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Barnes: Chill Out
12/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. ? We interrupt our regularly scheduled feature for a news flash. All Duke women's basketball fans who are reaching for their Maalox might want to take a pill instead ? a chill pill.
The sky is not falling, the sun still rises in the East and everything is fine with the Duke women ? at least it will be when they get healthy and can sleep in their own beds for more than 24 hours.
A 5-3 start would be fine most places, but some Blue Devil fans are sounding the alarm. Here's the deal folks ? 7-1 is as good as it could be, and give them a break for not winning at Vanderbilt. Nobody beats Connecticut right now and maybe all year. The Huskies, who handled Duke 74-48 in the Paradise Jam final, have not even been to a Final Four, much less cut down the nets, since Diana Taurasi left in 2004 after winning three straight titles. But coach Geno Auriemma and staff have hauled in enough talent this year and last to end that streak, and there is more coming in next year. Also remember that two years ago, even with Lindsey Harding, Alison Bales AND Monique Currie, Duke needed overtime to eliminate UConn and move on to Boston for the Final Four.
There is a fine line between explanations and excuses, so I will leave it up to you to decide.
However, I offer my take on the season so far with the same objectivity that you've heard for the last 10 years on the Duke Radio Network and read in this space. Okay, here goes: It's not about a coaching change, although there has been a bit of a learning curve for the players and new staff members. It is about injuries, a brutal early-season travel schedule and a lack of consistency at times that can be traced back to the first two elements.
After the first exhibition game, new coach Joanne P. McCallie said four players had earned starting spots ? Chante Black, Wanisha Smith, Abby Waner and Carrem Gay. Since then, they have played together very little.
Waner, a preseason All-ACC pick and one of the deadliest outside shooters in America, went down with an ankle injury in practice after the opener in Denver, missed three full games, then returned at less than full strength for UConn and Vandy.
Smith, who was tabbed as one of the top five wing players in the country by ESPN, jammed her right wrist into the floor trying to break her fall in the first half of the South Florida game, then played the three games in at the Paradise Jam basically one-handed. It hurt to catch the ball and she shot her free throws left-handed against Purdue. She missed half the UConn game and didn't play against Vandy, where Duke lost 68-55 last week.
As a senior, Smith brings leadership, dependability and experience to the floor every time out along with a knack for making a play on either end when her team needs one. Her status is game-to-game depending on how fast she heals.
Of the four, Black is the only one to start every game and she's doing great. The 6-foot-5 fourth-year junior from Winston-Salem missed last season with a knee injury but has returned to post six straight games of double figures scoring and three double-doubles.
Depth in the post has been a strength early with Gay, Joy Cheek and Krystal Thomas all performing well in different ways. That depth will be tested for at least two weeks as Thomas hurt her kneecap at Vanderbilt and hobbled off the team plane on crutches.
No point guard was among the four players who nailed down the starting spots early and none has emerged yet. Senior Emily Waner earned her first two starts at Duke and leads the team in assists. Preseason rookie of the year Jasmine Thomas had yet to start through the first eight games, but has played more minutes than Emily Waner. However, because of Abby Waner's injury, some of that time has been at the shooting guard spot, which delays her development at the point.
Third-year sophomores Brittany Mitch and Keturah Jackson have started in the backcourt along with true sophomore Bridgette Mitchell. In fact, the Devils have used a different starting lineup in each of the first seven games and all nine non-freshmen have started at least once. Five Blue Devils have made their first career starts in the season's first seven games.
Coach McCallie says she's more concerned about who is in the game at key points than who starts, but she and her staff are ready to see someone step up and claim the point guard spot.
The schedule hasn't helped. What was the previous regime thinking when they scheduled seven of the first eight games on the road? It's tempting to answer that they weren't planning on being around to endure it, but that would be unfair and untrue. A program official tells me that Duke wanted the Vanderbilt game to be played later in December, but Vandy insisted on the recent date.
Don't get me wrong ? there's no whining about the quality of opponents. It's great to play several ranked teams in preseason, but it's also nice to have more than one of them at home. Duke played three tough, physically demanding games in four nights at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, then rose at 6 a.m. for an all-day trip home the Monday after Thanksgiving. After a full day of classes, they got on another plane Tuesday evening to fly to Nashville for the Vandy game. It was another post-midnight landing followed by two days of classes before another flight to Penn State for the first ACC-Big Ten Women's Challenge, where they lost their third straight, at the buzzer, 86-84.
I understand that college athletes are in much better shape than your average broadcaster/writer, and that there are worse places to be than the Virgin Islands for Thanksgiving. But please, everybody needs a chance to regroup now and then. I also know that it's a privilege to play college basketball on scholarship at an institution like Duke and that many others in the world have greater hardships. Remember, this is an attempt to assess the early part of the women's season, and travel has been a huge factor.
There have been plenty of bright spots so far. The injuries have created opportunities for all the players to see the floor at key times. The freshmen have made fine progress and the other underclassmen have performed well at times. All will be right in the program's world when healing occurs and almost constant travel abates. There might be a few more losses ahead, only time will tell about that. However, if you are grousing about a so-called “slow start,” ask yourself if you would rather lose two of your first seven and finish strong, or two of your last four to spoil a great season.
The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Duke University or the Duke University Department of Athletics.
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