Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie sat down with The Chronicle's Ben Cohen Monday, the day after the Blue Devils closed their ACC slate with an 81-79 overtime win over North Carolina.
It seems like there was a look in Jasmine Thomas' eyes in overtime against North Carolina. Did you see that, and have you seen that type of play from her before?
I've seen it, but I haven't seen it all the time. And it was there last night. And I knew it. That's why we kept calling "down," and it was sort of stating the obvious, keep doing it, calling her play. It's just an iso for her, but I tell you what, she was in that mindset, and that mindset's very important because she's a very skilled guard.
But you've got to keep that focus. That's a key, and she's really maturing in her ability to do that.... Freshmen are never consistent. Zip, zero, never. Well, sophomores are right next to freshmen, and often not as consistent. So I think she's kind of crossing over to juniorhood a little early.
What are the qualities of the best NCAA Tournament teams, in your opinion?
The ability to execute broken plays, both on offense and defense. The ability to command the boards, and the ability to make stops. It's so funny, shooting percentage doesn't mean a thing, because it's all just a few shots going in. Don't get me wrong, it's great to shoot well-it's always good to shoot well-but the point is, it's the hustle plays, the maturity, the leadership, the time and score. It's getting the ball at the right place and right time.
So it's a lot of subtleties, but what surrounds that is the ability to make stops and rebound the basketball. I mean, 32 offensive rebounds was the reason we won that game.
And does Duke have those qualities?
Oh, absolutely. I think we've grown in all those areas I discussed. I think we're getting better. When we're highly motivated and focused, we can beat anybody. But we've got to have those two parts.
You've got to be highly motivated, and you can't have to have lost to somebody to be motivated. Does that make sense? We were highly motivated against North Carolina. Well, we had lost to them fairly recently. That's kind of elementary. You want to be highly motivated regardless of outcomes, and your focus comes with that.
Has the development of the frontcourt and progress on the boards been the hallmark of this year's team?
I think so.
Do you know the last time a Duke women's team had 32 offensive rebounds?
But again, it's consistency. You can't have it one night and then have it disappear. You've got to have it, because it's hustle plays, and it creates offense for you. It's offense we need, because these teams are all pretty good. And after a while, we get to know each other pretty well, and we get to know our sets, and we're scouting each other so well, at some point, it gets down to who wants it more. And rebounding is a good test of who wants it more.
It's been said that in the past, some Duke teams have hit their peak in January, but you've been clear in molding teams to peak in March. Is this team hitting its peak right now?
I think we're starting our ascent. It'll be interesting to see how high we can push it. We're definitely much better now than we've ever been at any time this year. True statement. Now it'll be interesting to see what we can do with it, and how we use it as a motivator.
It seems like the overtime win at Southern California Dec. 20, when the team came back from a 17-point deficit in the second half, was more important than just one game. Was it more significant than just another win?
It might have been. It was sort of a story in a game. We were so apathetic, and we were so affected by flying out there and playing this late game. It was really late for us, the start time was 11 p.m. our time.
I think it was an incredible example of dealing with adversity, and then just deciding that you're going to make it go your way. And those kids made incredible plays. Abby's three was incredible, I think she had the game-tying score, and then Chante, in overtime, went bananas. Bottom line is, yeah, I think it was a highly significant game.
What was the locker room like after that game?
It was just a moment. It was a moment for Abby to step up and hit that type of game-winning shot. In her career, she had the opportunity to do that. Of course, she made a game-winning shot last night.
The locker room was very, very proud. The locker room was recognizing what we could possibly be at that time. It was sort of an eye-opener, like, hey, we can be pretty good.
In your opinion, what have been the highlights of this year's season?
All these games at home. I do think that's incredible, to go undefeated at home, because I think a lot of [quality] teams came in here.
But I think just the ascent right now, this is the highlight to me, heading into March and April and heading into these Tournaments.
It's a lowlight to finish third when you want to finish first, that's the lowlight, but we have an opportunity to do something about it.
For more audio excerpts from The Chronicle's exclusive interview with McCallie, check out The Chronicle's Sports Blog at www.dukechroniclesports.com.
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