Duke Selected No. 3 Seed; Will Play Murray State In College Park Sunday

DURHAM, N.C. ? The ninth-ranked Duke women's basketball team received its 14th straight NCAA Tournament selection on Monday. The Blue Devils were seeded No. 3 in the Oklahoma City Region and will play Murray State in the first round on Sunday, March 23, 2008 at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md.

Duke (23-9), who received an at-large selection, will battle 14th-seeded Murray State (24-7) in the opening game. The Racers earned their first NCAA Tournament berth by knocking off Eastern Illinois, 69-58, to claim Murray State's first Ohio Valley Conference title on March 8. Head Coach Jody Adams, who is in her first year with the Racers, has been led by Ashley Hayes (18.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, Amber Guffey (18.0 points, 71 treys), Alaina Lee (11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds) and Shaleea Petty (10.2 points, 4.2 assists.).

The Murray, Ky.-based squad is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation as the Racers average 6.2 three-pointers made a game, which ranks 49th nationally. Murray State also ranks 25th in the NCAA stats with a 36.5 three-point field goal percentage and No. 3 nationally with an 80.9 free throw percentage. Five different Racers have hit at least 20 three-pointers this season.

Duke is coming off falling in the championship game of the ACC Tournament to second-ranked North Carolina, 86-73, a day after knocking off fourth-ranked Maryland in the semifinals, 74-63. The Blue Devils received a No. 3 seed for the second time in school history and the first since 1999 when Duke advanced to the National Championship game. Duke has advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 each of the last 10 years and reached the NCAA Final Four in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2006.

Leading the Blue Devil charge this season has been junior Chante Black, who was a second team All-ACC selection, and has averaged 13.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.4 steals and 1.4 assists. Lone senior Wanisha Smith is coming off an ACC Tournament where she matched a career high of 22 points in an upset bid of fourth-ranked Maryland in the semifinals. Smith was named second team All-Tournament for her efforts. An Upper Marlboro, Md., native, Smith averaged 12.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the three ACC Tournament contests.

Duke is seeded No. 3 for the second time in school history and the first since 1999, when the Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA Championship game before falling to top-ranked Purdue.

The Blue Devils and Racers will meet for the first time in school history. Duke owns a 2-1 overall record against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference.

Duke will play a NCAA Tournament game in College Park, Md., for the first time in school history. Overall, the Blue Devils own a 12-17 record in games played in College Park, Md., but has totaled a 6-1 in the Comcast Center. Duke had won six games in a row until an 85-70 loss earlier this season to Maryland.

The winner of the Duke/Murray State contest will advance to play the winner of the sixth-seeded Arizona State (21-10) and 11th-seeded Temple (21-12) contest on Tuesday, March 25. The Sun Devils will be making their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance, while the Owls will be making their seventh NCAA Tournament selection.

Other teams competing in College Park, Md., this weekend will be No. 1 seed Maryland versus No. 16 seed Coppin State as well as No. 8 seed Nebraska against No. 9 seed Xavier.

The Blue Devils are one of only three teams along with the Tennessee and Connecticut to have advanced to the Sweet 16 the last 10 consecutive years.

Tickets are available in the Maryland ticket office and can be purchased by visiting www.umterps.com or by calling 1-800-IM-A-TERP. General admission single-session tickets are still available through the Comcast Center Ticket Office. Prices are $12 for adults, youth and senior tickets are $8 and group tickets for 15 or more are $6. All-session general admission tickets, which includes all six games played in the Comcast Center, are priced at $28 for adults, $18 for youth and seniors and $15 for groups of 25 or more. Over 5,300 session passes have already been sold for the two-day event.

Junior Abby Waner

On the overall bracket:
“Right now we're just looking at College Park. Oklahoma City is a few games away and you just take it one game at a time. I think that it just depends on perspective. Funny things happen in the tournament and any team can step up at any time. We just have to be prepared for everything. Like I said, it's one game at a time and we're taking it from there.”

On beating Maryland in the ACC Tournament:
“I think that win really helped us, more than anything with team morale and confidence. It was a great win to have going into the tournament and hopefully we can carry that along.”

On being a number three seed:
“Really at this point, they are just numbers. There really isn't a whole lot of a difference between being a number one and a number two; you generally expect them to be matching up anyway depending on what side they're on. No matter what the media says and no matter what number we have, we're still Duke and at Duke, we expect to win. We're not going to stop at anything less than winning a national championship and whether ESPN cameras are here or not, that's what we're going for. Last year there was pressure, this year we're the underdog; either way, the pressure is still coming from within.”

Senior Wanisha Smith

On being a number three seed:
“We're just trying to come into this tournament strong and look at everybody as a number one seed. You just try to come away with some wins. Being able to peak this late in the year helps us with our confidence along with finally being able to pull things together from a long season. It really doesn't matter where we get placed; every team right now is a good team so it just depends on how hard you come out in games.”

On being an underdog:
“We're not talked about as much as we were last year because we lost Lindsey [Harding] and Ali [Bales], but at the same time we're a really confident team right now. We think we can play with any team in the nation.”

Coach Joanne P. McCallie

On the overall bracket:
“I just get excited to have an opponent, have a direction and know the times that we're playing and to put forth a purposeful plan. That's what's exciting about this time of year. I think I've learned from my NCAA time that preferences don't fit into the equation. There are so many things that you don't control that what you try to do is control the things you can control and work very hard and put yourself in the best position every time you play. It's easy for me to focus on one game at a time; I enjoy preparation for opponents and we always treat every opponent exactly the same anyway.”

On making strides at the ACC Tournament:
“I think it's a great time of year. Our team has worked very hard and I think we've grown a great deal. We had tremendous poise throughout the tournament. The game against Maryland was filled with a calm, focused attack throughout. I believe in getting better and I believe in drawing from the experience that we have. We have played an incredible schedule with great teams and we've been in many different situations throughout the season. I think this is a great time to draw on those experiences.”

On having played many of the teams in the tournament bracket:
“I think you get advantage through experience and we have so much experience doubling up on Maryland and North Carolina and of course playing Connecticut and Tennessee. We really did get a great deal of experience. In many ways, we're a very young team. We've played a lot of players, a lot of young players, players that maybe didn't get a lot of experience last year, so I think our gelling has been fun to watch. I think it's one of those processes you go through. We've gone against the very best and that's going to help us in the NCAA Tournament.”