The Blue Devils have an offensive threat that is consistently putting up double figures while playing lockdown defense on some of the nation's best scorers.
And her name is not Abby Waner.
Redshirt junior center Chante Black has been carrying Duke's offense, averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game while also pulling down a team-best 7.0 rebounds per contest. Add in 63 blocks to-you guessed it-lead the team as well, and it starts to become clear why the Blue Devils' best offensive strategy this season has been working the ball down low.
After finishing the first undefeated regular season in conference history in 2007, Duke lost reigning National Player of the Year Lindsey Harding and dominant post presence Alison Bales. But the Blue Devils regained Black, who missed the entire year with a right knee injury suffered in the preseason.
The way Black sees it, she is just making up for lost time this year and views her success as a byproduct of the hunger developed from a year on the bench.
"Just wanting to come back and dominate and being aggressive," Black said when asked what she thought the secret to her recent success was. "[My teammates] had to learn how I like to play, how I like to get passes-'Please don't throw it at my knees all the time'-stuff like that."
Aside from low passes, not much has been able to slow down Black this year outside of injuries and the double and triple teams she has faced of late.
Against Wake Forest last Sunday, Black was bombarded any time she got her hands on the ball. This, however, opened up her teammates for easy looks, and Duke was able to roll to an easy 71-36 victory.
The other obstacle, the injury bug that has plagued Black most of her career, has been kept at bay except for one crucial game.
In Duke's loss to Maryland Jan. 14-a 2-for-11 performance on what Black called a "rough, rough, rough night"-she suffered a hyperextension of the same knee that caused her to miss all of last season.
Luckily, the injury was not as severe this time around, and she was able to get back on track in the next two games against N.C. State and Georgia Tech, returning to her customary position as the team leader in points, rebounds and blocks.
That last category is the one Black is proudest of-even more than putting points on the board.
"I thrive more off of blocking," Black said. "I mean, it is funny throwing people's shots.... It's even better when you can keep it in play and get a transition bucket. Alison [Bales] was very good about that. That is one thing I learned from her, but I am still a player that likes to throw a ball out of bounds."
In addition to watching Bales swat the third-most shots in NCAA history, Black learned to lead this year's squad from watching Harding.
"I tried to observe Lindsey Harding and her leadership role because I knew I was going to have to be a leader for this team," Black said. "I saw the way that she communicated with the team and different ways that she just went about carrying the team and getting us organized."
Black has also had off-the-court growing experiences that are helping shape her as an on-the-court leader. Her mother took a teaching job in Saudi Arabia in the fall and has been limited to e-mail communication with her only child.
"Most people are attached to their only child, but she grew me up pretty tough and strong-minded, so I have been holding my own," Black said. "And Duke's family is so great. [I have] great teammates."
Black is on track to graduate this spring and plans to enroll in graduate school while playing next year. She is considering working in radiology someday but isn't quite ready to start that career.
"[I want] some career in the WNBA, definitely," Black said. "I would like to pursue basketball."
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