Unlucky 15 prepare to battle each other, mighty Lady Vols
(03/11/99 5:00am)
Over the past three seasons, they've simply become known as the Unlucky 15-the losers of the avoid-Tennessee sweepstakes.
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Over the past three seasons, they've simply become known as the Unlucky 15-the losers of the avoid-Tennessee sweepstakes.
History called for a Michigan win.
Gail Goestenkors discovered over the last half dozen games of the ACC season that it is indeed lonely at the top.
The mathematician Xeno made a name for himself in ancient Greece by identifying the paradox that now bears his name-in traveling from point to point, one can never actually arrive at a given point because there exists an infinite sum of halves between. The problem, though, was he could not prove it.
When Nicole Erickson banked the ball gently off the glass and watched it drop cleanly through the net, giving Duke an 11-point advantage with 2:19 to play, the mix between a scowl and an outright high-beam smile said what everybody on the floor and in the record-breaking crowd knew.
In a women's basketball game featuring two 6-foot-6 centers ranked in the top four in their conference in scoring, which post player goes on a scoring binge during a key second-half run?
The men's and women's tennis teams might be half a country apart, but their results have been exactly the same.
Call it a lesson in statistics.
The saying goes that it's the third time that's the charm. But when you're the No. 2 team in the nation, so are the first and second.
It took Duke 22 years to win its first ACC regular season title. It took the Blue Devils less than one to do it again.
The line stretched on forever. It started at the gates then chased a low brick wall along the town's main road before turning sharply and winding its way through an open field and along the perimeter of a small pond. As her car slowly made its way to the entrance, Megan Miller squinted to meet the faces of the sun-drenched crowd.
In Dallas, revenge is a dish best served cold-one year cold.
If Tonya Lippard's nerves are any judge, the rowing team has done something right.
The walks to Cameron took absurdly long. Even in the unseasonably warm Durham winter the walk almost seemed like a death march. She dreaded it.
The schedule calls for a high noon showdown in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday. Recent history calls for a slaughter.
For anyone who may have forgotten just whom the dominant team is in ACC women's tennis, consider this a subtle reminder.
RALEIGH - It was one of those games where you just had to be there.
Peppi Browne can't quite explain it. Then again, she doesn't have to.
Coming into last night's game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Florida head coach Billy Donovan's strategy was to trade offensive blow for offensive blow with the Blue Devils. But on a night when William Avery led Duke into not just the winner's circle but the record books as well, he probably should have reconsidered his game plan. The sophomore point guard played his finest game in Duke blue, setting the school's single-game record with eight three-pointers and leading his team to a 116-86 romp over the visiting Gators in what coach Mike Krzyzewski called "one of the better [individual] performances" witnessed in his coaching career. Duke's 16 three-pointers as a team also set a mark for three-pointers in Cameron, while the 116 points tied the mark for most points given up in Florida school history. But after the game, there was only one record that was being talked about. "Avery was sensational," Krzyzewski said, "I mean of all the kids on the court for both teams, Avery was just a level above everyone tonight.... I'm glad I coached him tonight, I was a part of that, a small part of that, but a part." His first three-pointer cut an early Florida lead to one just over five minutes into the game, and his second trey with 11:19 to go in the half pulled Duke out of the red for the final time. After finishing the half with a perfect six-for-six mark from behind the arc, Avery needed just a pair of threes to claim the record from co-holders Chris Collins and teammate Trajan Langdon. Amid a roar from the crowd he set himself alone in Duke history as he knocked down three-pointer No. 8 from the left corner, nine minutes into the second half. "I was in the right frame of mind," Avery said understatedly. "When I let it go, I just knew it was going in." Coming into the season, Krzyzewski had lauded the sophomore as the most improved player on his squad, but doubts still lingered as to his ability to lead the team. However, after being at the helm of one of Duke's most dominating offensive performances in recent history, charting a 26-point, nine assist to two turnover night, Avery is dealing out answers with the same ease as a three-quarters court alley-oop pass. "He's really been our leader this year," team co-captain Trajan Langdon said. "He's done a great job accepting that role. Everybody knows he can score, but he's doing a great job leading the team too, running the team and getting us going." On Duke's second 100-point performance of the season, what separated Avery's performance tonight from those earlier in the season was his ability to meld impressive scoring numbers with an impressive effort leading this team. Beyond the three-pointers and even beyond the assists, Avery was the floor leader of a finely tuned machine on both ends of the floor. For a team ranked eighth in the ACC in turnover margin, he quickly set the tone for a game that saw only ten Duke turnovers. His ball control and floor leadership also kept Duke out of problems created by Florida's highly praised full-court press. "We get really upset when another team is telling the media what they're going to come in and do to us," Avery said. "We wanted to come in and show them, [that they're] not going to press us, and we're going to break it every time. And that starts with the point, valuing the ball.... That's what great point guards do, they value the ball." What Krzyzewski realized this summer, and what Avery has realized in recent games, may just be what the country is about to find out also. "The nation is finally seeing what a great basketball player William Avery is," Shane Battier said. "All the hype they give Khalid El-Amin, Mateen Cleaves, Andre Miller... We believe that William is in that class too."
