Howard hopes to lead Blue Devils into uncharted waters in '98

The Sporting News labels her the Atlantic Coast Conference's best playmaker in its season preview. The coach expects her to take over the reins of a team which lost over 40 percent of its offense to graduation, and run an offense revolving around two players she has not played with prior to this season. Teammates expect her to average double figures for the first time in her collegiate career.

It's not too much of a stretch to say that much of the responsibility for the success of the women's basketball team this season falls on the not-so-broad shoulders of point guard Hilary Howard.

The 5-foot-7 junior from Scarsdale, N.Y., who averaged 8.5 points and 5.0 assists per game last season, is certainly no stranger to the spotlight. At Scarsdale High School, Howard still holds the all-time career records for points and assists and remains the only player ever, male or female, to have her jersey retired by the school.

In her two seasons at Duke, however, Howard has been, at best, a solid contributor. This season, Howard hopes to shed her reputation as a steady but otherwise unspectacular point guard and develop into more of a scoring threat.

"I like to be a little bit of both, know when to be aggressive, but also know when to control it," Howard said. "I think I can run the offense and find the open player without being out of control."

A point guard becoming one of the focal points of the team certainly bucks the trend of the Blue Devils in recent years, when the offense has revolved around either a post-Ali Day in 1995-96-or a shooting guard-Kira Orr in 1996-97. But if Howard can meet all the expectations placed on her, Duke will have a good chance at bucking another trend-three straight second-round exits from the NCAA Tournament.

"It's exciting to get in the tournament, it feels good to get past the first round," coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We're at a point now in our program where that's not enough. We want more. So definitely [reaching] the Sweet 16 is a goal of ours."

If Duke is to make any noise on the NCAA stage, an entirely different cast of characters will have to provide the fireworks, for seldom has the team seen so much turnover in one year.

"I've talked to Nicole Erickson and Hilary Howard and told them I expect both of them to average double figures this year," Goestenkors said. "They're both excellent passers and good leaders, but I need them to take on a scoring role too, because they're excellent scorers, and I don't want to limit them in any way.

"It's going to take time for [Hilary] and Nicole to understand there's nobody else who's going to do it. They're going to have to do it themselves."

Well, not quite. Erickson brought someone with her when she transferred to Duke-junior Michele VanGorp. At 6-6, VanGorp is the tallest player in the history of Duke women's basketball. However, VanGorp's game does not revolve entirely around her size, she also displays a deft touch from the outside.

Despite her outside game, VanGorp may have to assert herself inside early on, because the alarming ineffectiveness of junior post Payton Black has been perhaps the biggest mystery in the preseason.

After leading the team in rebounds and finishing third in points last season, Black has all but disappeared in the preseason, scoring only four points against Moscow and and only playing eight minutes against Hungary.

"When Payton was a freshman, things were very easy for her," Goestenkors said. "She came off the bench, there weren't very many expectations placed on her, all she had to do was run the floor and score lay-ups.

"Last season, she did very well in the beginning when we went to a four-out offense, and she was able to go one-on-one inside. When Tye came back, it allowed teams to double-team Payton. She's been having great practices, she just didn't have very good games."

Browne, a member of last season's All-ACC freshman team, rounds out the projected starting line-up. The defensive specialist hopes to become more of a factor in the team's offense this season.

"In the offseason, I worked on my shot all the time, everyday," Browne said. "So I have more confidence in my shot, I'm still kind of tentative to take it. I think I'll get the feel once I get into it, I think I could [average 10-12 points]."

A problem that plagued Duke at the end of the year was its thin bench, as only departed senior Windsor Coggeshall and junior Naz Medhanie saw any significant playing time off the bench at the end of the season. This season, however, that does not appear to be the case.

In addition to Medhanie, the team adds a pair of talented freshman to its bench in Georgia Schweitzer, a poised ball-handler who can also hit the deep shot, and Rochelle Parent, an 6-0 wing player cut in the exact mold of Browne.

However, the two players whom Goestenkors cannot stop raving about are senior Shaeeta Brown and sophomore Lauren Rice. As the team's only senior, Brown has already proved her importance to the team in the locker room, but Goestenkors also hopes she can have an impact on the floor.

After an injury-plagued freshman season, Rice will see her playing time become even more crucial this season, as she is virtually the team's only viable substitute at the post position. In the exhibition against Hungary, Rice answered most skeptics with a 23 point performance.

With almost all the experts already handing the ACC crown to North Carolina, the Blue Devils will need many performances similar to the one Rice gave against Hungary if they are to provide a serious challenge to the Tar heels, something they haven't done in recent years. So perhaps the roster shuffle is a much-needed change.

"We're a different type of team than we were last year," Goestenkors said. "Taller, more physical, but probably not as athletic. So it's going to take some time to adjust to it. I think we're going to get better and better."