BOSTON - In her five years at Duke, Monique Currie has been a part of three Final Four and two Elite Eight teams. The senior All-American has come close to winning a national title-which would be the first in program history-but has never made it to the championship game until now.
For Currie and the rest of her teammates, the prospect of winning a National Championship has been looming overhead all season. Deeper and more balanced than in years past, Duke has held the goal of bringing a banner home to Cameron Indoor Stadium in the back of its mind.
Currie, who considered leaving the Blue Devils for the WNBA after last year, said part of the reason she decided to return for a final season was to help solidify the program's national reputation for head coach Gail Goestenkors.
"I know people knock her because we haven't won a National Championship and I just wanted to be a part of something that would make history for her and get her over that hump," Currie said. "[I wanted to] at least give her the chance to accomplish that goal that we've all had since I was a freshman, every year."
And despite the upcoming finals matchup against Maryland-one of just two teams Duke lost to this season and a conference opponent that it is more than familiar with-the Blue Devils have not shown signs that they are phased. The players said they are not nervous, but rather confident, and they plan to treat their final game of the season just like any other.
"This year, it's different because I feel like this team is more prepared than we have ever been for any situation," senior Mistie Williams said. "I think the freshmen have done a tremendous job in not getting caught up in all of this, too. We've done a great job keeping everybody really calm and making sure everybody realizes that we're only here for one reason, and that's to win."
In the past, Goestenkors said she and her players felt pressured in the NCAA Tournament to capture Duke's first title. The Blue Devils' last two trips to the Final Four in 2002 and 2003 came during seasons in which many expected them to take home the trophy. Now, however, the Blue Devils have stepped back from the pressure cooker and are playing it cool.
"I've let that worry go about winning the national title," Goestenkors said. "I know we're going to win it at some point and so that's given me great freedom, great confidence. I think I've learned not to try to force it to happen."
Goestenkors said when the team went to the Final Four in 2002 and 2003, she had the team try primarily to get Duke standout Alana Beard the ball in order to score. The strategy could not deliver a trip to the finals for the Blue Devils, as Duke limited its offense to a one-sided attack.
"We were the No. 1 [seed] going into the tournament," Goestenkors said. "And we felt the pressure but we never talked about it, like it would go away if we didn't talk about it. And I learned from that."
This year, the Blue Devils boast a balanced inside-outside attack that relies on all of their starters to produce and consistently calls upon their bench to perform as well. Fully utilizing its team structure, Duke will continue to rely on its depth and balance in its final game Tuesday night to alleviate the pressure situation of years past.
"This year, more than ever, we have taken the pressure and put it on all of us and not to just one person, to have Monique score 20 points a game or have Coach G come up with a perfect game plan," Williams said. "Everybody has taken a little bit of the pressure so that way it's not overbearing.. We're just so close that there's no need to feel any pressure."
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