Kathleen Scheer (left) stifles a giggle as Krystal Thomas provides analysis of the 2010 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament bracket.

The mood in the room at Duke's Selection Show celebration was one of muted enthusiasm, as it was pretty clear when ESPN announced that Hartford would meet LSU in Durham, NC that the Devils would be the #2 seed in the Memphis Regional. Shortly afterwards the remainder of the bracket was revealed, that Duke will face #15 seed Hampton at 2:35 PM on Saturday afternoon. Other than the occasional cheer when (sparse) footage of Duke was shown on TV (and grumbles when UNC's win over Duke was mentioned), everyone seemed more interested in getting a piece of congratulatory cake and getting back to practice. The team was rested after getting several days off for spring break, getting back to practice on Sunday.

Joy Cheek noted that the team needed to work on some of its defenses, especially the traps. Jasmine Thomas immediately offered that rebounding was the one area the team was trying to concentrate on the most. All of the players downplayed the potential third-round matchup with Texas. For them, that possibility was too far away to even consider--and even if it did come to pass, they said it would be just another game. Jasmine did say that she was excited that her family would get to watch her play live in the NCAA tournament this year. She said that she had to be careful not to get distracted by being at home and simply treat each game as she might a game at any tournament.

McCallie was tickled at the prospect of Joe Alleva returning to campus with LSU

Coach McCallie noted that practice on Sunday went extremely well, and that she was looking forward to a good week's of work on details. She was amused when someone brought up to her that Joe Alleva had a homecoming of sorts since LSU was visiting Cameron, and had a slightly more muted reaction to the possibility of playing Hartford, a team that beat Duke last year. The fact that Duke had so many Thursday-Sunday and Friday-Sunday games in the ACC this year gives this first set of games a familiar rhythm. Not only is the team used to playing two games "and coming up for air", but when they pulled out two tough wins against Georgia Tech late on Friday night on the road and then on Sunday afternoon at home against Maryland, she understood that this team had special resilience. McCallie said that in this situation, it's "win two games, come up for air, win two games and come up for air, win two games and go to the White House". McCallie said that while she had never been to the White House, she had been in that final game and knew what it took in terms of that playing rhythm.

A Devils Food Cake? Not quite, but it was delicious!