As hard as it may seem, the No. 12 women's basketball team is going to have to put Wednesday night's 86-85 win into the back of its minds for now. The Blue Devils have another game Saturday against Florida State that won't be as exciting, but nevertheless is as important.
The first time Duke (16-3 overall, 5-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) met the Seminoles, the game was over in the first 10 minutes, as the Blue Devils cruised to a 62-point victory. While FSU still is winless in the ACC (5-12 overall), the Seminoles have played tough against some of the conference's best.
"I've got video tapes that prove that they are not the same team we played back in December," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "They played in Chapel Hill and it was tied with four minutes left. Against Clemson, they were down by 18 at halftime and they cut it to one with six minutes to play.
"They are playing with much more heart. They gave up against us the first time they played. They came back and obviously they learned a lot from that game. Ever since then, they have been playing with more intensity, with much more heart."
The players also realize the Seminoles are a much different team from when the two teams last met on Dec. 6, 1995, in Durham. Senior center Alison Day said they have caught the Seminoles on television a couple of times, and they know Florida State is going to be excited about facing a nationally-ranked foe.
"It's a huge game for them to play, to face the 12th-ranked team is huge for them," Day said. "They are going to be ready to play, and we also need to be focused and concentrate on what we need to do. I think that we will be ready. I don't think that we will overlook them."
Day believes that the Blue Devils are mature enough to know they cannot have a let down, something they were prone to in games against Maryland, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. She also knows it will be tough to get as excited about playing Florida State right after taking on arch-rival North Carolina.
"We're going to have to do a little bit extra just to get focused," Day said.
The Seminoles are on a seven-game slide, all of those losses coming within the league. But their current conference skid doesn't reflect the improvement this team has made during the year. The aforementioned games against North Carolina and Clemson are just two examples of how FSU is capable of surprising people. The Blue Devils don't want to be bitten by the upset bug.
Besides fighting the exhaustion of Wednesday's emotional win, and a plane ride to Tallahassee, Duke will be up against the poor conditions of the Seminoles' home court, Tully Gym. Goestenkors is 1-2 in Tully, losing her first two games before finally earning a win in Tallahassee, albeit a four-point squeaker, in 1995. Last year's game presented the same situation as this year's contest, since the Blue Devils are the higher-ranked opponent and the Seminoles are primed for an upset.
"Their gym is very small and very dim," Goestenkors said. "It's just a different feel--you feel like you are in a high school gym. It's a difficult place to play, and they have a lot of confidence in that gym. We can't change the lighting in the gym, but we can change the way that we prepare and make sure we understand they are going to come out and be ready for us."
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