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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2002
Normally, Duke coach Gail Goestenkors would prefer to field a squad that has more than eight players.
But the way things are working out for the Blue Devils, who needs normal?
Duke is 23-3, has the best Atlantic Coast Conference start in school history (15-0) and is looking to become the second team in ACC history to finish 16-0 (Virginia did it in 1995). It leads the ACC in eight categories and is second in six others, and faces North Carolina on Sunday in its regular-season conference finale. The Blue Devils have three of the top players in the ACC: sophomore guard Iciss Tillis, freshman forward Monique Currie and sophomore conference phenom Alana Beard. The three have combined for an average 49 points, 20.4 rebounds and 9.9 assists. Beard joined the 1,000-point club Thursday 56 games into her career, third-fastest in ACC history.
"Chemistry has so much to do with it and they are a group of people that are really enjoying playing with each other," Georgia Tech coach Agnus Berenato said. "They are all on the same page, their coaching staff is on the same page. ... I think they really love the fact they only have eight players on their team. They don't have any problems, they don't have any naysayers."
Injuries and defections left Duke with eight players 18 games ago. All eight of the remaining players have scored in 11 of those games, with four or more scoring in double figures in 12 of those 18.
Along with its big three, the starting lineup consists of junior forward Michele Matyasovsky and sophomore guard Vicki Krapohl.
Goestenkors, who in 10 seasons has coached Duke to six 20-win seasons, said the three most important things that have factored into this year's success are versatility, unselfishness and Beard.
"It's not just her talent, but her daily focus and energy that is very contagious I think for everyone on our team," Goestenkors said. "Her will to win is incredible. And not just in games, but in every practice and every drill, and that really raised the level of our intensity and focus in every practice, and I think it pays off in our games."
PROVING ITS POINT: Still striving to be considered among the top conferences in the nation, the Big 12 can boast it has the best record against the other major conferences.
With two nonconference wins over Top 25 teams last week, the Big 12 nonconference record is a nation-best 114-31 (.786).
The league finished its regular-season nonconference schedule last week when Texas beat No. 4 Tennessee and Texas Tech knocked off No. 19 Wisconsin. The nonconference mark includes a 10-8 record against Top 25 teams.
The Big 12 also boasts the top Ratings Percentage Index in this week's rankings, followed by the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-10.
Eighteen conferences kick off conference tournaments next week.
-- Antonya English covers women's basketball. She can be reached at (813) 226-3389 or english@sptimes.com.