Having nicknamed its season the journey, it may have been appropriate that the women's basketball team showed this weekend that all it needed was a trip home. After blowing out both Villanova and Marquette to claim the Ronald McDonald Duke Women's Basketball Classic title, head coach Gail Goestenkors is about ready to forget her team's early season struggles and pronounce it back on track. "We're starting to feel confident with ourselves," Goestenkors said. "As a team we're getting more confidence. Hilary Howard, even though she didn't shoot particularly well tonight, really played with a lot of confidence. Our offense is getting better. We're getting it bit by bit." Seniors Nicole Erickson and Payton Black each scored 18 points to lead the 20th-ranked Blue Devils (4-3) over the Golden Eagles of Marquette (4-2) 91-60 yesterday in Cameron, clinching Duke's seventh straight tournament title. Facing a tenacious defense that had stunned No. 13 Florida (6-2) the night before, the Blue Devils showed no signs of a letdown against the lower-ranked team, riding a pair of Erickson three-pointers to an early 9-2 advantage. "I just started off playing confidently tonight," said Erickson, whose performance in the final earned her tournament MVP honors. "If I start that way, I can really set the tone for my game. I'm just feeling better with my performance now." For the preseason All-ACC selection, the game marked a turning point of sorts in an up-and-down season. "Nicole is playing with a lot of confidence now," Goestenkors said. "She's a great shooter, and she's the type of player who is going to work harder than anybody else. She's been in a slump recently, but she's just got to shoot herself out, which she is starting to do." Duke parlayed the lead into a double-digit margin, which it held for the rest of the contest after a pair of Black free throws just over 12 minutes into the game. A Peppi Browne layup at the 12:50 mark in the second half capped off a 23-9 run that pushed the lead to 28 points and put the game well out of reach. "We were really pleased with the defense tonight, especially in the second half," Goestenkors said. "When we extended the defense out, we took their guards out of the flow. "Then [the early second-half run] was ignited by our defense. Our intensity in denying the ball really sparked this team... and a big part of the [defensive pressure] is Hilary Howard. It starts with her. When she started picking up defensively fullcourt, we were able to dictate their offense. And I think a lot of that is just the senior in her." It was the same defensive intensity that led Duke over Villanova (2-3) 75-47 in its opening-round game. After trailing for most of the first 15 minutes of the contest, the Blue Devils upped the pressure, quickly turning a one-point deficit into an eight-point halftime advantage. "I was really pleased with the way we played the second half, and the way we played near the end of the first half," Goestenkors said. "We really got after them then." After the break, Goestenkors adjusted her offense to place the emphasis on its post play, as Michele VanGorp, who led the team with 23 points and joined Erickson on the All-Tournament team, went to work against the smaller Wildcat front line. "In the second half I think we realized VanGorp was going to be able to score whenever she got the ball," Goestenkors said. "Then we really started to pound the ball inside to her, and she did a great job for us. In the beginning of the game, we just weren't looking for her enough." If anyone took note of VanGorp's performance, it was Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell, whose Golden Eagle defense held the 6-foot-6 senior to just four points on three shots. However, they were unable to contain her understudy, Black, who poured in 18 points to match Erickson's game-high total. Reserves Naz Medhanie and Peppi Browne added nine points each as the Duke bench outscored the starters 46-45, outdistancing the Golden Eagles' bench by 34 points. "The bench did a great job tonight," Goestenkors said. "I feel really good with the way they can play, and I feel better about it every day."