The third player to commit to Stanford women’s basketball in the 2023 class is 4-star point guard Chloe Clardy out of Conway High School in Conway, Arkansas. Clardy joins 5-star wing Courtney Ogden and 4-star guard Nunu Agara in the Cardinal’s 2023 class. Clardy caught up with CardinalSportsReport.com about her commitment to Stanford and what she hopes to bring to The Farm.
When Clardy committed to Stanford back in August, her commitment seemed to come out of nowhere. They had been recruiting her for about a year, but her recruitment really picked up a couple months prior to her announcement. What really helped solidify her decision was her unofficial visit after getting the offer.
“The visit, I had a great time on the visit,” Clardy said. “Spending time with the coaches and the players and it’s a beautiful campus and the people, the community, it was great everybody’s nice and so I really enjoyed myself when I went there.”
Clardy is really excited about the chance to play for a legendary head coach in Tara VanDerveer. Clardy has watched Tara’s teams for years and knows the kind of coaching she’s going to get.
“Tara, she’s an amazing coach, a great coach,” Clardy said. “I’ve watched her for years, now and looked up to some players she’s coached before and I know she’s coached elite players and I want to be elite at the college level. So, I know that her and her coaching staff know [how to] push me every day to be better and never settle. So I really look forward to playing for them.
“I watched them all year, really. Especially after their championship win last year, so two years ago I guess. But I followed them. Especially in the tournament and I was very impressed by all of them and how hard they played and how fast they play and I think it’ll be a good fit for what I’m used to and what I want to go into with the fast pace and how well they play together and their chemistry is really great.”
Looking ahead to her time on The Farm, Clardy looks to bring a great work ethic and mindset to be the best player that she can be. She really prides herself on her defensive tenacity and getting after it on both ends of the floor. Her main focus between now and when she gets to Stanford is just improving her conditioning and fitness.
“Well first of all, I’m going to work hard every day,” Clardy said. “I know it’s not going to be easy and so I’m going to have to work hard and I think I play great defense, which leads to a lot of offense and I think I bring the guard, point guard one-two guard strength of it and setting up my teammates and also getting mine when it’s available…I think strength-wise and speed and trying to get in as much shape as I can right now. Because obviously the speed of the game changes a lot and the strength of it.
In terms of which players she likes to watch, Clardy has studied a variety and loves to take different things from different players. Whoever she can learn from, she’ll study and see what she can apply to her own game.
“I’ve watched a number of players,” Clardy said. “My favorite player is Breanna Stewart. But recently I started watching Chelsea Gray and I’ve watched like Diana Taurasi, the Sue Birds of course. But really everybody.”
On the academic side, Clardy is looking to major in something related to math. She hasn’t yet decided what she’ll study, but engineering seems like a path she’s likely to explore.
“I’m a math person,” Clardy said. “So I’ve thought about engineering and I know they’re like the number two in the country for the engineering program. So, I’ve been looking more into engineering and that field.”
As she looks ahead to this next chapter of her basketball career, Clardy is excited for all that awaits her. She’s always dreamed of playing college basketball at its highest level and can’t wait to get started:
“Just overall, I think I’ve been wanting to do this since I started playing basketball when I was little and I have three older siblings and they all played basketball. They didn’t play at this high of a level, but they played basketball and I watched it for years. I grew up watching college basketball and elite players and I also have dreams to be in the WNBA. So, this level of play I think it will help and help with that. So, just really excited to get out there.”
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