DURHAM -- During her short career, Duke sophomore point guard Chelsea Gray already has created a portfolio of dazzling passes and garnered a reputation as the Earvin "Magic" Johnson of women's college basketball.
It's a comparison that stretches the truth just a bit, considering what Johnson accomplished during his collegiate career at Michigan State and then as a NBA superstar with the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet those who watch Gray, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Stockton, Calif., say she has the instincts, superior court vision and precise timing that make her a special passer who can be compared to a Johnson or former Old Dominion two-time women's national player of the year Nancy Lieberman.
"Passing is an art," said Lieberman, whose annual Lieberman Award goes to the nation's top point guard. "When I watch Chelsea, I close my eyes and say, 'Oh my gosh, this kid is on another level.' She passes the ball like a guy. She's on time, on-target. She's big, she's strong."
Others take it a step further: "She's the best passer in all of women's college basketball," said ESPN analyst Abby Waner, a former Duke standout.
A national television audience can decide what it thinks of Gray today as No. 3 Connecticut (19-2) visits No. 5 Duke (17-2) at Cameron Indoor Stadium (ESPN2, 7 p.m.).
Meanwhile, the comparisons of Gray to Johnson keeping piling up.
"I smile every time I hear that," Gray said. "It's definitely a big statement for somebody to put you in the same category as Magic. He's an excellent passer, excellent leader, excellent point guard. He's one of the best."
Facing a powerhouse
The Huskies, guided by coach Geno Auriemma, will bring their own talented guards with sophomore point guard Bria Hartley running the show. Duke last defeated UConn in 2006 - 63-61 in overtime - but has lost its past four games against the national powerhouse, including a 75-40 blowout last year in the NCAA tournament. They also defeated the Devils 87-51 during the regular season.
This season, the Devils have other plans. Gray has helped galvanize a young team averaging 76.9 points per game. She's contributing 10.7 points, 6.4 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game, leading the ACC in assists.
Her assist average ranks 10th nationally and she's on pace to break the school's season record set by Kira Orr in 1995-96. Gray has dished 122 assist in 19 contests, well within range of the 170 Orr delivered that season.
Among Gray's highlights was a triple-double performance against Pittsburgh on Dec. 4, when she collected 14 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. A week ago against No. 8 Maryland, she finished with 17 points and 11 assists - her third double-double this season.
Along the way, there's been a bevy of oh-no-she-didn't passing moments, including an inbounds pass she threw to herself off the back of N.C. State guard Emili Tasler on Jan. 8.
With every pass, the buzz grows.
"It's fun to watch," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "You kind of wonder what she'll do next."
Be ready
To play with Gray, teammates say, is to expect the unexpected.
"She can see the floor better than anybody I know," freshman center Elizabeth Williams said. "I might be open for a split second and she'll manage to get the ball to me."
Against Virginia, Williams cut straight through the lane on her way to the block. Somehow Gray snaked a pass through traffic and into her hands for a layup.
"You just have to always have your hands ready," sophomore forward Haley Peters said. "If she's driving the lane with the ball, it's going to come from a place you're not used to seeing the ball come from."
Peters found out the hard way as Gray's passes jammed her fingers last season. Others just whipped by.
"I see plays develop before they happen," Gray said. "I know they are going to the spot, so I put the ball at the spot while they are running."
With her wrist taped, Gray zips passes from impossible angles. She drops three-quarter court lob passes perfectly into the hands of players to finish fast breaks. She splits zone defenders from the top of the arc with laser no-look entry passes.
"You get layups off her passes," Peters said. "She's dragging the defense away with her eyes and how she's moving."
McCallie said she hasn't seen a better passer in 19 years of coaching. She credits uncanny peripheral vision.
"She sees a play developing almost a full second before anybody else on the floor," McCallie said. "She knows exactly where they are and exactly how to get them the ball. And she can feel them. It's not just a sight thing."
Assist-first player
Gray developed a love for basketball playing pickup with her brother and cousins in the backyard. She was 6.
She remembers the first pass that really fueled her desire to become an assist-first player. As a sixth-grader playing on an AAU team, she raced down court on a two-on-one break and threw an around-the-back pass to her teammate for a layup.
"My dad and brother got really excited," she said.
Afterward, her father took them to her favorite restaurant. From then on, she admired players like Allen Iverson.
In high school, she discovered clips of Johnson. And over time her repertoire grew.
Now it's common to see her throw a no-look pass. "Sometimes it doesn't work in my favor," she said. "I'll try to force something that isn't there. I can just make the easy pass, but it's mostly a look-off factor that makes it hard for the defense."
Waner, who finished seventh on Duke's career assist list with 432, said Gray entered college with a mature understanding of how to involve teammates. The guard's most impressive passes, she said, are not her flashy one-arm bounce passes but the crisp lead pass.
"It's not about the pass that I make, it's about understanding who you're passing to," Waner said. "The most difficult thing is understanding time and situation."
Invaluable
Slowed by an ankle injury last season, Gray's healthy. She's pushing the basketball full-throttle and attacking defenses with accurate, highlight-reel passing.
That high-risk, high-reward style draws the comparisons to Johnson.
Gray has strong wrists and forearms and beams passes through tight spaces. An equally adept scorer, she's looking to set up teammates.
"She's going to make people around her better," UNC Wilmington coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said. "A player like that is invaluable to a team and to a coach."
McCallie has given Gray the green light and allows her to call plays. She said as Gray learns the offense, she'll become even more dangerous.
Gray continues to drive and dish, her knee high like Johnson, though she's cautious not to compare herself to the legend.
"She is who she is," said Lieberman, who earned the nickname "Lady Magic."
"We don't have to pinpoint and go, 'Well she passes like this one or that one.' You know what, she passes like Chelsea. She's setting her own standards."
