At least unofficially, the McCallie Era begins tonight.
Newly-hired head coach Joanne P. McCallie will coach her first game as a Blue Devil tonight at 7 p.m., when Duke takes on Team Reebok in Cameron Indoor Stadium. It is the Blue Devils' only exhibition game before the regular season starts Sunday.
McCallie, the former Michigan State head coach, leads a fairly green squad into the preseason. Last season's National Player of the Year Lindsey Harding and 6-foot-7 Alison Bales graduated in May, as did former head coach Gail Goestenkors, who left Duke to become the head coach at Texas.
"Expectations never change," McCallie said. "You want excellence, but there is a process, and we're at the very beginning of that process. We're fundamentally trying to get to know each other and trying to work a little bit harder and know that we can do great things but without hard work and focus, great things won't occur. We're pretty basic and fundamental right now."
Naturally, there are plenty of questions surrounding this year's Blue Devils, ranked No. 10 in the preseason rankings.
The answers to those questions start against Team Reebok. a more formidable squad than Anderson University and Premier Players, two foes the Blue Devils flattened by a combined 119 points in last year's exhibitions. Tonight's visitor-made up of former college players from top-ranked programs-could pose more of a challenge. ACC rival North Carolina crushed Team Reebok 102-75, but a respectable Florida State squad eked out a 12-point win over the team. The all-star squad nipped Georgia Tech by one and also beat Georgia 81-64.
Not only is the outcome of tonight's game uncertain, but the team's lineups and preferred style of play are still up in the air.
After Duke's inaugural Blue-White scrimmage, McCallie hinted that the team's three returning starters-senior Wanisha Smith, junior Abby Waner and junior Carrem Gay-will account for three of the starting five. The rookie head coach was also impressed by 6-foot-5 junior Chante Black, who redshirted last year due to a knee injury. Joining those four on the Blue team in the intrasquad scrimmage was senior point guard Emily Waner.
"It is [the starting lineup] at the moment, but we'll analyze this game and see what needs to be done," McCallie said.
While the returning starters seem to have cemented starting roles, the point guard position looks to be undefined.
Last season, Harding was the consummate floor general, making others better and stepping up to score against the best competition. This season, that role is still in flux. McCallie has said she plans to employ a guard-by-commitee strategy, using Waner, Smith, freshman Jasmine Thomas and junior Brittany Mitch.
The Blue Devils begin their regular season on the road, traveling to Denver Sunday at 6 p.m. before heading to South Florida Nov. 15 for the first ESPNU Women's Basketball Invitational.
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