If it were a running event, it would be considered outright sadistic.

It begins with a marathon, a battle for survival where both talent and endurance are at a premium. When you reach the finish line, you find out it’s not over. In fact, a new race is just beginning.

Now, it becomes a sprint. Surviving the first part only wins you the right to compete in an all-out sprint for glory. Lose the sprint and no one remembers that great marathon time.

Welcome to the college basketball season, where No. 2 Stanford (26-2, 17-1 Pacific-10 Conference) has just finished breezing through the regular season marathon.

Now, it’s time to lace up the track shoes.

After a likely three games in the Pac-10 Tournament this weekend (Stanford goes in as the No. 1 seed), the Cardinal must get ready for what could be a six-game dash through the NCAA Tournament.

Different teams. Different cities. A hectic, pressure-packed schedule.

Over the course of the conference season, Stanford found its rhythm, getting consistent effort and excellence in every facet of the game. How else do you explain an average margin of victory of 24.6 points per game?

The last time Stanford played a game that did not end in a double-digit victory? 2004. Pardon the Cardinal if they are reluctant to leave the regular season.

“There is an obvious excitement about the postseason,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “But there is a certain sense, now that the regular season is over, of ‘Where did it go?’”

Now, with nearly 30 games of wear and tear under its belt, Stanford will embark upon the most important games of the season. Are the Cardinal worried about fatigue at this critical stage?

“I remember last year, coming in from high school, [I thought] that the season [was] a lot longer, and this is the point where you really start to notice it,” sophomore Kristen Newlin said. “But this is the postseason, and this is where we’re going to get our second wind. We’ve got fresh legs [coming into the NCAA Tournament].”

March is not the time to feel the season’s minutes adding up, and this year’s Cardinal certainly should not. The team’s depth, which was just a buzzword last fall, has generated concrete benefits this spring.

While last year’s Elite Eight team saw four players each play more than 26 minutes per game, this season’s group has just two. Starting every game, senior Susan King Borchardt played a total of 1,013 minutes last season. Partially due to injury and partially due to the arrival of freshman standout Candice Wiggins, Borchardt has logged just 380 minutes thus far and enters the postseason, along with her teammates, with energy to burn.

“I felt good last year, and I feel good this year,” Borchardt said. “People will be ready to go — I don’t think [fatigue] will be a problem.”

Rested and ready for action, Stanford will still have to deal with a new set of teams and a new set of game plans, all aimed at knocking off the mighty No. 1 seed. More than likely, the Cardinal will hit the court with little knowledge of their opponent beyond video clips and scout team drills.

Nonetheless, expect Stanford to be ready.

“Our coaches aren’t going to miss a beat,” senior Sebnem Kimyacioglu said. “Every year, I’ve felt completely prepared for each [Tournament] game, maybe even more so than during [the regular season], because we spend a lot of time on scouting.”

The postseason requires a passion for preparation from every team, as players and coaches scramble to learn as much as they can about their opponent in a short period of time.

“I think our coaches do a great job of breaking [film] down and showing players’ tendencies,” VanDerveer said. “Sometimes we’ll make it into a game, like ‘Family Feud,’ and make it fun, but our players know that it’s ‘one and done,’ so they take it upon themselves to learn it.”

Yet, more than anything, the Cardinal will be up against the tournament mystique. It is the light under which the Cinderella team responds and the favorite often falters.

“When the tournament bracket comes out, it’s a little overwhelming, honestly,” said VanDerveer, who will coach her 20th team into the postseason this month. “When you see your name — Stanford — going here, playing there, it really hits you full-force.”

For a team this strong on paper, that mystique might be a greater threat than any name listed on any bracket. That is, of course, if Stanford’s roster weren’t packed with players that were in this same position just 12 months ago.

“I think the biggest advantage for us is our seniors and our upperclassmen,” Wiggins said. “It’s awesome knowing that they’ve been through this before. They’re poised, and that’s important.”

Every Cardinal player, save the four freshmen, has tasted March Madness in each of her years on the Farm.

With its first game of the Pac-10 Tournament at the HP Pavilion in San Jose Saturday night, Stanford will officially begin its postseason sprint and will only hit a higher gear March 19 with the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Runners, take your marks.