WBB ACC Champions! Duke 81, North Carolina 66

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

The gals have done it!!!!!!
Love, Ima

[OZZIE4DUKE]

The gals have done it!!!!!!
Love, Ima
I agree! :cool:

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Congrats to the Duke Women, 81 - 66 victors over the tar holes today!:cool:

[terrih]

While we are at it, lets also not put up a photo of our opponent. For example, before the St Johns game, there was a picture up of them I believe. How 'bout we just go with focusing on Duke and put up Random Duke pictures instead.

-Just a suggestion.

[GLTBD]

Funny, I'm glad I was not the only one hating the teddy bear, This morning before I got on this site I was thinking to myself, I hope the sad bear is not posted. And there it was. It made me more upset and frustrated. Oh, the rain in the triangle today are my tears. Anyone else what to fess up?

[burnspbesq]

That's the performance we've been waiting all year to see. Offense in rhythm, defensive intensity, and attacking the glass on both ends. Huge contributions from AV and Haley Peters. A couple of big plays by Chloe Wells when it really mattered. Star performances from the seniors.

Carolina is going to cause some higher ranked team a real nightmare at some point in the tournament. When DeGraffenreid has her head on straight and they get the ball inside, they are really difficult to defend. Jessica Breland is the feel-good story in women's college basketball this year, and she put up a monster performance today.

Duke looked like a Final Four team today. Four more performances like that, and they will be one.

[uh_no]

ur more performances like that, and they will be one.

A lot (a LOT) depends on matchups. Any of the four one seeds (essentially locks at this point) are going to be a tough match.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't mind the bear, but Ima's right, victory over the heels is once again ours, put up the flowers in the quad!

[Lord Ash]

While I hate the bear, it is because of what leads to it.

And while I am glad for the girls team, their achievement doesn't quite do the job, as far as making up for last night.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

While I hate the bear, it is because of what leads to it.

And while I am glad for the girls team, their achievement doesn't quite do the job, as far as making up for last night.

It's not their job to make up for last night. Last night has NOTHING to do with the women and their terrific accomplishments this year, and as usual, they are being shortchanged when it comes to being appreciated.
Love, Ima

[cspan37421]

Big ups to the BDW. I got to see the highlights at a restaurant tonight, and how weird it was to see outside shots falling for a change! Of course, those were just highlights. And there was that one crazy off-balance shot that banked in. Congratulations!

Still, it's hard to see how it's not UConn and everyone else. Or maybe Stanford too... but WBB is probably as far from parity as it's ever been, pretty much the mirror image of the men's game in that regard.

[cspan37421]

Funny, I'm glad I was not the only one hating the teddy bear, This morning before I got on this site I was thinking to myself, I hope the sad bear is not posted. And there it was. It made me more upset and frustrated. Oh, the rain in the triangle today are my tears. Anyone else what to fess up?

Sure. I think I already posted in the UNC-Duke (2) postgame thread that it was time to "lose the bear". I would like to see something more optimistic, akin to "next play" (like the next opponent, when known) or at least, something to look forward to.

It was a cute idea once. Now it's dreaded because of what it represents. And even with just 4 appearances this season, it's really worn out its welcome. Time to retire it.

[throatybeard]

I think winning your [major] conference tourney should be rewarded with not being seeded with Connecticut. Right? Right?

This makes up for yesterday. Thanks, Thomas Thomas & Christmas. Et al.

[burnspbesq]

I think winning your [major] conference tourney should be rewarded with not being seeded with Connecticut. Right? Right?

You're ignoring the "Charlie Creme is a Duke-Hating Dunce" factor. All last week, his bracket had Duke as number eight overall - behind three teams that Duke beat. So Miami loses, and he puts UCLA above us.

Hopefully the selection committee will pay attention to objective factors like RPI and SOS. If it does, we should be the fourth number one seed, with Tennessee as the two in our region.

[burnspbesq]

And while I am glad for the girls team, their achievement doesn't quite do the job, as far as making up for last night.

Wait, what? An ACC Championship doesn't make up for a regular-season loss whose only practical effect is that the managers have to pack both white and blue unis for next weekend?

