Coach P's sixth rated Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball team received its 15th straight NCAA Tournament selection and their possible road will be laced with drama.  The Blue Devils (26-5) were awarded the number one seed in the Berkeley Region and will play 16th seeded Austin Peay in the first round on Sunday, March 22, 2009 at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.  The game will be televised live on ESPN and will tip off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
 
The Governors won their sixth Ohio Valley Conference championship with a dramatic 69-65 double-overtime victory over Eastern Illinois.   The winner will advance to face either Michigan State or Middle Tennessee.

Yes that is a possible match up with Joanne McCallie's former team on their home court.  Middle Tennessee State will be considered the slight favorite, but the comforts of home could sway the game in the Spartans favor.
 
Michigan State comes in with a 20-10 record under Head Coach Suzy Merchant.  Should the Blue Devils and Spartans advance, this would be the first time McCallie has faced her former school.
 
Duke is coming off a heartbreaking 92-89 overtime loss in the ACC Championship to fourth-ranked Maryland.   Duke landed in the top spot in the west by plkaying a tough schedule where they had seven wins over the RPI top 25 and eleven wins over the top 50 teams.  Duke had resume building victories over second ranked Stanford, fourth-ranked Maryland, eleventh ranked North Carolina, thirtenth ranked Florida State,  nintenth ranked Tennessee and two wins against 25th-ranked Virginia. 

If Duke makes it past the first two games, they could play Tennessee for a second and if they get to the elite eight final, they could face Stanford again.  That's what I call dramatic seeding.  Oh!  Did I mention a Coach G vs Coach P match up?  That's right!  Texas is in the Blue Devils bracket as well.
 
The Blue Devils have advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 each of the last eleven years.  They reached  the Final Four in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2006.  Duke is one of only three teams, along with the Tennessee and Connecticut, to have advanced to the Sweet 16 the last 11 consecutive years.    Duke and Austin Peay will meet for the first time in school history.  Duke owns a 3-1 overall record against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference.  
 
Broadcast Notes -For the seventh consecutive year, the ESPN networks will combine to present all 63 games from the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. During the first two rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present the 48 games within 12 telecast windows in a whip-around format with home market protection. ESPN360.com will offer complete game telecasts of all 63 games, while ESPNU will offer select ESPN and ESPN2 early-round games in their entirety.  

Tickets are available in the Michigan State ticket office and can be purchased by visiting www.msuspartans.com or by calling 1-800-GOSTATE.  Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for youth/seniors/MSU Students/Groups 15+ and are for two sessions on Sunday and one session on Tuesday for a total of three games.  Single-session tickets are $25 for the general public.

DURHAM, N.C. – Want to follow Duke women’s basketball during the 2009 NCAA Tournament but you’re not always around your computer or at your favorite web site, GoDuke.com?  Now the Duke Sports Information Office has made it easy to follow the Blue Devils anytime you want with an exclusive Duke women’s basketball page free on Twitter. 
 
You can find the Duke women’s basketball page on Twitter by searching for “DukeWBBSID” at Twitter.com. The Blue Devils’ Twitter page will be updated throughout the NCAA Tournament with “Tweet” (messages sent via Twitter) that contain news from the team, links to newspaper clippings, links to video clips and other information on Blue Devil hoops that cannot be found anywhere else.
 
You can receive updates via Twitter through the web at the Duke women’s basketball official Twitter page, on your mobile phone with text messages, via instant messaging (IM) or through e-mail. Whichever way you choose, you will always stay up to date with the Blue Devils!
 
Blue Devil fans can add the Duke women’s basketball Twitter page to their own blog, Facebook page or other social networking site. More information on how to do this can be found here.
 
Duke is awaiting the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m., on ESPN.
 
Duke Women’s Basketball On Twitter
 
Question:  What is it?
Answer:  A free micro-blogging service that provides Duke fans with up-to-date info and insights on the Blue Devils.
 
Question: Where can I find Duke on Twitter and how often will it be updated? 
Answer:  Head to Twitter.com and search for “DukeWBBSID.”  It will be updated throughout the day.
 
Question: How will I receive the information? 
Answer:  Via the Web, text messages, instant messages, e-mail, RSS feeds, etc. 
 
Question:  What is Twitter? 
Answer:  Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as “tweets”), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
 
Question: How do I sign up to follow Duke women’s basketball on Twitter? 
Answer:  Signing up (called “following” in Twitter lingo) for Duke women’s basketball on Twitter is very easy. Just log on to Twitter.com and search “DukeWBBSID.”  Alternatively, you can go directly to the Duke Twitter page by clicking here (http://twitter.com/DukeWBBSID). Either way you go about accessing the Blue Devil Twitter page, you will need to click on the button in the upper-left hand corner of the page that says “Follow.” This will allow you to instantly access up-to-date news about Duke women’s basketball via Twitter.
 
Question: How is it different from www.GoDuke.com?
Answer:  Twitter updates will provide more unique information and quicker information than GoDuke.com.  It provides a better source of feedback and discussion.  Followers can receive updates any way they choose: at Twitter.com, via cell phone, on Facebook or any other social networking site.
 
For those that are new to Twitter and have questions, here is a link to a help page.