Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie will face a familiar face Saturday when her team goes up against Connecticut forward Azurá Stevens, who spent two years starring for the Blue Devils before transferring after the 2015-16 season.
A few months after Stevens transferred, McCallie sat down with me for a candid interview in part about Stevens' departure that you can read with the full context of all her comments here. When I asked her about transfers becoming more common and less stigmatized in general throughout the nation, she criticized the shift in the landscape before using Geno Auriemma's Connecticut program as an example of how schools have had to adapt to a shrinking talent pool.
Other media outlets focused on the mention of the Huskies and framed the quote as a direct criticism of the program, and at a pregame press conference Friday, McCallie was asked by a reporter about her "remarks critical of UConn accepting transfers."
"I did not make those remarks. That's what the media wrote," McCallie responded, adding that she was "completely" misquoted when pressed on the subject.
To be clear, McCallie was not misquoted by The Chronicle. We transcribed what she said in the interview accurately and stand by the Q&A we published. Here is the recording of the segment of the interview about Stevens and transfers in general.
Now, I am more sympathetic to the idea that McCallie truly believes her comments were not critical of Connecticut and was simply trying to describe a broader sense of disappointment in the college basketball environment surrounding transfers. Auriemma agreed with that perception when he was asked about the situation during his press conference Friday.
"I don't think the comments that she made were in any form derogatory or anti-Connecticut or anti-Azurá. I never took them that way. I think what she was saying was, there was some validity to that," Auriemma said. "She was saying it's unusual for a team like Connecticut to have someone transfer in, and it's true. So I just thought of it as that's just the changing world that we live in."
Frankly, I felt the same way when I walked out of her office that afternoon and was a bit surprised at the scope of the media firestorm in the following days. If McCallie wants to complain about other outlets spinning the intent of the remarks in headlines, I think she has a legitimate case, but at the same time, the fact that she said the words is indisputable.
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