Taped up all around the Duke locker room, self-made flyers remind the Blue Devils what they have been through and what they need to do to succeed in the future.
"One Heartbeat, One Brain!"
On the eve of their penultimate regular season game against No. 19 Army (6-5) in Koskinen Stadium Saturday at noon, No. 3 Duke (10-2) will continue to play the only way they know how-together.
"With everything we've been through, we really are a bunch of brothers," junior Brad Ross said. "Everything we go through, we go through together."
Suffering from experience issues stemming from the suspension of last year's season, the Blue Devils seemed to turn a corner last weekend when Ross broke out and scored three goals, including the game-winner in overtime, against then-No. 3 Virginia.
Although the senior class has a strong presence on the team, underclassmen like sophomores Ned Crotty and Gibbs Fogarty and freshman Max Quinzani have joined Ross as impact players on the offensive end.
"You look around and it's up to you now to make the plays," Ross said. "Whereas before, you had a role, but it wasn't as big a role, so you looked to other guys to make the plays. But now you have to do it."
After stars Matt Danowski and Zack Greer, who make up nearly half of the team's total points, Ross, Crotty, Fogarty and Quinzani hold the next four highest point totals on the squad, respectively.
With the ACC and NCAA tournaments just over the horizon, the Blue Devils finally seem to have solved their experience problems.
"You never know who's going to need to be the guy to step up," Danowski said. "It could be anybody. At this point in the season, we have to trust and believe in each other."
But as Duke takes the field this weekend in search of its third-best regular season record ever, the Blue Devils will keep another quotation from their locker room flyers in their minds.
"Everyone is accountable, everyone has a role."
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