New era brings struggles

Duke, which hosts Rutgers tonight, has lost three straight games

Duke women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie looks at her team's current predicament -- three consecutive losses for the first time since the 1996-97 season -- as a quintessential question of life:

"How tough can you be when things aren't going your way?"

It's a question the 17th-ranked Blue Devils (5-3) are now forced to answer as this season has tilted in a direction that has been uncharacteristic for recent Duke teams.

Just last season the Devils went 14-0 at home and finished the regular season 29-0. Now they are faced with the possibility of losing four in row, a drought no Duke team has experienced since the 1993-94 season.

With losses to No. 2 Connecticut, No. 20 Vanderbilt and unranked Penn State on Sunday, the Blue Devils enter tonight's home contest against No. 4 Rutgers looking to recapture their trademark consistency and winning ways.

It has been a perplexing transition for first-year coach McCallie and her 12 players, who were placed together after longtime coach Gail Goestenkors left to take the head coaching job at Texas.

After losing All-America point guard Lindsey Harding and shot-blocking specialist Alison Bales to graduation, the Devils lost returning starters junior Abby Waner and senior Wanisha Smith to injuries two games into this season.

While Waner has returned from a high ankle sprain, scoring a game-high 23 points against Penn State, Smith remains sidelined with a broken bone in her right (shooting) hand along with 6-foot-4 freshman Krystal Thomas, who injured her knee.

Add to that a schedule that has put Duke on the road for seven of its first eight games, and it's enough to give a coach gray hair.

McCallie admits the losses have hurt, but said they are simply part of the process of a new program finding its way. She added that she does not run from adversity.

"When you look at our schedule and you look at who graduated, this is not a surprise at all," she said, adding, "It's not easy to replace those people. You have to find a way to resolve and develop. And that's just the way it is."

But more than losing, the Blue Devils have not looked like themselves as they have implemented McCallie's new inside-out offensive system, one that places emphasis on post players to carry the load of the offense.

Duke sophomore Joy Cheek said she doesn't think the team has done a great job at adjusting. She said team members had to get use to new ways of operating, including where to cut for screens, where to set screens and learn what is and is not open.

"They were all things within our control," Cheek said of the mistakes that led to losses. "Some of the games were a lack of effort. Some were mental mistakes."

Duke junior Chante Black, who has led the team in scoring (13.9) and contributed double figures in seven straight games, said the team's confidence remains intact.

"We're still a very confident team," she said. "We have high expectations still going into the season. We're only going to pull that all together for the up-and-coming games."

ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli, who called Duke's game against Penn State, said any time there is a change in coaching philosophy there is a natural adjustment period. She said the problem is whether players buy into the new system.

"There is no grace period because they're Duke and the success that they've had," she said. "It would be one thing if it was a program at the bottom of the league. It's a program at the top of the nation. And so it's going to require more patience."

McCallie said many lessons have emerged from this early experience. She wants the ball to go inside to post players, yet she considers the jump-shooting Waner a "primary feature" of the offense, at either guard position.

"You're just always in the process of giving her opportunities as much as possible," McCallie said.

More important, she wants players to know that there is a price for winning championships.

"It's not an automatic thing," McCallie said. "We talk about the people in the uniform are who make it happen, not the name on the uniform."