Last season, the Blue Devils failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994, and the path back to the Big Dance begins Sunday in Durham.
The Blue Devils will welcome Charleston to Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday at 6 p.m. for their first and only exhibition tune-up before beginning their regular season next Friday at Liberty. After their Blue-White scrimmage last Sunday, Duke hopes to correct any problems and build off of the intra-squad matchup against the Golden Eagles, who were picked to finish fourth in the Division II Mountain East Conference this year.
“The team really took to heart the film they saw [from the Blue-White scrimmage],” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “They saw that we did good things but they also saw a lack of intensity, not always going hard, people resting on defense, just little detail things that they weren’t proud of. We want to bring that version and crank it up a few notches to Sunday. We’re looking forward to it.”
For the Blue Devils, the main focus will be on establishing the mentality they will need as they work their way through a challenging schedule this season that includes nonconference matchups with SEC juggernauts South Carolina and Kentucky as well as a grueling ACC slate of games.
Although McCallie was disappointed in her team's effort at times during the Blue-White scrimmage, she said she was more impressed by a close scrimmage in practice earlier this week.
“We improved greatly in our closed scrimmage,” McCallie said. “That was much more intense, much more immediate. We were smarter and more intelligent.”
Duke will also look to pick up its offensive play against Charleston as it prepares for the start of the regular season. Post players Kendall Cooper and Lyneé Belton all had standout performances in the Blue-White scrimmage, with Cooper posting 14 points and Belton finishing with a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Blue Devils have a wealth of depth in the frontcourt with senior Oderah Chidom, junior Erin Mathias and freshman Leaonna Odom also getting in the mix. They each figure to see the ball more against the Golden Eagles, with Duke still developing its offensive approach in the frontcourt.
“We always want to attack from the inside out,” McCallie said. “Oderah did a great job, Lyneé Belton was strong, Erin Mathias was very strong and of course Leaonna Odom was just great, so we had a lot of different weapons, and we really want to capitalize on that balance as well.”
In addition to working the inside, the Blue Devils hope to work through their offense more Sunday and take advantage of opportunities when their set plays fall apart.
One of the biggest problems that Duke has struggled with in recent years is turnovers, ranking 279th in the nation last year with a -2.44 average turnover margin. Having a veteran ball-handler in Maryland transfer Lexie Brown this year could help the Blue Devils limit giveaways and make the most of plays that break down.
“We definitely need to clean up some execution. We had a number of broken plays in the closed scrimmage where we didn’t make the greatest pass, and we walked away from a layup,” McCallie said. “We want to really be efficient with our offense and do better with broken-play situations.”
Besides Odom, the Blue Devils will have the luxury of having players with experience on the court at all times. Charleston, on the other hand, welcomed 10 new players to the team this year, as five freshmen joined the Golden Eagles in addition to five upperclassmen transfers.
Charleston is led by redshirt junior Monet Saunders, a forward who averaged 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last season. Handling her will be a good test for the Duke post defense, particularly Chidom and Cooper, as they appear together in the same lineup for the first time in nearly a year. Against Charleston, the frontcourt duo will have their first chance to communicate together on defense since Dec. 2015 after Cooper missed the spring semester of last season.
“We want to keep our defensive pressure up and improve on our presses in the different defenses that we played,” McCallie said.
As Duke looks to build off of its improvements in the offseason, it needs to take advantage of every opportunity it gets to come together as a team. The Blue Devils will get their first chance to do so Sunday.
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