Take two

Blue Devils relaxed entering their second Final Four trip

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Taking a cue from its first Final Four appearance three years ago, Duke is taking a more relaxed approach in preparing for the tournament this time around.

Duke coach Gail Goestenkors chalks it up to experience.

"I had the strange idea it was going to be fun," Goestenkors said of the team's 1999 Final Four appearance. "It's not fun. It's work. You don't sleep at all. You're watching tape. ... You have a lot of things required of you that have nothing to do with basketball."

Duke (31-3), which won the East Regional on Monday, will play Oklahoma (31-3) on Friday in San Antonio. But this trip will be different for the Blue Devils.

"The best thing we can do as coaches is keep things light and have a lot of laughter," Goestenkors said. "That is what we've done all year long and that is what has helped the team."

Her players, who have won their last 22 games in a row, seem to buy into that notion.

"We laugh all the time and that is a great cure for pressure," senior Krista Gingrich said. "Even though we're going to try as much as we can to make it any other game, we realize it is not."

Oklahoma is making its first Final Four appearance. The game will mark the first time Duke has played outside North Carolina since winning at Maryland on Feb. 2.

"The lack of travel is going to help us," Gingrich said. "Travel is in general very tiring. Teams that have been flying everywhere could be jet lagged. I don't think it is going to affect us. But it is the Final Four and everyone is going to be ready to play."

Alana Beard, MVP of the East Regional championship, scored 24 in leading the Blue Devils to a 77-68 win over South Carolina on Monday.

"Everybody knows that two more games and you're national champions," Beard said.

Duke's winning streak is the second-longest in the country behind Connecticut's 37. Duke's last lost was to Tennessee on Dec. 27 in the ACC Shootout in Atlanta.

Goestenkors said her current team is more athletic than the 1999 squad but has just begun executing at same level.

"Come crunch time when we need a basket, we have been able to settle down and really execute," Goestenkors said.

 

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