As the NCAA Tournament moves to its second weekend, third-seeded Duke finds itself in almost unchartered territory. The Blue Devils play in Oklahoma City, where they have never played a Tournament game, against Texas A&M, who they have not played since 1995.
And for the first time since 1999, Duke (25-9) will be the underdog in its Sweet 16 matchup Sunday at 7 p.m. against the second-seeded Aggies (28-7) in the Ford Center. For a team that buckled under the pressure of a No. 1 seed the last two seasons, coasting into the second weekend with fewer expectations might be exactly what's necessary to finally peak in March and April.
"Going into a No. 1 seed, there's some pressure, but now for us we can play with ease and we don't really have a target on our back," senior captain Wanisha Smith said. "I think any team would prefer to be the underdog."
"We think that we have as reasonable a chance of winning this Tournament as anybody else does," junior captain Abby Waner said. "Especially once you come down to the Sweet 16, numbers-they're just numbers, they don't mean much. Weird things happen in tournaments, and whether we were picked initially or not doesn't matter at this point."
Waner's message is a lesson the veteran Blue Devils have come to understand the hard way. Last March, they lost in the Sweet 16 to fourth-seeded Rutgers, a team they beat by 40 points in December. The previous April, they lost in the National Championship game to Maryland, a team they beat twice in the regular season.
Now, the Blue Devils have a chance to flip their fortune-to upset a higher-seeded team to play for an unexpected Final Four, rather than sit stunned in a locker room after a lower-seeded team snatched away an expected Tournament run.
In some ways, though, the regional semifinal is a pairing of two upstarts-Texas A&M isn't much of a favorite, especially considering its paltry Tournament experience.
The Aggies have not played in the Sweet 16 since 1994, whereas Duke has advanced to the Tournament's second weekend in 11 consecutive seasons. The Aggies were ranked No. 17 in the last regular-season poll, and Duke, the underdog, was voted No. 12. A Big 12 tournament championship, though, bumped Texas A&M up in the poll and into perhaps the last No. 2 seed.
While Duke has far more Tournament experience than the Aggies, Texas A&M does play five seniors while Duke has only one in Smith. Some of Duke's greener players, though, have been its best this postseason.
Redshirt junior Chante Black, who was sidelined for last season's disappointing finish, was brilliant in Duke's second-round win over Arizona State Tuesday, tallying a career-high 26 points and 13 rebounds. More impressive-and potentially dangerous to opponents-than her gaudy statistics was her desire to touch the ball on every possession. Black demanded the ball, her teammates obliged, and the Blue Devils were on to the next round.
"It's not so much that she has to get huge numbers night in and out-which would be great-but she doesn't have to do that," first-year head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "She simply has to be dominant.... If she does that, she's already guaranteeing that there will be a lot of people concerned about her defensively.
"An inside game is a huge advantage-points in the paint, in particular. You seldom see teams that don't get points in the paint advance."
If Black asks for the ball sufficiently and draws consistent double-teams, opposing defenses will be less able to contain Duke's outside shooters. Black's force down low could provide more open looks for Waner and Smith, the Blue Devils with the most 3-pointers.
"That'd be nice," Waner said. "I would take 'em."
And should she make them, Duke might be able to repeat its performance from the last time it was the lower-seeded team in a Sweet 16. That time, the Blue Devils knocked off second-seeded Old Dominion and then made the Final Four by topping No. 1 Tennessee-the team that just so happens to be on the other side of the Oklahoma City regional.
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