Devils first in ACC to finish perfect

Others who have done it say Duke can stay unbeaten in postseason

DURHAM -- Duke's women's basketball team has achieved perfection.

Now can they keep it?

With a 67-62 win against rival North Carolina on Sunday, Duke became the only ACC women's basketball team ever to finish the regular season with a perfect record. Fourteen teams nationally have finished the regular season undefeated. On campus, students celebrated after the win with a bonfire on the residential quad. Fans, many still wearing blue and white face paint, cheered as two students with drums kept up a chant.

A university spokesman said there were no problems with the bonfire. A recent bonfire had grown too large for the fire marshal's comfort.

"This has been just amazing," said junior Peter Knowlton, 22. "This is school spirit at its best."

Knowlton and 17 other students painted T-shirts for the game. When they stood together, their chests spelled a message thanking players Lindsey Harding and Alison Bales, the team's seniors.

About 8 p.m., when the fire was smoldering, Chante Black, a junior on the team, walked up. She posed for a photo with Knowlton and other students.

The bonfire celebrated the Blue Devils as the only Division I men's or women's basketball team without a loss this season. Finishing the postseason without one will be even tougher.

Only four teams in women's college basketball have had perfect seasons and won the NCAA title -- Texas (1986), Connecticut (1995 and 2002) and Tennessee (1998).

Coaches and players from those four teams think Duke has a good shot at becoming the fifth. The Devils (29-0, 14-0 in the ACC) are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, which starts Thursday in Greensboro.

"To have a perfect season, you have to have a team that truly represents the word team," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "The players have to understand defense and rebounding, and you have to have a go-to player."

The Devils have that. They're balanced offensively and have the nation's second-ranked scoring defense (50.3 points per game). And they have Harding.

Harding is a fifth-year senior point guard and a leading candidate for national player of the year. Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said to be perfect, a team must have the nation's best player at point or at center.

Rebecca Lobo was the center on UConn's 1995 team. Now a sideline reporter for ESPN, she said an unblemished record requires unbroken focus.

"You have to be very mentally tough because you have to deal with the constant pressure that goes with being the top dog -- the undefeated top dog."

Mental toughness is perhaps the most noticeable difference in the team. Last year, the Blue Devils lost the NCAA title game in overtime to Maryland. In each of the program's four losses last season, team members lost their poise and played themselves out of a win. This year, Duke hasn't been rattled.

Texas coach Jody Conradt thinks that loss could be a key ingredient for this year's team. For Conradt's 34-0 Longhorns, a devastating loss in 1985 pushed them during their perfect season.

The Devils "have the motivator of a similar loss last year, so I see a lot of similarities there," Conradt said. "A lot of those players are back, so I think they came into this season wanting to get that bad taste out of their mouth."

As the Devils get deeper in the postseason, the pressure will mount.

Duke coach Gail Goestenkors has kept her team humble by showing them all their mistakes in big games. After Duke's 81-62 win over Maryland on Jan. 13, Goestenkors had a two-page list of errors for her team's next practice.

Harding said the Devils aren't worrying about perfection.

"It's pretty cool, but it doesn't really mean much," Harding said. "Hopefully, you're undefeated all the way through and then it means a lot."

Duke University has two more bonfire permits this year, a spokesman said. One is for the men if they win a national championship, a long shot. The second permit is reserved for the women. The benches may burn.

(Staff writer Benjamin Niolet contributed to this report.)