Molly Rules In L.a.

That includes off-season conditioning. VanDerveer enlisted the services of Stanford director of track Brooks Johnson , who designed workouts for most members of the team. "I used to think I was in shape," Whiting said. "Then I came here."

One unfortunate aspect of the women's Final Four is that the title game is played the day after the semis. VanDerveer, however, was unconcerned. "If it comes down to conditioning," she said on Friday, "I'll be very happy."

She would have been just as happy for it to come down to who had watched the most game tape. VanDerveer's love of video is legendary. Two years ago, on a road trip from Tempe to Tucson in Arizona , she discovered that the bus carrying the team was equipped with a VCR. She screamed for the driver to stop and, in the middle of the desert, dug through her luggage stowed underneath the bus to find game tape. Her players were subjected to two extra hours of videotape analysis.

On the way to the Sports Arena on Sunday morning, VanDerveer popped another tape into the VCR. "We all started to groan," said Goodenbour, "and then on came the highlights from the dream season, the 1990 championship. It made us realize what we could do."

It gave them the same inspiration that VanDerveer had gotten from the NCAA championship banner. The banner that will no longer hang alone.