In college basketball, when you are picked to win your conference and ranked in the top five in most preseason polls, you become a target for other teams.
Just ask the women's basketball team and Georgia Schweitzer.
After their strongest finish ever in the NCAA Tournament last year, expectations were very high for the Blue Devils going into the 1998-99 campaign.
Due to the high expectations and a tough schedule, however, Duke has already seen its share of challenges and adversity this season. After starting out with a 1-3 record and losing their place among the nation's elite, the Blue Devils have regrouped and are currently leading the ACC thanks largely to a 10-game winning streak.
One player that has had to deal with both the team's struggles and challenges of her own is Schweitzer.
The sophomore guard, after an excellent freshman campaign in which she contributed nearly eight points per game and earned ACC All-Freshman Team honors, came into preseason workouts ready to play an even greater role on this year's squad.
Unfortunately, a few weeks before Duke's first game, Schweitzer tore cartilage in her left knee and was forced to have surgery. She recovered quickly from the surgery only to reinjure herself shortly after, and since then has been plagued by various recurring injuries ranging from a twisted knee to cracked ribs.
"More than anything, with the injuries, it's mental," Schweitzer said. "I was never really in a lot of pain. Luckily, I have a pretty high pain tolerance."
While Schweitzer hasn't been injured to the extent that's she has been unable to play, she says it's only her love of the game that keeps her on the floor despite the nagging injuries.
"It gets you so frustrated," Schweitzer said. "I felt like every time I stepped on the court, I was getting hurt. Mentally you are kind of nervous [that it will happen again], but you just deal with it and roll with the punches."
In addition to playing with cracked ribs that she describes as the most pain she has ever felt and a shoulder injury that limits her ability to effectively throw overhead passes, Schweitzer has been asked to shoulder more of the scoring burden as of late. Surprisingly, despite all of the challenges that Schweitzer has had to face, she has played some of her best basketball in a Duke uniform the past month.
In one game back in December, she came up big in the second half of a tough road victory over then-No. 9 UCLA. Schweitzer scored 22 points, 18 in the second half, and helped the Blue Devils come back from a 16-point deficit.
Someone had to step up into the void left by the injured Nicole Erickson, and Schweitzer answered the call.
"When I have injuries, it makes me concentrate more on basketball, instead of the pain," Schweitzer said. "I seem to play really well even when I have an injury."
Schweitzer, who played point guard in high school and has experience at all of the perimeter positions, brings a certain versatility to the team that opponents have a hard time preparing against.
Using her six-foot frame, Schweitzer scores a lot on layups created by slashing to the basket, but she also can knock down the long-range shot. Her height is something that opposing defenders don't have to contend with when facing guards Erickson or Hilary Howard, who both stand at 5-foot-6.
The confidence that coach Gail Goestenkors has in Schweitzer's abilities is evidenced by how much she expects of the sophomore. As of late, Schweitzer has been asked to play mainly off guard, where most of Duke's offense is generated.
"[Georgia's] been phenomenal," Goestenkors said. "She's really stepped up, especially since Nicole got injured. She's running the one, the two and the three for us-all the perimeter positions. She's doing a great job."
Schweitzer doesn't like to focus on her own accomplishments and instead chooses to emphasize the turnaround the entire team has made since its early season slump.
"The difference now is that we are not scared to face those people that beat us-Tennessee, Notre Dame, UConn," Schweitzer said. "We look forward to playing them again."
Before Schweitzer and the Blue Devils will have another crack at those teams, they have more important things to worry about.-like the big matchup with archrival North Carolina tonight.
The game will serve as yet another challenge for Schweitzer and a Blue Devil squad that has seen more than its share of adversity this season.
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