Duke WBB v UNC-Chapel Hill

[diablesseblu]

^ Potd

[dukegirlinsc]

I know women's basketball isn't a very popular subject on these boards, but Gail's teams were extremely entertaining to watch and very very rarely overmatched. I was proud to have them representing Duke, and the loss to Maryland in the final game was as depressed as I've ever been about any Duke loss, men or women.

This year's team has come close to ruining my enjoyment of the women's game, and has been completely unwatchable at times -- today's effort was a massive, massive train wreck. I fear we may be seeing the women's version of Doh...except even Doh at least managed to win with players he inherited. Eventually, they quit on him -- which seems to be what's happening with this year's players with relation to Coach P.

I agree with this 100%. This team became far from entertaining a few weeks ago for me, and tonight was the first night I've watched since. And not a great time to start watching again. (I've been keeping up with the women strictly via the internet.)

[dukemomLA]

Tonight's game was agonizing, horrifying and almost unwatchable.

I have been a HUGE supporter of this team. I also loved what Coach P had to say (and her actions around campus) when she was hired. She embraced the student body in a way that Coach G did not, the team seemed cohesive and in full support of their new coach. Attendance was way up, etc. etc.

Then the wheels started to come off the cart. It's been a train wreck. BUT I'd love us to find a way to be supportive and constructive. This team is incredibly talented...... so what should they do? Can Abby Waner right her own ship and bring the team with her? Can Chante and Joy or another take the bull by the horns?

The way they played today, a good HS team could have given a run for their money. It pains me -- and makes me mad.

[cspan37421]

Just been following the women's team by the scoreboard and the stories about one of the players taking a surprise leave of absence. I am saddened but hope that somehow their competitiveness against the best teams can turn around later this month. It is interesting that Texas is faring no better under Coach G. Anyone want to say "do over?"

Where the team is this year under the new coach, compared to last year, reminds me of that quip about how you can make a small fortune in winemaking. [You start with a large fortune.]

[blueprofessor]

...shared . They said the elite teams are scoring machines, with the exception of Rutgers.
Coach G recruited the present players using the same evaluation standards as she did for her other teams over the last 10 years---that they were athletic AND would be outstanding on offense.During the last 10 years ,Duke finished either 1st or 2nd in the ACC EVERY year.That leads me to believe that the players have the talent.
A question arises: Can Coach P recruit and sign the types of top players we need to be an elite program while running the type of offense she has installed?
As there is no parity in the women's game, the top programs get the top players from a (compared to men's high school talent) diminished pool of high school talent.
If we do not recruit with the elite ,as Coach G could and did, we are in for a serious decline, I fear.
One of the pleasures in life for 10 years was watching the Duke team dominate other squads.It has been painful to watch the women this year.Really painful.
Best regards.

[Duvall]

I am saddened but hope that somehow their competitiveness against the best teams can turn around later this month. It is interesting that Texas is faring no better under Coach G.

That's not really true, especially given the relative talent on both teams.

[TwoDukeTattoos]

As sad as it is, last night's loss was incredibly predictable. Duke women have no marquee wins this year. And many of the turnovers appear to be unforced. They simply have no flow, no rhythm. They have started 11 different lineups this year. Perhaps that says it all. I just hope that McCauley will be able to recruit as well as G did.

[EKU1969]

would qualify as a marque win, but having said that, it is the only one. Coach P (McCallie) came into Duke with fairly impressive credentials, especially in the US Under 21 arena. She came into a program that had lost the WNPOY in Lindsay Harding and perhaps the best post presence ever at Duke in Alison Bales. As good as Chante Black, Joy Cheek, Wanisha Smith, and Abby Waner are, they had to get used to a new set of personalities on the bench and a completely different system to play under. In looking at the stats for the year, Waner is hitting 33% of 2's and 29% of 3's, that to me is a significant year long slump; Smith is 32% and 30 %, and J Thomas is 34% and 22%. Due to a series of nagging injuries, Coach P has been forced to play like 11 different starting lineups and Duke is still 21-8, 3rd in the ACC, and can make some noise in the tournaments on any given night.
Last night, however, they looked out of sync and in some cases disinterested, at best. But, to characterize what's happening at Duke with what happened with DOH, seems a bit premature and hopefully the problems, conflicts, disagreements, whatever will right themselves.
Remember, also, that Smith is the only Senior on this team (now that E. Waner has left the team) and that 7 of the remaining 11 players are Sophs and Frosh...so,I say give them a chance!

[Devilsfan]

Good post. I think we should give them a chance although yesterday it looked like coach P was doing her best to do away with title nine.

[KandG]

I'm a big believer in cutting first year coaches some slack...heck, I was at Duke during Coach K's first 3 seasons, so I know first hand how tough it can be on the best of coaches when they're trying to establish their stamp and struggle along the way.

But the off-court reports of dissension, and the terrible quotes from the coach after losses (essentially blaming everything on players and refusing to place any responsibility on herself) are indicative of a very troubled situation in just the first year. It's one thing for the players to have issues with on-court discipline and focus, or getting adjusted to a different style of play -- there were players on G's teams that had these issues occasionally. But the worst loss in fifteen years, to a rival that also lost two key players to graduation (Latta and Little), with a completely disinterested, disspirited effort? Much more serious.

