There is one word in college basketball that everyone knows to fear. When that one word is heard people listen and the mention of this word is synonymous with excellence and prominence. And when opposing teams see this word on their schedule, the butterflies begin to flutter.
That one word is "Duke."
The UB women's basketball team heads to the hallowed grounds of Durham, N.C. tonight to compete in the Duke Classic amongst a field of three teams that competed in the NCAA tournament last year, including the Blue Devils of Duke.
To get to Duke (5-0) however, the Bulls must first endure the St Joseph's Hawks (1-2) on Friday night. If they are successful against the Hawks then they will receive the incredible opportunity to lock horns with the number one team in the nation. The mighty Blue Devils will be waiting for UB on Sunday if they do not suffer a let down of epic proportions in their opening game with the University of Howard (0-5).
Friday night's game begins at 6 p.m. Should the team win, they would play at 2 p.m. Sunday in the championship game. A loss moves them to the consolation game at 12 p.m. Sunday.
"Our main focus right now is St Joseph's and St. Joseph's only," said Bulls Head Coach Cheryl Dozier. "It is going to be very competitive and I think our players are up to the challenge. They know that this can be a statement weekend for us and that is the way we are going to go in."
"We haven't even talked about Duke as a team yet," senior point guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe said Thursday night. "Although, I'm sure it's in the backs of everybody's minds."
Dozier knows her team cannot overlook the Hawks who will prove to be an extremely formidable team. While their record of 1-2 may not be intimidating considering the Bulls have a record of 2-0, St. Joseph's participated in the NCAA tournament last year and its two losses this year have come to foes ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Scouting reports indicate that the Bulls match up well with the Hawks and Dozier knows this. The two leading scorers on St. Joe's are two thin post players, Stephanie Graff (12.3 ppg) and Irina Krasnoshiok (11.7 ppg). They also use a seven-player rotation as opposed to the Bulls' nine-player, something Buffalo hopes to use to their advantage.
"What we're going to do is try to be physical with them," said Dozier. "The advantage for us is that we go deeper than them with nine."
Hopefully UB will not be awestruck by the fact that they are playing on Duke's homecourt. Dozier does not think it will.
"I think they are excited about it. You see it on television all the time. I think they are ready to go, they know to focus on St. Joseph's."
With a win on Friday the Bulls will most likely find themselves face-to-face with one of the most legendary college teams in Duke, and their superstar player Alana Beard, who averages 22.8 points per game.
"If we face them it will be another one of those great opportunities," said Dozier.
"One of my biggest motivations to beat (St. Joe's) is to play Duke on Sunday," McMeeken-Ruscoe said. "I don't want to go to the Duke Tournament and not play Duke."
But opportunities aside, the thought of battling Duke on their homecourt is enough to scare just about any team. But does it scare Dozier and the Bulls?
"You know, if we had not won that St. John's game I'd say we would have a bit more agita in our stomachs," said Dozier. "But because of the way they came out against St. John's on the road in front of 4,100 people, I don't think there is a whole lot of things that will scare this te
