McCallie reflects on Duke women's basketball's impressive regular season, new perspective ahead of ACC tournament

<p>Head coach Joanne P. McCallie and her staff made several changes coming off one of the most tumultuous seasons in program history in 2015-16.</p>

Head coach Joanne P. McCallie and her staff made several changes coming off one of the most tumultuous seasons in program history in 2015-16.

Last season, Duke stumbled into the ACC tournament riddled with injuries and having dropped four of its last six games.

The Blue Devils were bounced in a 29-point rout before falling into the depths of their couches to watch the NCAA tournament from afar after failing to make the field of 64 for the first time since 1994.

The tides could not have turned more in just one year.

Following a resurgent season that featured adjustments from Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie and players who engineered the largest jump ever in the ACC standings for a team that finished in the top three, the third-seeded Blue Devils will open ACC tournament play in the quarterfinals Friday at 8 p.m. at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C., against sixth-seeded Syracuse. The Orange knocked off North Carolina 83-64 in the tournament’s second round Thursday night.

Although all eyes have been on first-team All-ACC players Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell for the Blue Devils, Duke finds itself riding an eight-game winning streak and best regular-season record since 2012-13 in large part because of its cohesion in the face of a program investigation and two high-profile transfers.

“It’s been a fabulous experience to go through with these kids,” McCallie said. “These kids have been funny, resilient and focused, as has my staff. My entire staff had to go through the spring together, and it’s a great example of resilience and working together, knowing what you’re doing is very good and building on it and not trying to be too affected by events that you cannot control.”

Following All-American Azurá Stevens’ transfer to Connecticut and Angela Salvadores’ decision to pursue a professional career in Spain, McCallie and her staff made several changes—hiring a full-strength coach, cutting down on film time and modifying the assistant coaches’ roles.

McCallie also said the biggest lesson she learned was which players to recruit to come to Durham.

“I love Angela and I’m not disrespecting her.... She just didn’t want the academics—I’m not sure that was her dream,” McCallie said. “My biggest takeaway was to really just enjoy the people that are attracted to Duke. Don’t try to work so hard to make it work, because it doesn’t. The basketball experience was more important for her. That’s not what we have here. We have great kids, and they want both. That’s why Lexie is here. She came here for more than the basketball experience.”

In addition to earning first-team Academic All-American honors and being named ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Brown has not looked at all like a transfer in her first season on the court for the Blue Devils (25-4).

The former Maryland star leads the team in scoring, but her ability to team with sophomore Kyra Lambert at the top of Duke’s matchup zone defense—tops in the ACC in points allowed per contest—and average 2.8 steals per game has been arguably more impressive. One might have expected lapses in communication or a longer adjustment period for Brown against ACC competition, but following a year in which she only practiced, the transition has been seamless.

“I’ve never had a player learn the defensive scheme as Lexie has in one year,” McCallie said. “Her work ethic has been so undeniable.”

With another dynamic scorer alongside her, Greenwell has looked much more comfortable and led the Blue Devils in rebounding this year. Duke also has cut 3.1 turnovers per game off its total from last season—when it ranked 328th nationally.

Lambert has slotted in nicely to her offensive role and is coming off a career-best 13-assist performance Sunday at North Carolina. One of the big questions facing the Blue Devils was how they would score inside without Stevens, but seniors Oderah Chidom and Kendall Cooper and freshman Leaonna Odom have taken advantage of the attention paid to Duke’s guards.

Even though the Blue Devils might have less raw talent on the roster, avoiding injuries and using 10 players in at least 27 of the team’s 29 games has paid dividends.

“Chemistry is such a fascinating thing,” McCallie said. “It’s such an intangible. If every coach completely understood it, we’d be incredible coaches.... It’s the sophomore class, the junior class and the seniors. Maybe that’s the secret—it’s not tilted towards any one class. The seniors are no more leaders than the sophomores are.”

McCallie noted that those results came not from her own efforts, but from the team’s leaders last offseason.

“Nobody went to USA Basketball, nobody went off and did their own thing,” McCallie said. “Everyone was able to come together. It’s a combination of the quality of the people here and some things we went through together. Adversity reveals people. They responded really well to adversity. They love Duke, they love being here and that’s a really common theme.”

Although it seems like McCallie’s first Final Four could be within reach if Duke gets hot at the right time, the No. 13 Blue Devils will begin their postseason journey against the 21st-ranked team in the country and have yet to beat a ranked team away from home this year.

Syracuse (21-9) boasts ACC Player of the Year Alexis Peterson and another high-scoring guard in Brittney Sykes—both of whom will be hungry to avenge a disappointing 72-55 loss in Durham Feb. 10.

“We’re in such a great place, and we’re just getting started,” McCallie said. “There’s a lot of hard games ahead that we’re looking at. The team is a lot of fun to coach, and what they’ve done is remarkable. There’s a lot left in them to do it, and they’re pretty good at moving on. The regular season is over, and now we start a new season.”


Ben Leonard profile
Ben Leonard

Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor 


A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks. 

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