The lethal combination of depth and aggressive defense is what really wears teams out, and Duke has won multiple games by effectively shutting down opposing offenses in the second half. There is an urgency for helping the young women in our country become more powerful. So, if you look at our numbers from last year, we were a poor defensive team and that was my fault as a coach. On Tuesday night, head coach Jon Scheyer 's first Duke basketball team held on to beat the visiting NC State Wolfpack (22-9, 12-8 ACC), 71-67. Women's Basketball - Duke University The official Women's Basketball page for the Duke University The official Women's Basketball page for the Duke University The official. The Irish (24-4) will play in Friday's second quarterfinal at 2 p.m. Duke (24-5) is the No. A key member of the Blue Devils' coaching staff is headed elsewhere. "She's elite at what she doesI thought she was head coaching material after just five minutes talking with her." Aside from her numbers, it is the little things that make Taylor invaluable to this group. It just wouldn't happen," she added. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Shes the Swiss Army Knife of Duke womens basketball she can do it all. What happens is you handle hard better.. Head Coach. Ratcheting up a rivalry that had lost some luster as Notre Dame overtook the ACC with Louisville not far behind, followed by NC State's three-year ACC Tournament title-winning run, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils brought the battle back to the blues with a postseason slugfest. The Blue Devils shot no free throws while UNC made 5 of 9 from the line in the first half. As a player, Cunningham, then known as Beth Morgan, helped lead Notre Dame to its first Women's Final Four in 1997. Hopefully, you had a coach who motivated you along the way, says Lawson. The former Notre Dame standout, whose new contract with the Bears runs through the 2026-27 season, has been part of Duke head coach Kara Lawsons staff for the past two seasons and has nine years of previous head coaching experience at VCU. By Steve Wiseman. Humanity Forward. No, she walked into practice and she commanded practice right from the jump. That mental shift for me was super helpful., #4: Strength Fuels Your Ability to Handle Hard, Most of what Lawson talks to her team about is analogous to sports and what a team or individual athlete is facing. She spent time at Stanford, she understands what the process is like in terms of recruiting kids that are high achievers in more than one facet of their lives. The trio boasts a combined. Lawson said that, throughout the first half, Duke players were "complaining about the ball." The North Carolina game Feb. 4 was no exception to that by a six-point margin . When you make a mistake, you own it, and you own it right away. As the Blue Devils hit the court and weight room over the summer and into early fall, it became apparent the depth, skill and athleticism were all there to run the defensive schemes the coaching staff favored. You don't just want size, you want talent coupled with it.. "so we're excited to have her on board. The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. Jackson also went to the Women's Final Four as a player . Nolan Smith, the 2011 ACC. I think it just speaks to her and to our team of really wanting to put everything they can into these games.. I thought she was head coaching material withinfive minutes talking with her. Duke can take away opponents strengths and has proven to do so consistently. More:Status remains uncertain for Notre Dame's Olivia Miles heading into ACC Tournament ND went 10 . The independent news organization of Duke University. The way to do that is to compete hard with one another.. All of these characteristics that you would want in a coach, you want your staff to possess as many of those as possible and be experts in a number of them. NC State lost 77-62. After a season in the WNBA, she entered coaching. Lawson has not been shy in praising her staff for the improvement of this team, especially during the offseason. All five on the court at the same time. Your body can handle the mile better now. Duke won its last two games by double digits, cruising to a 79-62 . There has been a complete transformation that has turned the Blue Devil defense into a nationally terrifying unit. LEXINGTON Kentucky women's basketball coach Kyra Elzy is adding a Hall of Famer to her coaching staff. Lawson primarily played as a shooting guard.She won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in . One, it takes a lot of energy. The Tar Heels cracked their third-year coach's tournament goose egg with a second-round win over Clemson on Friday. The Irish were picked to finish fourth this season in an ACC preseason poll of coaches and media. The players are fully bought into achieving success, and Lawson highlights that as the number one reason for this improvement. "The lack of accountability is striking. If you look at our numbers from last year, we were a poor defensive team and that was my fault as a coach, said Lawson Jan. 10. Terms of Service Weve got three coaches that are talented enough to run their own programs -- two of them already have and have great experience recruiting the type of young woman we want at Duke.. Tia is coming back to Durham, and we are clearly excited, said Lawson. Powerful Stories. Lawson was part of a Celtics staff that posted a 43-21 record and reached the Eastern Conference Finals despite playing in "The Bubble." Assistant coach Winston Gandy then went to the scorers table to inspect the ball where he realized that the ball was, in fact, a men's ball, according to Lawson. When we step on the court, we know defense comes first.. Before we could ask her to coach us, Lawson did just that. And thats what we have at Duke; we have kids who want to be great students and we have kids who want to be great basketball players. During our Sunday Paper editorial meeting this past week, we were all talking about Kara Lawson. In the first season, 1974-75, the team played locally, finishing second in the state with a 6-7 record. Head Coach. Taylor is a highly skilled elite athlete with an incredibly high basketball IQ. ", . But I can't say if we'd have played with a women's ball in the first half and the second half that we would have won. