Q&A With Joanne P. McCallie

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DURHAM, N.C.-- Prior to the women's basketball team opening practice on Friday afternoon, Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie sat down with GoDuke.com to talk about practice, Durham, the 2009-10 team and other items as the Blue Devils enter the third year with Coach P at the helm.

GoDuke.com: How excited are you for practice to get started on Friday?

Joanne P. McCallie: Oh gosh, very excited! You know what's neat about it is that we've been practicing within our boundaries, but now it's finally here in terms of really being able to develop everybody, have a whole practice and spend more time on the court together. For the student-athletes -- for them -- it's a simplification process where there is so much in the pre-season, so many different things. Now they can truly focus, come together and have that time on the court. So, I think I speak for the entire staff when I say that we just can't wait.

GD: What do you enjoy most about practice?

JPM: I just love being on the court, I love the enthusiasm, I love the teaching, I love the attention to detail and I love the competition. It's such an incredible escape. It's truly a non-real world scenario in terms of just being able to be on the court whether it's two hours or three hours and just be completely removed from everything else that is going on. I just love the complete focus on the group, the team, the development, and the coaches. It's a very special time for a team.

GD: What do you try to work on and get out of the first week of practice?

JPM: Right now we are going to continue what we have been working on in the fall. We've been working pretty hard on offense execution and detail to this point, so we are obviously going to pick that up, going five-on-five, going much more full than we've been able to. It's a combination of really everything. Most of our focus early has been offense execution, screening, cutting, and spacing -- all those things. And now we've got to build on that, continue with that, but then throw in all sorts of defensive schemes. Sure up our man-to-man, get our match-ups in order, our presses. It's just one of those things as you write up practice, you know I write up each practice individually, you just keep building, just keep building on something. That's what makes it fun.

GD: How pleased are you with the team's progress in the offseason?

JPM: Extremely pleased. I think we've had a record setting fall in terms of strength, conditioning and quickness. I've never been a part of any team where three women have benched 180 pounds or more, with Karima [Christmas] leading us with 185 for max out on the bench press. Our push-up totals are the highest I've ever seen of any team I've coached, and this is for 17 years. The push-up totals, the bench press totals, the quickness on the jump rope; also, the preseason overall in terms of execution. I really like how we're getting to the ball; we're hitting the open player more quickly, more in a flow of finding people. There are a lot of things about the preseason that have been very successful: the leadership, the point guards trying to take charge, as well as the veteran players doing the same.

GD: How has the leadership been so far in the fall?

JPM: It's been outstanding. We need to grow the "everybody leads" thing in terms of people stepping up, especially some of the younger players stepping up to be more vocal. However, the older players, the seniors and juniors, in particular, have been outstanding in terms of communication and communicating at the right times. Getting things done, but pushing through and demanding of each other in the right kind of way -- very positive, very aggressive and upbeat. You definitely have emerging leaders, natural leaders, Joy Cheek, Bridgette [Mitchell], and KJ [Keturah Jackson], and you see Jasmine [Thomas] and Krystal [Thomas]. Those five in particular, but everybody is stepping it up. I like the development I've seen from some of the others as well.

GD: How have the freshmen come in and gotten adjusted?

JPM: I think great. For Janee [Johnson], who is out for the season with her knee injury, can bench 180 pounds. That makes quite a statement to her teammates in terms of her commitment and controlling what she can control. I'm proud about that for Janee. Allison has been remarkable in her ability to pick up things quickly. I've never really seen a player quite as sponge-like in terms of picking up things and then using them in her game, going up 30 pounds in a bench press is almost unheard of as well, which is what she's done. Allison just keeps growing and getting better; she's extremely competitive and has certainly made an immediate impact. And I think Alexis [Rogers] has too. Alexis is very athletic, has a great shooter's touch, and she's somebody who plays aggressive right from the get go. She's also made her mark as a slasher and a shooter, and a versatile player. So all three have made their marks in different ways, but the collective piece of it, is that it's made us better.

GD: How happy are you to have KJ back as a fifth-year senior? How is she progressing from her offseason surgery?

JPM: To have KJ back is some kind of a Christmas present. KJ is just special in everyway in terms of her ability to compete, her leadership, her focus and determination, her heart, her skill set. KJ just does it all; she's a very special person that way in terms of her effect on the team. We're thrilled to have her back and to have her in the Fuqua Business School. We're just so proud of that -- to have one of our student-athletes to be in graduate school, be making that adjustment to graduate school now and having that opportunity. We are very proud about what she's doing. Early on she's missing a few things; she's got exams, she's got an entirely different schedule than everybody else, but it's okay because she is rehabbing so beautifully that we want to bring her back slowly in the month of October. I think you'll see KJ just absolutely doing great things. You'll see that more towards November. We're not going to rush October; it's too early, the season is too long, and she's doing too well with her rehab.

GD: You are entering your third year at Duke. Has the newness of Duke worn off? How has the transition been and how much does your family enjoy Durham?

JPM: Duke to me is like fine wine, it get better with age, it gets better with each year. And I mean that sincerely. I think any time you have a transition it's always challenging, but we've just so enjoyed the community. We absolutely love living in Durham. We're really hoping to get more Durham folks out to the games so we can have more fans and more sellouts and things like that. Our family has adjusted beautifully. Maddie is playing two varsity sports as a sophomore, and Jack just loves DA [Durham Academy]. We've got to know the whole Riverside community as well as the Durham Academy community, which has been great. We have an incredible neighborhood where we live and very supportive neighbors despite the fact that they all wear the wrong color blue. I can't say enough about it. We know more people, and we've had more experiences. My husband has benefited by going to Pinehurst several times now to compete in the Carlyle Cup competition and playing with Ed Howard was just a blast for him. So all the things in terms of meeting people and spending time, it just gets better and better. Coaching the team, every year has been a thrill. Year three will be a thrill in its own right; two and one have been a thrill as well working with the student-athletes. That's been pretty consistent in terms of that being exciting and having a great schedule and trying to do some neat things together. We've really, really enjoyed it. We just want to get more fans out, more awareness, more coverage, and more fans to the games as much as possible.

GD: How exciting is it to have a team with so many endless possibilities? So many people with the ability to step up?

JPM: I think it's just an awesome, an exciting, and a very dangerous team. For the standpoint of any given night, anybody can rise to the occasion and do something special. That's great for the team and it's exciting for the competitive cauldron of everybody working for playing time. It's very exciting for the fans; this is a basketball savvy community in a big way and people will really appreciate what these women are trying to do on a nightly basis. Also, entertaining the toughest schedule in the country; having a challenging schedule and going out and competing right away, not just trying to set us up for wins, yet trying to develop us fully from beginning to end so we can be our best late in the season. It's a great thing; I think that it will be exciting to watch; we'll be hard to scout, and it makes everyday very interesting.

Q&A With Joanne P. McCallie

Players Mentioned

Joy Cheek

Keturah Jackson

Duke information

Q&A With Joanne P. McCallie

Players Mentioned

Joy Cheek

Keturah Jackson

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Duke information