ESPN Women's NCAA Tournament 2008

TAMPA, Fla. -- Kate Starbird said her heart was feeling it as soon as she got to Florida around midnight Saturday. Then the ol' ticker was really pounding in the final minutes of Stanford's 82-73 victory over Connecticut on Sunday.

It wasn't that she didn't think Stanford would win … just that she was, well, nervous. Meanwhile, Jennifer Azzi felt completely confident that the Cardinal were going to get the semifinal victory.

Perhaps that reflects their different experiences as Stanford players in the Final Four for coach Tara VanDerveer. Azzi had a remarkable senior season in 1989-90. Along with backcourt mate Sonja Henning, and Val Whiting and Katy Steding, Azzi led the Cardinal to a national championship at a Final Four in her home state of Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Starbird went to the Final Four three consecutive seasons with the Cardinal (1995-97) and lost in the semifinals each year. The first of those losses, in fact, was to UConn.

Then her last memory as a college player was an 83-82 overtime loss to Old Dominion that just flat-out broke Cardinal hearts. In the 11 years since, Stanford hasn't gone back to the Final Four

Starbird and her teammates cried a bucketful of saltwater in 1997. Azzi's final moments as a college player were celebratory.

So as they stood and cheered Sunday at the St. Pete Times Forum with several other former Cardinal players, they had those different flashbacks. But they were all united in this: They love their alma mater and this year's team. So much so that a large group of them came from their busy lives all over the country to be here in person.

Azzi, Henning, Starbird, Vanessa Nygaard, Jamila Wideman, Charmin Smith, Milena Flores, Heather Owen … those were the ones I spotted in the stands. Azzi said she'd seen Steding in town, too. Smith, who is now an assistant at rival Cal, was able to sport her Cardinal T-shirt again for a game. And, of course, former players Kate Paye and Bobbie Kelsey are on the Stanford coaching staff.

"It says something about the program that we all feel so much loyalty to it and to Tara," said Starbird, who's currently working on her Ph.D. at Colorado. "I knew Stanford had been peaking at the perfect time. And when I watched them at the regional, I thought they really had the right pieces. I had a good feeling coming into this game."

Azzi -- who is booked with speaking engagements that include working with the NBA and WNBA -- had an even better feeling. She was quite convinced that Stanford matched up much better with UConn than most people realized. She predicted to her fellow alums that the Cardinal would win by eight points. Stanford won by nine.

"You know, it's funny because I've known a lot of these guys for a long time -- but never played with most of them," Azzi said of players such as Starbird who are younger than she is. "But we all have that bond.

"Tara had us all come in [Saturday] and talk to the team. I was thinking, 'Wow, we really do have a history.' It makes it so much fun for us as alumni to feel that sense of family."

In the locker room after Sunday's game, Stanford senior Candice Wiggins mentioned the alumnae visit to the current team as "inspirational."

But that isn't just because of their achievements on the court.

"The quality of people who have come through the program is unbelievable," Azzi said. "The things that people are doing beyond basketball. We have attorneys and doctors, people on school boards, volunteers in their communities -- it makes you feel proud of where we come from and now being here to watch where this team is. They've created their own Stanford basketball chapter. They have a kind of magic about them that's made me a fan of them."

Mechelle Voepel of The Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.