As P follows G, Duke program adjusts
Dec 9, 2008
Start from scratch, like David Cutcliffe, and there’s only room for improvement. Start near the top, replace a successful and well-liked coach, and there’s plenty of room for skepticism and second-guessing.
That’s the awkwardly challenging position in which Joanne McCallie still finds herself in her second year as Duke women’s basketball coach. Not even a promising debut season has entirely calmed the waters. A few signature wins, such as last year’s home triumph over Rutgers, would help. A major opportunity arrives next Tuesday, when third-ranked Stanford comes to Durham to face No. 11 Duke.
“I felt kind of bad for fans,” said McCallie, who also goes by “Coach P,” Palombo being the maiden name under which she first established her professional reputation at the University of Maine. “Their beloved coach of many years departs. Well, I’m a little bit of a psychologist this way, OK? They’ve got to displace somewhere. I’m a good target.”
Last year McCallie replaced Gail Goestenkors, hired away by Texas after establishing Duke not just as a national power, but as a given among the game’s elite. Coach G, personable and unostentatious, produced seven ACC players of the year, five ACC Tournament titles, and four appearances in the Final Four in 15 seasons at Durham. She left with ongoing runs of 13 consecutive NCAA appearances, 10 top-10 finishes in the polls, 10 straight advances to the Sweet 16, and seven 30-win seasons in a row.
Goestenkors' oncourt success also helped transform the Blue Devil women’s program from an afterthought and object of disdain under athletics director Tom Butters into a popular attraction. North Carolina and N.C. State boast Hall of Fame coaches with impressive resumes, yet can’t garner the fan support that became a Duke staple.
Only Maryland among ACC programs enjoys better home attendance than the private school in Durham. Three games into this season, Duke had attracted as many spectators to Cameron Indoor Stadium as five other league members combined – Boston College, Clemson, N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. And Clemson had played five home games.
Upon arrival, the outgoing McCallie declared perennial sellouts and championships as goals for her tenure. But cracks appeared in the façade even before her 2008 squad finished 25-10, No. 9 in the final polls, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. Duke’s offense sputtered unattractively, making a less-than-crowd-pleasing 27 percent of its 3-pointers and 42.5 percent from the floor overall. The Devils had way more turnovers than assists.
With McCallie crouched before the Duke bench in her customary dark suits, black hair tucked behind her ears, the Devils suffered double-digit defeats for the first time since 1997. Worse, they lost to UNC three times in three tries. There were questions about McCallie’s adjustment to the ACC’s faster pace after coming from the less fluid Big Ten, and the inevitable murmurings of player dissatisfaction in the wake of a coaching change.
At Michigan State, McCallie took a halfcourt-oriented, athletically challenged squad to the 2005 national title game. “There are no limits to what we can do at Duke,” she said prior to this season. Because the Blue Devils can attract high-level talent, she vowed to combine a physical, post-oriented style with a fast-paced offense and man-defense. “The game is won in the paint,” McCallie said. “Points in the paint determine the national champion just about every year.”
Yet Duke’s travails continue this season, even with star interior players such as Chante Black and Carrem Gay. While the Blue Devils are 6-1, like last season they are off to a sputtering start. Also like last year, injuries are a major problem, this time sidelining point guards Jasmine Thomas, the starter, and Chelsea Hopkins, a promising freshman.
The other day against Michigan -- whose men had just dropped Mike Krzyzewski’s squad from the ranks of the unbeaten – Cameron attendance was announced at 5,401. This was a happy fiction; about half that many people were actually in the building to watch Duke slog to a 60-45 victory in a game only a mother or a winning coach could love.
The lack of skilled playmakers was telling. Facing a Michigan squad that did not significantly extend its defense, the Devils committed a whopping 30 turnovers. Eight ballhandling errors belonged to senior guard Abby Waner, who struggled last season and has yet to learn to resist a high-risk pass when a simple one will do.
There was irony, too, in the team’s turnover total against the Wolverines.
McCallie insisted earlier this fall that her Duke clubs are exemplars of uptempo play, and wondered aloud regarding the ACC, “I don’t know how people define uptempo here.” Told Sylvia Hatchell’s Tar Heels are considered an uptempo unit, she was openly skeptical.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “Uptempo is to not turn the ball over and be efficient. I want to go, but I don’t want 32 turnovers. No, no. You have no right to turn that ball over. You’ve got to play at a high rate of speed, a high rate of speed but be efficient and effective with that speed.”
Friends like Debbie Leonard, Goestenkors’ predecessor at Duke, firmly believe McCallie will hit upon the formula for ultimate success that eluded even Goestenkors.
Leonard has known McCallie since she was a high school Parade All-American. The engaging star from Brunswick, Maine, spurned Leonard’s program after narrowing her recruiting choices to Duke and Northwestern, which had a training table for women and the benefit of a visit by the prospect’s mother. “I remember loving them both the same,” McCallie said of the two schools.
“She would have been a great Dukie,” said Leonard, who coached Katie Meier, the current Miami coach. “She’s a hard worker. Smart. Smart beyond smart.”
McCallie, 43, was smart enough to travel a good bit during her first offseason in North Carolina, selling her program and exploring her surroundings. The woman who describes herself as “simple away from the court” speaks glowingly of the accessibility of Pinehurst and Charlotte, the beauty of Ocracoke and the mountains, the charms of the landscape and wildlife of exurban Durham.
“I think I’m from an incredible state, and North Carolina, because of its temperature, the mild temperature and the beautiful weather, this is the best place I’ve ever been,” she said. It’s likely a healthy, happy squad and a few more wins would make McCallie’s new home look even better to Duke's latest Yankee transplant.
