Krystal Thomas

Up until the last two minutes, this was one of Krystal's worst-ever games. She was going up against a smaller opponent that played straight-up man to man that wasn't double-teaming her, and she was passive at both ends. She was consistently off-balance when she did take shots and missed 2 crucial free throws in the second half. In the last two minutes, she collected herself and made plays: a series of huge, high screens that freed up Jasmine Thomas for stop-and-pops; intense post defense; an alert block on Kentucky in the waning seconds of the game. If Krystal doesn't show up against Maryland, Duke will lose. For that matter, Duke will not be a Final Four team if Krystal doesn't focus on fundamentals and maintain her focus throughout the game.

Haley Peters

Haley replaced Scheer in the starting lineup and had some encouraging early returns as she grabbed a couple of rebounds and stuck back a miss by Vernerey. Then jitters started to set in as she was whistled for traveling three times; each time, she passed up a good shot in an effort to drive for a different shot. She simply has to trust that if she misses a good shot on a pass from a teammate, she will either make it or a teammate will get a rebound. As always, Haley simply needs to relax and play on instinct on the offensive end.

Karima Christmas

This was not a great game for Rima, who sat out much of the first half with two fouls after twice tying the game (with a drive and 2 free throws). Kentucky did a great job of putting a body on her and keeping her passive. Karima did come with a key steal near the end of the game that helped set up the go-ahead score.

Shay Selby

Shay started but was curiously almost invisible out there. Outside of a rebound and a couple of missed shots, she simply didn't have a big impact (positive or negative) on the game. This isn't of much concern, given her status as a veteran who has a history of being streaky. Shay will make an impact when one least expects it.

Jasmine Thomas

Jasmine might as well have thrown out the first eighteen minutes of the first half and the first twelve minutes of the second half. Other than scoring on a drive and getting 2 free throws early in the game, she literally did all of her scoring in those ten minutes. She missed all kinds of shots, but she especially struggled to finish at the rim. Once she got going and hit the Turbo button, there was little Kentucky could do to stop her. Thomas scored on a stickback, dished to Liston for a jumper and stuck two pull-up jumpers to turn a 1-point Duke lead into a 9 point halftime bulge. When Duke was desperately trying to win down the stretch, she not only hit a couple of clutch jumpers, she also had 2 big-time blocks that snuffed out otherwise good-looking shots. The tougher the game situation, the calmer Jasmine has become. Every miss on offense just seems to make her work harder on defense to make a play--very much like a Lindsey Harding. This is exactly the Jasmine Thomas Duke will need to win the ACC: an aggressive leader who wants to set others up if possible but who will take over the game when she senses she's needed.