Harding is Duke's leader

Guard puts it all together for Devils

DURHAM -- Only one women's basketball jersey, honoring former star Alana Beard, hangs in the rafters at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Lindsey Harding is making the case to add another.

The Duke senior point guard has led her team to an undefeated season against sizable odds. The top-ranked Blue Devils (29-0, 14-0 ACC) lost three seniors from last year's Final Four squad and haven't gotten a minute from junior forward Chante Black because of a hyperextended right knee. Only four players, including Harding, came into the season with significant experience.

But Harding has helped Duke shake off those problems as easily as she shakes off a defender. On Tuesday, she won her second ACC defensive player of the year award; she is the leading candidate for ACC player of the year. Harding leads Duke in scoring at 14.4 points per game, which is tied for 11th in the ACC.

If Harding is named the NCAA player or defensive player of the year, that will qualify her No. 10 jersey to hang in Cameron. Duke has retired 13 men's jerseys.

Harding's accolades might be because of sitting out a year. Harding redshirted two years ago because Duke suspended her for violations of team rules. She never has answered why.

Now, she's a consummate leader with a poised style that a politician would envy. She takes long, thoughtful pauses before answering questions. The suspension seemed out of character then, but she calls it "a blessing in disguise."

She called that year away a time to "refocus. I got to do something I'd never done," Harding said.

That was sitting on the bench. She still practiced with the team, but during games, she sat close to coach Gail Goestenkors and absorbed everything she could. She learned what Goestenkors wanted and helped teach shooting guard Wanisha Smith, then a freshman, how to run the point.

Harding is now so in sync with her coach that Smith said Harding frequently calls a play with her back turned to Goestenkors, not seeing Goestenkors calling for the same play.

Harding's leadership on the floor is unquestioned. Part of why Harding is so popular with the Devils is because her teammates know Harding could score more but chooses to share the ball. Harding is one of the fastest point guards in the nation, and she has destroyed defenses -- witness her 28- and 29-point performances against Maryland. But in games in which Duke doesn't need her to score bunches, she dishes the ball up to teammates.

"Nobody on this team is selfish," Duke guard Abby Waner said. "Lindsey has the ability to take every shot and be fine, but ... when a game gets close, none of us panic. We're not on our heels, we're attacking because that's Lindsey's mind-set and Lindsey's the leader of this team and we all feed off of her."

Harding has seen what happens when a Duke team gets dependent on one player. During the tenures of Alana Beard and Monique Currie, the Blue Devils could get passive and look to their stars to bail them out.

"I think that's unhealthy," said Harding, a 5-foot-8 guard from Houston. "When you share the ball and everyone's a threat, that's hard to stop. Maybe you can stop me, but you can't stop the other four. If you give them that confidence from Day One, then in the big games, they'll already be used to it."

It's a lesson everyone at Duke has learned.

When Harding's career began at Duke, she played a classic point guard's role and created opportunities for the Devils' stars. As her role changed, she worked to flesh out her game. She played pickup games where she'd only allow herself to score on 3-pointers or mid-range jumpers, whatever needed work.

Harding's philosophy is simple: She's hopeful, but realistic. She knows she can be a better 3-point shooter, but quips that she probably won't become "an astronaut." Before the season, she set her individual goals with Goestenkors -- ACC defensive player of the year, ACC player of the year, first-team All-America, national defensive player of the year.

In the next month, Harding will find out how many of those goals she'll reach -- and whether some day, her white jersey with No. 10 will hang from the rafters.