STANFORD >> The NCAA basketball selection committee couldn’t resist a good storyline just as Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer suspected.

The Hall of Fame coach was not surprised Monday when the fourth-seeded Cardinal was paired against No. 13 San Francisco in a rich Bay Area NCAA tournament matchup between coaching friends.

VanDerveer, 62, will face her protege in USF’s Jennifer Azzi on Saturday in the first round of the Lexington Regional at Maples Pavilion. Fifth-seeded Miami and No. 12 South Dakota meet in the opening game at 3:30 p.m. The winners advance to the second round Monday at Maples.

In 1990, Azzi helped VanDerveer turned Stanford into a national power, leading the Cardinal to its first of two NCAA titles when the point guard was the college player of the year.

Now 47, Azzi has guided the Dons (21-11) to their first NCAA appearance since 1997 after enduring four losing seasons to start her Division 1 coaching career.

“It’s a nice sidebar,” VanDerveer said. “It is a great story. I just don’t want it be the (ital the) story.”

Stanford (24-7) enters its 30th NCAA tournament after losing to Washington in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament two weeks ago. The Cardinal is trying to advance to its ninth consecutive Sweet 16 — and perhaps even farther as the team jells for the postseason.

Meanwhile, USF stunned Brigham Young in the title game last week to earn the West Coast Conference’s automatic berth.

“We have a bad taste in our mouth; they have a good taste in their mouth,” VanDerveer said of the schools who will meet for the first time since 2010 when Azzi took over the Dons’ program.

“If they play the way she plays they’ll be running and shooting 3s — that was her game,” VanDerveer said.

When Azzi suffered through growing pains with four consecutive losing seasons VanDerveer was there for support.

“She just encouraged me to stay with it,” the 1996 Olympian said recently.

The Bay Area schools landed in a tough regional with Notre Dame earning the top seeding, followed by No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Kentucky. If Stanford advances past the weekend it faces a potential rematch against Notre Dame in the Sweet 16. The Fighting Irish soundly defeated the Cardinal 81-60 last year.

Although it’s a new experience for San Francisco, senior guard Zhane Dikes doesn’t expect the Dons to get overwhelmed by college basketball’s showcase event.

“I’ve never even gotten close to something like this before so … I’m just going to go in that thing attacking with a smile on my face,” she said. “Why stop now?”

Junior guard Rachel Howard of Berkeley said participating in March Madness is sweeter because the players have helped build the program.

“When you aren’t given everything on a platter it keeps you in check,” she said. “It means so much more to us than to schools that have chartered planes.”

Azzi, who got a five-year contract extension in July, added that she had no idea how to coach an NCAA tournament game.

“It’s going to be fun,” Azzi said. “I don’t think it’s any more complicated that.”

Stanford, on the other hand, needs to recalibrate after losing to Washington.

“The game helped us get ready for a tournament-like atmosphere,” star forward Erica McCall said.

The Women’s Final Four is scheduled April 3-5 in Indianapolis. Top-ranked Connecticut (32-0) is the No. 1 overall seed. The Huskies are trying to win their fourth consecutive national championship with the same class. South Carolina and Baylor got the other regional top seedings. Five Pac-12 schools made the tournament, led by No. 2 seeded Oregon State and Arizona State. No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 Washington are the others.