The Big One.
The National Championship.
Some coaches walk right into it as if it's not even a challenge. Purdue's Carolyn Peck beat Duke in the 1999 NCAA final in just her second year as a head coach.
Some never get it even after a lifetime of chasing it. Former LSU coach Sue Gunter won more than 700 games during her 34 years of coaching, but she never got to cut down the nets at the end of the year.
If Gail Goestenkors was not lucky enough to win one on her first try, she surely doesn't want her legacy to be that of a great coach who never captured a title.
Goestenkors has the fifth-highest winning percentage in NCAA history. Not yet finished with her 14th season at Duke, the Blue Devils' head coach has already amassed 363 wins.
But at a school that knows too much about athletic excellence with just a handful of National Championship trophies to show for it, there has been only one question.
Can she win the Big One?
If she can, this is the year. Goestenkors has a team with depth, talent and experience. And for the first time in her career, she enters the last weekend with the most Final Four experience of the remaining coaches.
That's not to say that this will be easy. While the men's Final Four features some surprising teams, the women's version includes what have been the best four teams in the nation all year. With a quartet of evenly matched teams, the games will likely be close and will come down to late-game execution.
And if the Elite Eight win over Connecticut was a preview of Duke's late-game heroics, I'm worried.
The Blue Devils were out-choked by the Huskies, despite trying their best. With 20 seconds left in regulation, Duke had the ball with a chance to win. Even after two timeouts to set up plays, the best shot the Blue Devils could muster was a half-court heave from Monique Currie.
Then, with less than a minute to go in overtime, Duke had possession and a two-point lead. The Blue Devils ran the clock down and called a timeout with eight seconds left on the shot clock, presumably to set up a good look. On the play, however, the offense looked disorganized and the ball went back to UConn after Currie's long three-point attempt hit only backboard.
Two possessions to win or seal the game, two ridiculously long three-pointers from Currie as the clock expired. All I can say is LSU won't alligator-arm a four-foot shot to tie.
Still, one thing that may help Goestenkors and the Blue Devils is they are familiar with all the Final Four teams, even if it's in a losing experience. Since the start of last year's NCAA Tournament, Duke is 2-4 against the other three teams in Boston.
Last year, Pokey Chatman and the Tigers beat Duke in the Elite Eight, 59-49. While Seimone Augustus led the game with 23 points, the obvious difference between the teams was at point guard, as senior Temeka Johnson controlled the game for LSU. This year, Johnson is gone, and Lindsey Harding has returned for Duke as one of the best point guards in the nation.
But, as I'm sure you've noticed, the Blue Devils have a worse mental block when it comes to UNC than UConn has with George Mason. I highly doubt Maryland will take down UNC, so Goestenkors will definitely have to earn her first National Championship.
Goestenkors needs to convince her team that it has nothing to lose and should come out as the aggressor. If she can, it's two for the price of one. Duke can rid itself of the "can't win it all," and "can't beat UNC" knocks with one performance Tuesday night.
Now that's the Big One.
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