Duke women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie said the start of March Madness marks the start of a new season for the Blue Devils.

As the NCAA Tournament opens this weekend, she said the Devils -- whose schedule pitted them against the nation's best -- will take lessons learned from the regular-season and ACC Tournament into the most important part of their year.

On Monday, Duke (23-9) received a No. 3 seed and a matchup against 14th seed Murray State (24-7) at 7 p.m. Sunday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

That sends the Blue Devils on the road to College Park, Md., for the tournament's first, and possibly second, rounds and places them in the Oklahoma City Regional with No. 1 seed Tennessee, No. 2 seed Texas A&M and No. 4 seed Oklahoma.

Duke is a No. 3 seed in the tournament for the first time since 1999. That team reached the national championship game for the first time in the program's history before losing to Purdue 62-45.

First-year coach McCallie, who will be making her 12th overall tournament appearance and sixth consecutive, said she doesn't place much stock into seeds or location. She said the only seed she really ever enjoyed was a No. 1 seed while at Michigan State.

Otherwise, she said, teams are in the same boat and must concentrate on learning the opponent in front of them.

"You're absolutely excited to take all the experiences you had this year and apply them to a tournament run," she said. "That's what you want to do.

"This is a great opportunity for us."

It will be Duke's 14th straight and 15th overall trip to the NCAA Tournament, although it will be just the third time in that span that the Devils play a first-round game outside the Triangle-Triad region.

Duke senior Wanisha Smith said the location of the host site is far less important than how the team prepares for the challenges ahead.

Smith is one of seven current Duke players with previous NCAA experience.

"We're very confident at this time," she said. "We're going to ... play hard because we know every team is not going to want to lose.

"Right now we're looking at every team as a No. 1 seed."

The Devils returned Friday from a four-day break after playing inspired basketball in the ACC Tournament, reaching the final with an upset of second-seeded Maryland.

For a team with a 4-8 record against ranked teams this season, it was a signature victory the Devils will look to draw from as they head into tournament play.

Against Maryland, the Devils were aggressive in attacking the basket and found a deft shooting touch. They also rebounded with a physicality their coach had called for on many occasions. More than anything, they were tenacious defenders.

All season, McCallie has said that this Duke team, with every game and every practice in a new system, was building a foundation for playing well in the postseason.

"When we play our brand of basketball, which is aggressive and smart, good strong defense without silly fouls, rebound hard," McCallie said, "we can beat anyone ... but the key is we have to play our game.

"It's a six-game march to win the national championship; it takes poise and focus to do it."