When it comes to Duke basketball, the women's team has been stuck in the shadows of its male counterpart for the better part of the last decade. This season, however, the Blue Devils' early season surge is evidence that times are a changin'.
Based on the recent history of the Duke women's basketball program, it's tough to imagine the team having any serious postseason goals. After all, Duke has had a 20-victory season and a winning record in the conference just once, and the Blue Devils have made only one trip to the NCAA women's basketball tournament. And that was all in the mid-1980s, long before head coach Gail Goestenkors or any of the current players had arrived in Durham.
But after a 14-2 start (5-1 in the ACC), the No. 25 Blue Devils are striving for more.
Three years ago, Goestenkors took over a program which was near the bottom of the ACC. Her first year at Duke did not change this situation much. The team finished 12-15 overall and 3-13 in the ACC.
"Coach Goestenkors was really patient the first year," senior co-captain Carey Kauffman said. "We had to learn a whole new style of play. Then last year we felt like we could win some games. This year we know that we should win our games. You can't expect a one-year turnaround."
But Goestenkors did not want the program to continue to flounder near the bottom of the conference for long.
"The first year, our goal was to work hard and to improve," Goestenkors said. "We didn't win any games in the first round of conference games. But then the next time around we beat three teams. We showed a lot of improvement during that year."
Duke continued its improvement last season. The Blue Devils won seven conference games and finished the year with a 16-11 record. And going into its final road trip of the season, the team felt it had a chance to secure a bid to the NCAA tournament. But the Blue Devils dropped a pair of games at Florida State and Georgia Tech and subsequently lost to Maryland in the first round of the ACC tournament.
"That was really devastating for us," Kauffman said. "It made us sick. It was a hard feeling to take for a year, and as much as it hurt, I think it's been good for us this year."
The Blue Devils' failure to win those games and make the NCAA tournament at the end of last season has made them even more hungry for success this year.
"Last year, when we had some difficult games, we didn't feel confident," Goestenkors said. "But this year, we are confident in all our games. We don't want to let games slip through our fingers again this year. Each individual on our team was determined to come back better than ever."
Confidence is not the only thing which is improved about this year's Duke squad. The players are also more experienced and more accustomed to playing together.
"Last year, for the juniors and seniors it was only the second year of the system, and we had a big freshman class come in," sophomore guard Kira Orr said. "It was a year of half the team being kind of into it and half being new to it. This year, we know a lot more things."
Recruiting has also been a key part of the program's recent success. Four members of this year's team -- sophomores Orr, Tyish Hall, Windsor Coggeshall and freshman Jennifer McGinnis -- are playing for Duke because of Goestenkors' push to recruit top high school players.
"A big part of our recruiting class was that Coach G kept telling us, `we're not in the top 25 now, but you've got to believe that we can get there'," Orr said. "We believed it."
And the Blue Devils have already reached the lofty plateau of the Associated Press top 25. Perhaps the team's biggest win this season was its road victory at Maryland. Although the Terrapins are struggling this year, they have tormented the Blue Devils in the past -- including a 60-45 victory in the ACC tournament last year which abruptly ended Duke's season.
"For us, it was kind of a mental barrier to win at Maryland," Kauffman said. "Maryland is known nationally as far as women's basketball goes. But every ACC win is very important."
The Blue Devils have taken over Maryland's role as one of the ACC's best teams, along with Virginia and defending national champion North Carolina. Duke will get its first shot at the third-ranked Tar Heels on Wednesday at 7 p.m., when the teams meet in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But with a top-25 ranking and more national attention, the Blue Devils can no longer surprise teams as underdogs.
"We're not going to settle for how we've done so far," Kauffman said. "The games we've won we should have won anyway. This year we are favorites. We'll be favorites for all our games except UNC and Virginia. That's pressure in itself. That makes us work harder."
The Blue Devils aren't afraid of the Tar Heels or the Cavaliers, though.
"We feel good about ourselves," Goestenkors said. "We can beat anybody in the country if we play to our potential. We can also lose to anybody."
And even though the team has gained national recognition with some big wins, it still needs to prepare for every contest.
"As of yet, we haven't reached any of our goals for the season," Goestenkors said. "We've still got a way to go."
Some of the players think that they will be able to exceed their preseason goals.
"I think it would be unbelievable if we could win the ACC tournament," Kauffman said.
And the future could bring even better results for the Blue Devils. Recruiting continues to be strong, and this year's sophomores should join juniors Alison Day and Jennifer Scanlon in stepping up and becoming team leaders in upcoming seasons.
"We definitely could get better and better as the years go on," Orr said.
How much better can the Duke women's basketball team become?
"Eventually we want to win a national championship," Goestenkors said.
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