Sometimes the best stories are those of revenge. Thanks to their draw in the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils have a chance for that, should they reach the finals of their region.
Monday night, Duke (29-3) learned that it will be a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. The team is in the same region as the overall No. 1 Connecticut Huskies, who blew the Blue Devils out earlier in the season.
Duke learned its seeding last night at the Michael Krzyzewski Center for Athletic Excellence while watching the selection show on ESPN. When it was announced that Duke and Connecticut could face off in the regional finals in Philadelphia, it caused a buzz in the room.
“Obviously we took quite a thumping from Connecticut,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “[But] I’ve never been more proud to see a team like ours and how we responded the very next game, not three games later, not four games later.”
After the tough loss to the Huskies, the Blue Devils came out in their next contest and delivered a thumping of their own, a 24-point victory against conference rival and tournament three-seed Miami.
In addition to being a two-seed like last year, Duke again will begin the tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Its first matchup, against 15-seed and Ohio Valley Conference champion UT-Martin, is Saturday. This is the Skyhawks’ first ever conference championship and trip to the Dance.
The Blue Devils would face a potential second-round matchup, also in Cameron, against the victor between seven-seed Iowa State and 10-seed Marist.
Despite the temptation to look ahead to the potential rematch against Connecticut, the Blue Devils understand that it would be a mistake to overlook any opponent.
“You learn a lot from the regular season, but you learn a lot more in March,” senior Krystal Thomas said. “Every team has to take it one game at a time.... I just have to focus on the one game in front of me.”
Although the top seeds were as predicted, with Connecticut, Tennessee, Stanford and Baylor earning those top slots, many felt Duke deserved a longer look due to their difficult strength of schedule and No. 2 RPI ranking.
“We’re obviously not considered a top team or a top story, or a top anything, and so that’s something to motivate by and really push ourselves to be better,” McCallie said.
Furthermore, unlike the men’s selection committee, the women’s committee did not use the “S-curve” when designing the bracket, which would pair the top one-seed with the lowest rated two-seed. Instead, the assignments were geographically oriented, a switch that McCallie described as “comical.”
For now, though, the Blue Devils are happy to fly under the radar and remain focused going into the tournament.
“You can’t let what other people think get to you, and I think this team will only go as far as we motivate ourselves to go,” senior Jasmine Thomas said. “We can’t rely on people to try to fire us up or people that doubt us, so we’re excited to prove ourselves.”
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