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. The Celtics are starting a new era ahead of the 2021 NBA offseason. When you have teammates that want to win just as badly as you do, it makes things a lot easier, said Taylor after the game. I don't know of a higher compliment you can give a player than that.. Carver-Hawkeye Arena; Welcome to Campus; The University of Iowa; Iowa City; Contact. We pulled these seven pieces of life wisdom from our conversationwhich left us feeling capable and empowered. Because when you have those two things defensively, whatever theyre being taught, whatever were playing, whatever were doing it, only works from a defensive Xs and Os standpoint if were connected and were trusting each other.. OTL: Investigation underway at Duke (6:00) Outside the Lines discusses the investigation into Duke women's basketball head coach Joanne McCallie and her program for alleged mistreatment of players . She also made the All-Star Game once and was an Olympic champion during her playing days. She was giving people tips and people's jaws were dropping. Winston is a rising star in the profession, said Lawson. We publish premium content that makes you feel Informed, Inspired, Hopeful, Signup for our weekly newsletter. Notably, she worked with Marcus Smart to help him improve his shooting ability. Ten players average double-digit minutes per game, and six of those are transfers or freshmen. We don't want her to go, but it's on to bigger and better opportunities.". The numbers were not favorable to finding wins, especially in the highly competitive ACC. She held an incredible streak of 14 consecutive 20-point games, the second-longest ever in NCAA Men's or . Lawson and current assistant Jay Larranaga would representthe best options if Stevens wants some continuity and chemistry at the head coach spot. Think about it: At some point, most of us played sports of some kind. The Duke Blue Devils will try to extend their three-game winning streak when they face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday night. Who is the player of the year in every women's college basketball conference? My job is to equip themin every wayoutside of basketball and school, to be able to change the worldand to change the world as a woman, you must have an incredible amount of toughness, an incredible amount of competitiveness, and an incredible amount of resilience. (But) you really have to have players who are willing to work that hard every possession. The Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (26-4, 18-0 Big South) host the UNC Asheville Bulldogs (12-18, 8-11 Big South) after Lauren Bevis scored 30 points in the Runnin' Bulldogs 83-59 victory over . It doesn't get shorter. Becoming arguably the most disruptive defense in the ACC and ranking ninth nationally in field goal percentage defense started with hours in the film room and in practice. Taylor, Vanessa Cunningham and Jackson both are coming to Duke from other ACC schools and have been coaching for the past two decades. (1:15) Facebook The team is 23-1 when it keeps opponents under that number, with the lone loss coming 45-41 in Sundays regular-season finale to North Carolina. Her performance, familiarity with Boston and well-regarded status among the team's players are part of why former Celtic-turned-broadcast-analyst Brian Scalabrine thinks that Lawson may be the right woman for the job. We've got three coaches that are talented enough to run their own programs -- two of them already have - and have great experience recruiting the type of young woman we want at Duke.". Women's Champ Week predictions: Which teams will win the auto bids in all 32 conferences? While defense is a complete team effort and the Blue Devils have shown that the trio of Celeste Taylor, Kennedy Brown and Elizabeth Balogun is the engine to the well-oiled machine. The independent news organization of Duke University. "I have a lot of young minority women that are super intelligent and that can play basketball at a high level. This is her first college coaching job, and she had previously said experience would be one of the biggest things she would look for in assistants. Staff Directory Members By Category/Department; Image Name Title Email Address Phone; Katie Gearlds: Head Coach 494.0605 494.0605: Beth Couture: Drink water. And she'd never lost to Duke. Schmidt, Kara She is perhaps best known as the women's college basketball head coach of Duke University and The University of Texas. She was previously a news anchor and reporter who covered veterans' issues and breaking news. Duke has hired former Tennessee and WNBA guard Kara Lawson as its women's basketball coach, the school announced Saturday. New Duke women's basketball coach Kara Lawson announced the hiring of three assistants Friday, including longtime former Notre Dame assistant Beth Cunningham. You have to have player buy-in to play good defense, said Lawson. Richardson, who was at the top of the press, sprinted all the way back down the court and stole Miles pass, clinching the Duke victory. Then once we got through the summer and the start of the fall and seeing how were moving and what were capable of doing and building on the (non-basketball) principles. Lawson says this means making sure you have the energy to tackle what you need to do. Sleep well. So, he understands the type of kids we want to recruit -- kids that have big dreams; kids that want to impact the world in a lot of ways and hes got a great feel for that. Richardson had 10. Oliver, Emma In 2021, the severe lack of equipment afforded to women in their NCAA tournament bubble was exposed, ultimately leading to positive change, including extending March Madness branding to the women's tournament. Honestly, I think people miss being coached, she tells us over Zoom. Despite her desire for an appeal, Lawson acknowledged and respected the outcome of the game as played. 2022-23 Women's Basketball Coaching Staff. Every game against every team we play we emphasize defense, defense, defense, said Balogun after a Jan. 1 win against Louisville. Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson announced Friday the hiring of Beth Cunningham, Winston Gandy and Tia Jackson as assistant coaches. Jackson has 24 years of coaching experience, including four as coach of Washington. You can have individually-talented people, but you must have a group that fits together. A school teammate texted me about one of her friends who is going through grad school. Monica Holland, The Fayetteville Observer, NC State women's basketball's quest for 4th straight ACC Tournament title ends vs. Notre Dame, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Buy-in acceptance of and willingness to actively support and participate in something, such as a proposed new plan or policy. The former WNBA star doesn't have a lot of coaching experience, but she has been involved with the Boston organization and seems to have a good relationship with Brad Stevens. Seen, Supported, and most importantly not alone on your journey to The Open Field. When she went down to Duke to coach the women's team there I mean, I'm just putting A + B = C to me. Head Coach. A best-in-class newsletter that Inspires Hearts and Minds and Moves The core of the team guards Shayeann Day-Wilson and Celeste Taylor and wing Elizabeth Balogun remained intact, but the supporting pieces that Lawson brought in have made a great impact this season. Following the thorough and objective review process, there was no evidence found to support the claim. The Blue Devils and the Seminoles both entered Sunday's game in the top 25 nationally (No. One year after the COVID-19 pandemic cut head coach Kara Lawsons first season short, a new era of Duke womens basketball looked to be on the horizon. 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