I hope the coach can pull it together, and perhaps a major tournament run will quiet us all down. So far all the signs, though, are very, very bad.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I agree with this 100%. This team became far from entertaining a few weeks ago for me, and tonight was the first night I've watched since. And not a great time to start watching again. (I've been keeping up with the women strictly via the internet.)

I've watched as many games as possible this year, they did not play with the same ability as they have recently. The UVA game was a good example of how well they CAN play vs. a good team. Unfortunately, what we saw yesterday was just about as bad as it can get. When the threes aren't there, usually they can rely on good defense to keep them in it, but it was as non existent as their inside play was.
The worst for me all year has been seeing what's not happening in the post. I've never seen so many point blank shots missed, and as stated earlier, that's just fundamentals. I know P had them in the weight room a lot, building strength, but other than Abby's arms are larger, I don't see the results. Hopefully they will pull something together for a respectable tourney run, but I don't see much happening past the sweet 16.

[cspan37421]

As far as things not going so well for Texas, I was looking at their conf record based on an article that had them 4-9. I guess they've won 2 since. Our overall record is still better than theirs. Sorry if you think my comment is completely false. I don't think it is far off, esp. if you cut me some slack for having relied on what turned out to be a week-old article.

Saw the Coach P quotes from yesterday's debacle,

"We continued to play too fast" - didn't someone say this team was recruited by Coach G for offense firepower? Presumably an up-tempo pace?

"They've got people that come ready to play." - you might want to look under the bus, I think there are some of our players there.

Like someone said in another thread, sometimes you have to adapt your system to your players and their skills, not force your players to execute a system that isn't geared toward their strengths.

[Duvall]

As far as things not going so well for Texas, I was looking at their conf record based on an article that had them 4-9. I guess they've won 2 since. Our overall record is still better than theirs. Sorry if you think my comment is completely false. I don't think it is far off, esp. if you cut me some slack for having relied on what turned out to be a week-old article.

Texas doesn't have nine high school All-Americans. Duke has much more talent to work with.

[DevilCastDownfromDurham]

Saw the Coach P quotes from yesterday's debacle,

"They've got people that come ready to play." - you might want to look under the bus, I think there are some of our players there.

Yeah. Our new coach hasn't done anything in terms of on-court results to make me like her as a replacement for Gail. The bad feelings we keep hearing about from behind the scenes and practices is strike two. The fact that she has repeatedly thrown her own players under the bus in public makes it pretty hard for me to root for our HC, which has been almost as frustrating as the on-court disappointments this season.

As others have said, I'm still rooting very hard for the team, and I'd love to see us make a great FF run, but the more I see of our new coach, the more I appriciate what a talent, and a class act, Gail was.

[merry]

Texas doesn't have nine high school All-Americans. Duke has much more talent to work with.

Texas was not ranked in the top 25 preseason; Duke was ranked #6 or #7 depending on the poll.

Duke had a good win vs Rutgers and as McCallie recently said Duke has won "the games we were supposed to win" (meaning I assume that we weren't supposed to win games against higher ranked teams like UNC, Maryland, Tennessee and UConn)

Texas has lost a fair number of games including to Tennessee early in the season but they did upset Baylor (ranked #8 at the time) last month and Oklahoma (#10) this past weekend.

Duke has finished the ACC exactly where predicted - third - so objectively it has not been a bad season. But those of us who have watched in person have seen a team certainly not performing in the manner we expected. I don't know if they are having trouble doing what McCallie wants them to do or if it's more complicated than that but it has not been fun to watch most of the time, IMO.

[throatybeard]

Duke has finished the ACC exactly where predicted - third - so objectively it has not been a bad season.

Watch out Merry, if you say things like that, Wander might call you "dishonest."

[Wander]

Watch out Merry, if you say things like that, Wander might call you "dishonest."

Why would I call out Merry? His post was very reasonable. I'm very sorry you lose sleep at night over me calling you dishonest. I will give you a smiley face if it helps you sleep better:

[throatybeard]

Why would I call out Merry? His post was very reasonable. I'm very sorry you lose sleep at night over me calling you dishonest. I will give you a smiley face if it helps you sleep better:

1) Merry's not a dude.

2) I don't lose sleep over rude posts on the DBR, like yours.

[diablesseblu]

Yeah. Our new coach hasn't done anything in terms of on-court results to make me like her as a replacement for Gail. The bad feelings we keep hearing about from behind the scenes and practices is strike two. The fact that she has repeatedly thrown her own players under the bus in public makes it pretty hard for me to root for our HC, which has been almost as frustrating as the on-court disappointments this season.

As others have said, I'm still rooting very hard for the team, and I'd love to see us make a great FF run, but the more I see of our new coach, the more I appriciate what a talent, and a class act, Gail was.

Excellent post!!

[diablesseblu]

Yeah. Our new coach hasn't done anything in terms of on-court results to make me like her as a replacement for Gail. The bad feelings we keep hearing about from behind the scenes and practices is strike two. The fact that she has repeatedly thrown her own players under the bus in public makes it pretty hard for me to root for our HC, which has been almost as frustrating as the on-court disappointments this season.

As others have said, I'm still rooting very hard for the team, and I'd love to see us make a great FF run, but the more I see of our new coach, the more I appriciate what a talent, and a class act, Gail was.

Excellent post!!