The fun comes when the uninitiated get a close look at Bulldogs basketball?s greatest natural resource, the senior point guard Courtney Vandersloot. She?s built like a wheat stalk and, at 5 feet 8 inches, is easy to overlook until the ball is in her hands.

?She starts passing the ball and you?ll hear people go ?Wow!? or ?Oh my God!?�? Kelly Bowen, a junior forward from Australia, said Sunday. ?When guys, especially, see what Courtney does, then we all get a little bit more respect.?

The Hall of Fame guard John Stockton, who starred at Gonzaga before playing 19 seasons for the Utah Jazz, has compared Vandersloot, a senior guard from the Seattle suburb of Kent, to the hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Gonzaga Coach Kelly Graves said: ?She is the absolute standard by which every other player I will ever coach will be judged. She?s that incredible.?

The N.C.A.A. tournament is introducing the world outside the West Coast Conference, where Gonzaga reigns like Godzilla, to Vandersloot, who has led the 11th-seeded Bulldogs (31-4) to their first regional final appearance. Gonzaga, the lowest women?s seed to advance to the Round of 8, will face top-seeded Stanford, a perennial West Coast powerhouse, on Monday at Spokane Arena, with the winner advancing to the Final Four next week in Indianapolis.

?If you?ve never seen Courtney play, she?s mesmerizing,? Graves said. ?It?s hard to take your eyes off her.?

He added: ?Her vision on the basketball court is amazing. She is a step ahead of everybody.?

With seven assists in Gonzaga?s 76-69 victory Saturday night against Louisville in the Round of 16, Vandersloot surpassed the 24-year-old single-season N.C.A.A. record of 355 held by Penn State?s Suzie McConnell.

In the Bulldogs? second-round upset of U.C.L.A., Vandersloot became the first N.C.A.A. Division I player, male or female, to amass career totals of 2,000 points and 1,000 assists. She is averaging 19.6 points and 10.2 assists a game.

By comparison, Bobby Hurley finished his Duke career with 1,731 points and 1,076 assists. Vandersloot?s childhood idol, Sue Bird, who plays for the Seattle Storm, had 1,378 points and 585 assists at Connecticut.

?Quite frankly, I?ve run out of adjectives to describe what she does,? Graves said.

To play alongside Vandersloot, who is averaging 30.7 points and�10.3 assists in the tournament, is to learn very quickly to keep one?s hands up in the air on offense. ?You may not think you?re open,? Katelan Redmon, a junior swingman, said, ?and the next thing you know, the ball?s flying at you.?

Kayla Standish, a 6-3 junior forward, learned the hard way to always be prepared for Vandersloot?s passes. At her first day of practice as a freshman, she said, she was struck in the face by a ball zinged to her by Vandersloot during a five-on-five drill.

?I remember her saying: ?What are you doing? Why didn?t you catch that ball?? and thinking: ?Holy cow. I don?t know how I?m going to be able to do this,?�? Standish said.

This teeth-baring portrait of Vandersloot is at odds with her shy, off-court persona, an incongruity she ascribes to her competitiveness.

?On the floor, I don?t consider myself shy at all,? she said. ?I just want to win.?

It is a huge responsibility to shepherd the career of a once-in-a-lifetime talent, which is how Graves describes Vandersloot. During her sophomore season, Graves asked Stockton, who returned to his hometown after his 2003 retirement, if he would be willing to work with Vandersloot.

?I kind of ran it by John,? Graves said, ?then gave Courtney his number and said, ?I can be a great coach to you, but he can help you with things I can?t see.?�?

Stockton was amenable, but N.C.A.A. rules prohibited him from contacting Vandersloot. It took her several days, she said, to overcome her shyness and make the initial call.

?But he made me feel so welcome,? Vandersloot said. ?He just wanted to help, and that?s the best thing about him is that he wants to share his knowledge.?

Vandersloot eventually joined Stockton?s son, David, a redshirt freshman guard at Gonzaga, at the gym to work with Stockton, who has instilled in her the belief that if you have enough confidence in your skills, there is no such thing as a low-percentage play.

Asked when she realized her court vision separated her from her peers, Vandersloot said: ?I don?t think it was very long ago. I really just assumed I was getting all of the assists because of the people I was surrounded by.?

Her teammates know better. ?She?s the best player I?ve ever been around,? Bowen said.