Nearly four years after Kira Orr set the all-time assists record at Duke, the graceful former captain is trying to add one more to the tally.
Monique Currie, a 6-foot senior from Bullis High School in Potomac, Md., will be making an official visit to Duke this weekend, but expect that the nation's fifth ranked player will already know her share about Duke, courtesy of Orr, the Duke point guard turned assistant athletic director at Bullis High.
"She said she loved it while she was there," Currie said of Orr, who also doubles as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team. "She said everything was great. The basketball was great, even though the team wasn't very good yet. They worked real hard and had fun. All she had to say about Duke was praise."
And for head coach Gail Goestenkors, who has gained a reputation as one of the nation's best recruiters, that kind of head start and a successful unofficial visit earlier in the month, may be more than she needs.
"When I was down there I liked all the players and I liked all the coaches," said Currie, who will be hosted by freshman Iciss Tillis. "Everything seemed really good."
A five-position player in high school who would likely play on the wing in college, Currie averaged 19.9 points, nine rebounds and seven assists per game to lead the Bullis Bulldogs to the Maryland AA state championship last season-the first in school history-and to the No. 1 slot in the Washington Post's D.C. metro area rankings.
But while her talent may be world class, her list of choices is much more homebound.
The Potomac, Mary., resident is considering a handful of East coast schools as her final list, a list that includes Duke, North Carolina, Rutgers and Maryland, with Virginia rumored to be the leader.
"Those are the schools that I have seen around here mostly," Currie said. "The ACC is a really good league with good competition."
An aggressive on court player, Currie should readily fit into a Duke system tailor-made for highly versatile players like reigning ACC Player of the Year Georgia Schweitzer and Currie.
"She's so talented and can do so many good things, she'll fit in easily," Orr said. "She's also very competitive and that's something Coach G looks for. She plays the style of game that Coach G likes. That's Monique's game."
And with Schweitzer set to depart after this season and with fifth-year senior Missy West and guard/forward Rochelle Parent also graduating, the backcourt could open up for the 2000 USA Today All-American.
"There's the potential for her to make huge impact in the Duke system right off the bat," Orr said, "but that depends on how hard she works this year."
Currie would join Atlanta's Wynter Whitley, who committed to the Blue Devils in late June, as the second member of Goestenkors 2001 recruiting class, and would mark the fifth top-20 player Goestenkors has signed in the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, Goestenkors, like everybody else, will have to wait for a decision.
"Mid-October," Currie said, "mid-October."
And as far as Goestenkors likely figures, that's just enough time for a quick visit to the assistant athletic director's office.
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