you need for recruiting and for working with your team."

Meanwhile, other programs in the Pac-10 -- UCLA, Oregon and Arizona -- rose to prominence. While Stanford went through its "dark years", the spotlight shone elsewhere. And there were more than a few people nationally who seemed to relish that.

"I saw that more on the national level," Arizona coach Joan Bonvincini said. "I think that anytime you are that good and you do it every year, everyone wants to see you take a tumble."

VanDerveer can't worry about that. Nor does she spend much time concentrating on personal achievements. She is three wins away from the 500th victory of her coaching career. That will not be her measure of success, however, because that milestone will likely happen in November. March is all that really counts.

"I don't like to make predictions," VanDerveer said coyly. "But I like coaching this team."

Michelle Smith of the San Francisco Examiner is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.