With all due respect, that's just bizarre.

[msdukie]

It's not their job to make up for last night. Last night has NOTHING to do with the women and their terrific accomplishments this year, and as usual, they are being shortchanged when it comes to being appreciated.
Love, Ima

Agreed. And by the way, who is the girls' team? Do they go to the same school as the Duke boys' team? It really drives me nuts when the Duke Women's Basketball team is referred to as the girls' team or the Lady Blue Devils. High school teams are girls' teams and boys' teams. Duke has a men's varsity basketball team and a women's varsity basketball team. Both (like all of Duke's 26 varsity sports) share the nickname of "Blue Devils" - sorry, it's just a real pet peeve.

And Saturday night and Sunday's events are completely separate from each other. As disappointed as I am about Saturday's events, I am very happy about winning an ACC Championship (and watching Swofford give us the auto bid and trophy) and the triumph's of all of Duke's other varsity athletics teams this weekend.

[miramar]

"It's hard to play four days in a row like that, but we put ourselves in that position," coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "If we maybe were a little fresher, we might have been able to pull it out, make some of those shots around the basket."

With Sylvia, there is always something to whine about. You would think she would have said how proud she was that the team turned things around and won three straight after having lost four in a row.

At least she didn't blame the loss on not having scrimmaged with the football team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=310650150

[killerleft]

Great win Devils! Beautiful team basketball. The blending of veteran and rookie players has been well-orchestrated by Coach P and the assistant coaches. And these gals are tough!!

A Womens ACC Championship trumps a regular season mens loss any day of the week. If Coach K can pull off another ACC Championship (his specialty, by the way), yesterday's loss will seem trivial indeed.

Hail the Champions! Let's go Duke!

[chrishoke]

Great win Devils! Beautiful team basketball. The blending of veteran and rookie players has been well-orchestrated by Coach P and the assistant coaches. And these gals are tough!!

A Womens ACC Championship trumps a regular season mens loss any day of the week. If Coach K can pull off another ACC Championship (his specialty, by the way), yesterday's loss will seem trivial indeed.

Hail the Champions! Let's go Duke!

My thoughts exactly. Karima and jaz were not to be denied.

Ps. Hats off to Breland who was outstanding.

[-bdbd]

Great win Devils! Beautiful team basketball. The blending of veteran and rookie players has been well-orchestrated by Coach P and the assistant coaches. And these gals are tough!!

A Womens ACC Championship trumps a regular season mens loss any day of the week. If Coach K can pull off another ACC Championship (his specialty, by the way), yesterday's loss will seem trivial indeed.

Hail the Champions! Let's go Duke!

Agreed. That one felt really good, and I think the Duke fans collectively were in need of something to feel good about right then. Jaz, Christmas, Peters, Gray, Vernerey, and the rest... Wow! Just a solid, steady effort that simply wore down the heels. We really seem to have found our groove again, and a fairly clear (defense-first) identity. I thought Coach P and the girls seemed to really be enjoying themselves and each other afterwards, which was just terrific to see.

Now on to a great seeding and continued steady play in the NCAA. And don't forget the great class coming in next year too. This program is just so solid - thanks to the care and feeding by some terrific Seniors!

-BD "Isn't it so wierd tha ladies now have to wait over a week to receive their seeds?!" -BD


:D

[CameronBornAndBred]

-BD "Isn't it so wierd tha ladies now have to wait over a week to receive their seeds?!" -BD

And two weeks to play. I hate that. For the second year in a row, the heels have another game scheduled between the tournaments. I can't blame them, this must be torture on the women. What sucks most is they've been playing their best offense in a while, with such a long break it's hard to maintain any sense of momentum.

[jtelander]

"It's hard to play four days in a row like that, but we put ourselves in that position," coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "If we maybe were a little fresher, we might have been able to pull it out, make some of those shots around the basket."

With Sylvia, there is always something to whine about. You would think she would have said how proud she was that the team turned things around and won three straight after having lost four in a row.

