Between the constant turnover from numerous transfers out of the program and inconsistent play on the court, there has been one constant for the Blue Devils in the past three seasons—injuries keeping teams from reaching their full potential.
Three seasons ago, Duke lost two All-ACC point guards to season-ending setbacks, forcing the Blue Devils to play the rest of the year without a true floor general, and Rebecca Greenwell was forced to redshirt due to a knee injury. Two seasons ago, All-American center Elizabeth Williams had to miss games with a foot injury and forward Oderah Chidom missed the last 11 games of the year.
But the 2015-16 campaign—the first time the Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament since 1994—was even worse.
Star forward Azurá Stevens tore her plantar fascia, forcing her to miss seven games. Redshirt freshman forward Lyneé Belton tore her meniscus in Feburary—her second season-ending injury—and freshman guard Haley Gorecki had season-ending hip surgery. Gorecki had another setback in her recovery during the summer and head coach Joanne P. McCallie said she will not return until December at the earliest.
Those setbacks combined with nagging injuries to Greenwell, Chidom and numerous other players meant Duke was often struggling to put enough healthy bodies on the court to navigate a brutal ACC schedule.
In the offseason, McCallie—who said in February she had never in 24 years of coaching had to deal with that many injuries—and her staff decided to make a change to the team’s conditioning program. The Blue Devils brought in a new director of sports performance, Ashleigh Beaver, and hope that a renewed commitment to fitness can bring them better lucky this year.
“We’re not God,” McCallie said. “We can’t limit injuries, what we can do is prepare to the best of our ability and I think these players have really put in the time…. We’ve absolutely loved having Ashleigh come on board with us, so we’ve been fortunate there.”
Beaver is a certified strength and conditioning specialist who is making a return home of sorts—she was a sports performance coaching assistant in 2013-14 with all 15 Blue Devil Olympic sports programs. Beaver left Durham to become an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Army, where she designed training programs for men’s and women’s soccer, swimming and diving, rifle and cheer.
“My biggest goal I had coming in here was just to make them stronger,” Beaver told GoDuke.com. “Not that anyone was weak by any means, but it’s a pretty young team.”
Duke only has two seniors on its roster in Chidom and Kendall Cooper and will rely heavily on production from younger players like sophomore Kyra Lambert and freshman Leaonna Odom to help boost the team this season. That makes it imperative that the younger Blue Devils are up to the physical toll that ACC play requires and can stay on the court in critical moments.
As a senior, Chidom has been through three years of preseason workouts and said that Beaver has helped the team in the offseason. The 6-foot-4 forward feels the best she ever has going into her final year.
“[Ashleigh] is making sure everything’s tight and maintained through the season,” Chidom said. “[We’ve been] doing a lot of different conditioning drills. Overall, the goal is the same—to be the quickest, strongest, fastest team in the ACC.”
The Blue Devils are also trying to install a more up-tempo offense this year, with even more of an emphasis on conditioning.
Beaver said she was impressed by the team’s quickness when she arrived, and has been focusing on improving the Blue Devils’ explosiveness.
“What I would like to see is us being able to be more multi-dimensional, so that’s been a big focus.” Beaver said. “It’s been all about being low, being athletic. I don’t need to work on their top-end speed—they already have it.”
Some Blue Devils have gone above and beyond to prepare themselves for the season.
Junior guard Lexie Brown ran a half marathon in the spring and stayed in Durham all summer to train, sparking some friendly competition between herself and backcourt mates Lambert and Greenwell for the Iron Blue Devil Belt, given to the player who excels the most in summer workouts as well as preseason conditioning.
McCallie complimented her guards’ offseason work, noting that Brown frequently does 100 push-ups and that Lambert benches 160 pounds as a 150-pound point guard.
“I was here all summer long working with Ashleigh and the girls,” Brown said. “Getting in the weight room and working on my conditioning…. Since Becca won [the Iron Blue Devil Belt] last year, I tried to get it this year. I knew it was between Becca, Kyra and I. If [any] of us had won it, it would have been great. It’s special to me now.”
When the regular season starts, offseason conditioning accomplishments will be in the rearview mirror as Duke looks to avoid the crippling injuries that have torpedoed recent promise.
“We’re really tough, we’ve showed that throughout the preseason,” Greenwell said. “It’s definitely been a grind, but we’re all just really motivated.”
Ben Leonard and Emily Davis contributed reporting.
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