At the beginning of the 2011-12 season, Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s last concern was her team’s depth. Against then-No. 13 Purdue Dec. 1, all nine of Duke’s players to see action scored.
Since then, though, Duke has lost three major contributors. First, the Blue Devils lost freshman forward Amber Henson in early January, who chose to have surgery after being limited in games and practice by nagging knee problems. Shortly after, sophomore guard Chloe Wells was suspended from the team for the remainder of the year due to a violation of university policy.
Most recently, Duke has lost sophomore forward Richa Jackson, who is out for the year after tearing her ACL against Virginia Tech Feb. 15.
“I’ve never had a year like this in twenty years of coaching,” McCallie said.
Without the three, the shorthanded Blue Devils still managed to finish the season 2-1 to win the ACC regular season outright, with the lone loss coming at No. 6 Maryland.
Unlike the regular season, though, tournament play allows for little rest time between games, meaning depth and fatigue issues will likely be one of the Blue Devils’ primary concerns.
In Duke’s regular season finale at North Carolina, lack of depth almost cost the Blue Devils. Sophomore forward Haley Peters missed a substantial portion of the game after taking an elbow to the mouth.
Consequently, the Blue Devils were forced to utilize a tight six-player rotation, which appeared to be a nonissue until midway through the second half when the team’s fatigue became apparent. By the time Peters returned to the court, Duke appeared to be a step slower, which helped the Tar Heels cut the Blue Devils’ 17-point lead down to just five in the closing minutes of the game.
Heading into postseason play, the Duke coaching staff will likely make some minor schematic adjustments to help keep the team fresh.
“[Less full-court pressing] is possible,” McCallie said. “I don’t think there are a lot of changes, but there might be small ones, like the use of timeouts.”
On the flip side, the loss of three players has also provided chances for new players to step up.
“I think there is tremendous opportunity for growth on our team with the players that we have fulfilling their roles,” McCallie said.
In Duke’s last two games, Allison Vernerey and Tricia Liston have averaged a combined 22 points to help fill the void.
Similarly, Haley Peters, Elizabeth Williams and Chelsea Gray, who each earned All-ACC accolades, have elevated their games, collectively averaging 40.3 points per game over the final three regular season matchups.
Ultimately, though, the same major concern exists for McCallie, regardless of how many players suit up—rebounding.
“I feel like the same issues are there [that were there when we were healthy],” McCallie said. “Consistency in rebounding was an issue before Richa went down and it’s still there and we need to solve it regardless.”
Although Henson is the only post player Duke is missing—and she averaged just 1.9 rebounds per game when healthy—the team has performed worse on the glass over its last three games, albeit against two ranked teams. Duke has outrebounded its opponents by an average of 7.7 boards per game this season, but over the last three matchups the team has grabbed 11 fewer missed shots than their opponents.
With just seven players that regularly see minutes left on the roster, though, only time will tell if the Blue Devils have the legs to get through March.
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