At least she didn't blame the loss on not having scrimmaged with the football team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=310650150

In fairness to Sylvia, I believe her statement was in response to a reporter asking if playing 4 days and fatigue was a factor. I'm not a Sylvia fan by any means, but I thought her overall response to the question was reasonable and not whiney

Here is the question and answer in its entirety


Q. Coach, playing four games in four days, and you played Duke even up for 30 minutes. The last 10, it gets away. Do you think fatigue was much of a factor?

COACH SYLVIA HATCHELL: I don't know. I've never been one to make excuses for a lot of things. I told the kids. I said, you guys played really hard for four days. You had a lot more energy in your legs than I even expected them to have. They did. They played hard. I didn't substitute that much.

Jessica just, the kid dug deep now. She was breathing hard out there quite a few times. But they wanted to win really bad, and they played really hard.

But, yeah, it's hard to play four days in a row like that, but we put ourselves in that position. We lost a couple of games at the end of regular season. If we maybe had we were a little fresher, we might be able to pull it out and make some of those shots around the basket. But, hey, it is what it is. So we just move on.

[jtelander]

-BD "Isn't it so wierd tha ladies now have to wait over a week to receive their seeds?!" -BD


:D

Normally I would agree, but at the same time I'm glad the team has some time to rest and to heal the numerous cuts, sprains, and bruises they've acquired. Coach P said in the post game presser that with Spring break, they would take off 4 days or so, then come back and "get after it very seriously".

[Udaman]

Congrats to our women. They deserve this.

Unfortunately, the problem with women's basketball remains...other than the top 1-2 teams, nobody else has a chance to win. It's been a problem for 30 years now, and I'm not quite sure what can be done to fix it. But consider that Duke is ranked #8. I would argue that if they played the tournament 100 times, Duke would not win once. UConn, Stanford and Baylor are the top dogs, and are simply at another level over everyone else.

In the men's however, UNC will be ranked about that this week, and they could definitely win. So could Wisconsin, or Notre Dame, or UConn, or ten other teams.

With the women, it seems like every year there's 1, 2 or 3 teams out there twice as good as UNLV was in 1990/1991. Just dominant. Even when you get to the championship game, they are often complete blowouts. It makes it almost no fun to watch - because deep down, unless your team is that dominant one, you know you have zero chance.

[jimsumner]

In fairness to Sylvia, I believe her statement was in response to a reporter asking if playing 4 days and fatigue was a factor. I'm not a Sylvia fan by any means, but I thought her overall response to the question was reasonable and not whiney

Here is the question and answer in its entirety

Hatchell was very gracious in her post-game. In no way did she seem whiny. It was a legit issue and she addressed it about as well as she could.


The team playing its fourth game in four days fell apart down the stretch to the team playing its third game in three days. Coincidence? Perhaps. But some of those misses looked like tired misses to me. And, as Hatchell noted, Duke earned that day of rest. Her team didn't.

[roywhite]

Hatchell was very gracious in her post-game. In no way did she seem whiny. It was a legit issue and she addressed it about as well as she could.


The team playing its fourth game in four days fell apart down the stretch to the team playing its third game in three days. Coincidence? Perhaps. But some of those misses looked like tired misses to me. And, as Hatchell noted, Duke earned that day of rest. Her team didn't.

Thanks for your coverage, Jim.

Any details as to how Tricia Liston is getting along? Heard how she sliced her finger pretty bad...actually cut off the finger tip? yikes...

She played some yesterday, but not a lot. Really like her shooting ability; hope she will be okay for the NCAA tournament.

[DevilWearsPrada]

I was in attendance at the Championship game yesterday. I was hoping more fans would come out and buy tickets on the outside or at the window. Perhaps the rain and winds kept fans away. I thought the fans were fairly even with Duke and Unc representation. Actually, I thought more DUKE was in the building. I saw some Red...so I suppose those were State fans.

Went to Fanfest for 30 minutes, and then over to Coliseum. And that long armed lean Tarhole was walking right beside me. (John Hensen). I wanted to take my Duke bag and sling it under him and Trip him. (My mental thoughts, at least... with good intentions...hehe). But I didn't. I did stick out my tongue, and put my finger in mouth to gag.

