When top-seeded Duke (31-1) takes to the court Sunday to face No. 16 seed Georgia State (20-10) it will be excited not just for the start of the NCAA Tournament, or for the almost-home court advantage of Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum.
At the 2:45 p.m. tip-off the Blue Devils will be happy just to see its opponents in different colored jerseys.
Duke has not played a game since March 10, when it stormed back in the second half to defeat North Carolina (27-5) in the ACC Championships 77-59.
"We're ready to play somebody different," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We're ready to play. It's been a long lay off.... I think our team is ready to play. We're excited."
The first week after the championships fell during Duke's spring break, which meant that the male players who go against the team during practice were gone. By the end of the week, some Blue Devils were so sick of playing against each other that they joked about bringing N.C. State's team over for a scrimmage.
And a scrimmage is likely what theBlue Devils are going to get Sunday. Georgia State emerged from the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament by defeating
For their part, the Blue Devils are a No. 1 seed for the third consecutive year, but junior Iciss Tillis, who has played on all three teams, said it has not gotten old.
"This is always the most exciting time of the year," she said. "I don't see how anyone could ever get tired of it. Being fortunate enough to be a No. 1 seed, this is what we've worked for all year. We can't take anything like this for granted."
Last year Duke dismantled Norfolk State 95-48, and the year before it walloped Wisconsin-Milwaukee 96-63. In other scores that have to make Lady Panther head coach Lea Henry feel a little queasy, her team lost at Florida State 73-60 and at Georgia Tech 65-46. The Blue Devils beat the same opponents a combined five times by a total of 122 points.
But Georgia State will not write itself off through the transitive property of basketball. The Lady Panthers will rely on the three-point shooting of center Evita Rogers and guard Angelina Miller.
The Blue Devils' inside-outside combination of Tillis and ESPN National Player of the Year Alana Beard is in a completely different realm of existence. And with Beard benefiting from the break to rest her tired legs, the Duke duo could be ready to explode.
"It's good that we got a lot of rest," Beard said. "Although we're getting rest, we're also working really hard, getting back to basics, doing the little things in practice."
Little things include rebounding, which should be particularly easy for the Blue Devils as the Lady Panthers are 5-foot-10, 5-11 and 6-1 across the frontcourt.
If Duke is victorious, it will face the winner of the Utah-DePaul game that will immediately precede the Georgia State game in Reynolds. After last year's Final Four run, which ended with the Blue Devils gazing wide-eyed at a talented Oklahoma team in a sold-out Alamodome, Beard feels confident her team is up to the mental and emotional challenges inherent in the nationally spotlit Big Dance.
"The entire NCAA tournament, we know how to handle it," Beard said. "Even though we have five freshmen, I think we have enough upperclassmen who know what it's all about to help the freshmen through it."
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