Since arriving at Duke, head coach Joanne P. McCallie has not just rearranged the furniture in Schwartz-Butters. She has changed the culture of the whole program, starting in the weight room.
McCallie called on her players to become stronger this offseason, emphasizing that increased physical toughness leads to mental toughness as well. And she was not afraid to deliver a wake-up call to arguably her best player, preseason All-ACC first team selection Abby Waner.
In a meeting with Waner, McCallie asked the junior about her post-college intentions. The shooting guard replied that she wanted to play in the WNBA, and her coach's response was not exactly what Waner expected.
"She said, 'Right now, with your strength, you will not be able to play, you will not be able to compete,'" Waner said, "That's not something you just brush off, especially coming from someone as experienced as she is."
Waner responded by spending the end of her summer in the weight room. Recovering from a lingering heel injury incurred from overexertion, the junior shifted her focus from running to lifting and is now able to do 71 pushups. The physical improvement has not gone unnoticed by McCallie, who said that this summer helped her star understand that "greatness lies in her health and her ability to take care of herself and be that diverse player that she can be."
Waner is not the only one who has taken her coach's philosophy to heart. All 12 players have embraced the importance of physical strength.
And it's starting to show in obvious ways.
"I was looking at [Keturah Jackson's] arms yesterday and I was like, 'God, look at those cuts!'" sophomore Joy Cheek said. "Physically, you could definitely tell people are getting better."
For the 6-foot-1 forward and her teammates, the focus on strength and conditioning is one that is relatively new. Former head coach Gail Goestenkors was not as demanding of her players when it came to lifting weights.
The Blue Devils have become so accepting of McCallie's approach to the game, however, that the coach no longer needs to push them. They push themselves.
"We lifted last year, but I think now we're motivating each other just a lot more in the weight room to get stronger," Cheek said. "We see someone, and we don't think they have enough weight, and we're always trying to challenge them like, 'You need to put more weight on the rack.'"
As for the most-improved, McCallie said she was impressed by senior Wanisha Smith and sophomore Brittany Mitch, who both worked up to bench-pressing 165 pounds.
Smith's progress, in particular, stands out because the 5-foot-11 guard is the senior captain setting the bar for the team.
"It was pretty tough," Smith said of the new regimen. "But at the same time, [McCallie] tested my mental toughness, which I think will carry over to our team and to me personally. She's challenged us on many different occasions, [and] it's going to make us a better team."
From bench presses to mile-and-a-half runs, McCallie has established clear tests for her team and hopes its improved strength, endurance and speed will mean more wins-especially at the end of a demanding conference schedule that would fatigue even the best of teams.
With this shift in priorities, though, the coach said that her team will not only retain but improve on what has come to define Duke's program.
"The reality is, as a whole, we're a lot stronger," McCallie said. "We're still as fast and quick as this team has always been, but there's a strength element that is definitely there."
Now, the Blue Devils hope that their new-found strength can help turn their aspirations into realities, from WNBA careers to that elusive national title.
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