Mason Plumlee (Jas BF), Casey Peters (Haleys Brother), Josh Hairston and Todd Zac from the mens team were there. Austin Kelly (Karima BF) from Football team were there to cheer on the Ladies. I talked with Mason and Austin after the game! So happy for the girls!

A fairly matched game, until the 51 53 tie, and Duke cut loose, and opened up their run on the way to the championship. So good, to be in GBoro again, to see the ladies cut the nets 2 years in a row.

The ladies deserve so much more respect and much more attendance for the championship game! Thanks to all who were there the entire tourney and or the Sunday game!

Next game for the ladies...... Cameron Indoor Stadium for Rounds 1 and 2. Lets all support them!

And as always,
Lets Go Duke!

[watzone]

A couple of fun videos from yesterday - http://bluedevilnation.net/2011/03/womens-videos-acc-champions-duke-blue-devils/

There is also a photo gallery from the game on the same site from Lance King.

[jimsumner]

Thanks for your coverage, Jim.

Any details as to how Tricia Liston is getting along? Heard how she sliced her finger pretty bad...actually cut off the finger tip? yikes...

She played some yesterday, but not a lot. Really like her shooting ability; hope she will be okay for the NCAA tournament.

Apparently Liston cut a finger on her right hand when she put her hand in a toiletry bag and encountered a razor blade. Ouch. I was told that she is fine. I think game circumstances dictated the allocation of PT.

[ForkFondler]

Much of the lack of respect the women have gotten this year is because the offense has been extreeeeemly painful to watch at times, especially against a defense as good as ours (UConn) or in the midst of a team flu epidemic (Maryland). However, having the freshman play like sophmores has helped that problem a lot. I like our chances against anyone other than UConn, especially with two weeks to address the numerous little nagging medical problems.

Anyway, how come the men don't get balloons, damn it ;)

[killerleft]

Much of the lack of respect the women have gotten this year is because the offense has been extreeeeemly painful to watch at times, especially against a defense as good as ours (UConn) or in the midst of a team flu epidemic (Maryland). However, having the freshman play like sophmores has helped that problem a lot. I like our chances against anyone other than UConn, especially with two weeks to address the numerous little nagging medical problems.

Anyway, how come the men don't get balloons, damn it ;)

I agree that the women have found another level of late. The younger gals have made a big difference on the offensive side. If we can continue to keep the pressure off the defense to be nearly perfect, then we can figure out UCONN when we get to them.

But mostly, I just wanted to return this thread to the first page. An ACC Championship deserves to be noticed!! Go Duke!

[ikiru36]

I agree that the women have found another level of late. The younger gals have made a big difference on the offensive side. If we can continue to keep the pressure off the defense to be nearly perfect, then we can figure out UCONN when we get to them.

But mostly, I just wanted to return this thread to the first page. An ACC Championship deserves to be noticed!! Go Duke!

After all, we are the DUKE BASKETBALL REPORT, not the Duke Men's Basketball Report! :)

While I imagine that most, myself included, followed the Duke Men's team before following the Women's team, over the past decade the Women have earned the respect and dedication of our fanbase. Even through a somewhat contentious head coaching transition, they have maintained a Top 20 program for over a decade and now appear poised to again become a Top 10 (if not Top 5) fixture for the foreseeable future.

WTG, Women's hoops!!!! While I found their offense often (not just this year but during most of Coach P's tenure) painful to watch earlier in the season, it appears more dynamic of late. Keep it up and I'm looking forward to a nice tournament run and fabulous future for our Women Devils!!!!!!!

Go Duke!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Blue Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duvall]

You're ignoring the "Charlie Creme is a Duke-Hating Dunce" factor. All last week, his bracket had Duke as number eight overall - behind three teams that Duke beat. So Miami loses, and he puts UCLA above us.

Hopefully the selection committee will pay attention to objective factors like RPI and SOS. If it does, we should be the fourth number one seed, with Tennessee as the two in our region.

See, that's where you went wrong. The NCAA women's tournament is slightly more legitimate than the CBI. Ticket sales are much more important than most objective factors.