For the Blue Devils, this season ended much like last season: losing in the Elite Eight, and wondering what could have been.
This off-season, however, feels different. Not only are three key seniors graduating, but former head coach Gail Goestenkors’ final recruiting class is departing. Although head coach Joanne P. McCallie coached Jasmine Thomas, Krystal Thomas and Karima Christmas for all four of their seasons at Duke, their absence means that it would seem like this upcoming team is Coach P’s first from top to bottom.
Regardless of perception, though, McCallie sees no difference in the two teams.
“To me it’s no different,” she said. “This year was the year it was entirely my players for me.”
The three seniors’ absence next year will undoubtedly shake up how playing time is distributed throughout the team. The seniors, led by Jasmine Thomas, combined for over 86 minutes per game this year and started together in all but one of the games.
“You feel so grateful for what you’ve had…. They’ll never be replaced,” McCallie said.
While their leadership may not be replaceable, their minutes will have to be taken by somebody.
The natural reaction may be to look to next year’s class of incoming freshmen—highlighted by prized five-star post player Elizabeth Williams—but much of the solution may already be on the roster with the current class of freshmen. At the beginning of the season, it boasted five of the nation’s top recruits.
Despite their early season hype, not all of the freshmen lived up to their potential this season. Caught up in a rotation that made use of all 11 players on the roster, Richa Jackson, Tricia Liston and Chloe Wells saw limited playing time throughout the year and were unable to make the quick impact that many expected.
The prize of the class, Chelsea Gray, excelled in running the point, though, and Haley Peters proved to be an effective offensive weapon during her time on the court. McCallie, however, expressed disappointment in how the girls transitioned to college as a unit.
“Time management is something that those young players have to learn,” the coach said. “They can do it all, but they have to learn how to do it all. What I noticed is that not everybody was in the gym extra.... I’m hungry for more—those kids can do more.”
Next year, McCallie expressed optimism that the freshmen will have matured enough that they can make sure to get in the proper workouts, and be comfortable in welcoming the new class.
Those new recruits include two big frontcourt players in Williams and Amber Henson, who should be able to replace the strength of Christmas and Krystal Thomas. The lone guard is Ka’lia Johnson, who joins an already deep backcourt with Gray, Wells, Liston and rising senior Shay Selby.
“The returning group of eight must integrate the new group of three very quickly,” McCallie said. “It has got to be an extremely special summer.”
Next year, McCallie is cognizant that there is no replacing an All-American in Jasmine Thomas and a go-to scorer like Christmas. So, it will have to be a group effort to match their production, even if the coach isn’t quite sure how things will turn out.
“The whole team will step up, everybody has an opportunity. I don’t know the answers yet,” she said. “You want [the graduating seniors] to come back next year and be really proud of the team.”
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