Will Stanford Women's Basketball's Non-Conference Schedule Snap Tournament Drought?

Regardless of which programs are on the schedule in 2026-27, the goal for Stanford women's basketball has to be to rack up enough wins to break a two-year drought of missing the NCAA tournament.

Those two seasons have come under head coach Kate Paye, who took over in 2024-25, following the retirement of Tara VanDerveer. Every season since 1987-88 that there was a tournament, VanDerveer led the program to the tournament, so there is a standard of excellence for the Cardinal on the court.

The other big change that occurred in this same time period is that Stanford moved from the Pac-12 to the ACC, finishing with an 8-10 conference record in each of the past two seasons. That is the same conference record the Cardinal held in 1986-87, the season before their streak began.

Improving the ACC record will be one key way for Stanford to play meaningful games in March. Another will be to dominate the non-conference schedule, which the program announced recently.

On Saturday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 28, Stanford will host exhibition matchups against Pacific (10/24) and UC Santa Barbara (10/28).

Monday, November 2 — Arizona (TNT Sports Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas)

Wednesday, November 4 — Saint Mary's (Home)

Friday, November 13 — Santa Clara (Away)

Friday, November 27 — Columbia (Honolulu, HI)

Saturday, November 28 — San Diego State (Honolulu, HI)

Sunday, November 29 — Hawai'i (Honolulu, HI)

Wednesday, December 2 — Auburn ( ACC/SEC Challenge in Auburn, AL)

Thursday, December 17 — Arizona State (Home)

Sunday, December 20 — Ohio State (Invisalign Bay Area Women's Classic in SF)

Stanford will have a month-long gap in between home games from November 15 against Gonzaga to December 17 against ASU. The break from December 2nd through the 17th is customary each season to account for final exams.

Conference home games (dates to be announced): Boston College, California, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. That's nine home conference games.

Conference road games (dates to be announced): Cal, Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, SMU, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. That is another nine road conference games.

The non-conference schedule contains five games at neutral locations, five games at home, and another four on the road. Last year they finished with a 21-14 record overall. This year, the non-conference schedule will be about finding some cohesion with all of the roster moves the program made .

With only 12 players on the roster, that initial two months will be about chasing wins, but also building up that depth and keeping the key cogs of the team fresh for those ACC games.