Who Should Get the Nod Tonight?

As the women's basketball team prepares for it's Elite Eight showdown against the overall No. 1 Connecticut, one of the main questions for pre-game thought is: who should start for the Blue Devils?

The Huskies have used a pretty static starting five with five players - Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley, Stefanie Dolson and Kelly Farris - all having started over 32 of the team's 36 games. Duke, on the other hand, has only consistently started three players - seniors Jasmine Thomas, Krystal Thomas and Karima Christmas. All 11 members of the Blue Devils roster have started at least two games, and playing time has varied greatly throughout the season. For example, while Kathleen Scheer started 15 games, mostly towards the beginning of the season, she only earned one minute of playing time last night.

For the first two games of the Tournament, junior Shay Selby and and sophomore Allison Vernerey joined the seniors on the court to begin the game. That was not the case Sunday night against DePaul, however, when those two were swapped out for freshmen Haley Peters and Chelsea Gray.

Beyond the seniors, Gray started the most games of any player this season with 17. The highest-rated recruit of Coach Joanne P. McCallie's deep freshman class, Gray excelled in the Sweet 16 with a 16-point performance, shooting 5-for-5 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line. Gray, along with Scheer, started against Connecticut when the Huskies - in the words of McCallie - "thumped" Duke in January.

Peters only has eight starts on the season but always makes the most out of her opportunities on the court. She is the most efficient scorer on the team with a 53% clip from the field with the next highest on the team being Krystal Thomas at 48%. Moreover, Peters adds a versatility to the offense because she can score from both inside and beyond the arc. Neither Thomas nor Vernerey can score from distance the way Peters can.

Realistically, starting Gray and Peters is the wisest move for McCallie. Peters's athleticism should be useful in helping Karima Christmas defend against the nation's best player Maya Moore; Vernerey would be vulnerable when Moore gets the ball at the top of the key. Furthermore, Selby, despite starting 10 games this season, has been most useful as a high-energy player coming off the bench. She was effective in that role on Sunday, entering the game and quickly taking a charge to give the team a boost. Finally, Gray has proven how effective she can be with the ball in her hands. McCallie always praises how as a point guard, Gray sees the court so well, and her tempo-setting ability will be key in the showdown against the Connecticut this evening.

The reality is, however, that the decision on who to start is largely symbolic with McCallie having more of an ability to mix-and-match compared to Geno Auriemma who regularly gives time to only seven players, compared to Duke's 11.