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Duke women’s basketball leaning on transfer experience in NCAA Tournament’s second round

Their greatest team achievements did not come while playing for Duke. Yet Celeste Taylor (Texas), Jordyn Oliver (Baylor) and Elizabeth Balogun (Louisville) all believe the Blue Devils have what it takes to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Taylor, Oliver and Balogun, who each played on teams that reached the 2021 Elite Eight, will try to help No. 3 seed Duke move past No. 6 seed Colorado on Monday at 9 p.m. and into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018.

For Taylor, it comes down to the mindset. She said the Blue Devils are aggressive in wanting to compete.

“When it goes down the line to the last player on the bench wanting to win and doing anything they can for the team in order to help us win, I think that’s probably the biggest parallel,” Taylor said. “I would say is just that mindset and that want to win and that want to fight.”

Duke has 11 transfers overall on its current roster. It wasn’t coach Kara Lawson’s plan to build the program that way, but when she was hired in 2020, they needed an immediate influx of talent on the roster. Last season, they were much more concise in targeting bigs to add size to their lineup.

Lawson said the landscape in college basketball has changed so much during her tenure as coach, noting that immediate eligibility for first-time transfers and the transfer portal itself not being around five years ago.

She’s still committed to recruiting high school players, but every year she evaluates what the team has and what areas its in need.

“I pursue things hard if it’s something I need,” Lawson said. “If it’s something you need — not something you want — think about it. If it’s something you need versus something you want, your pursuit is way different. When I need something, I go after it, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Duke doesn’t have a player on its roster who played in its 2018 Sweet 16 loss to No. 1 seed Connecticut. But the Blue Devils have benefited from those transfers who have experienced playing in the tournament, especially Taylor, Oliver and Balogun.

Lawson called the trio some of their “greatest competitors” and that they were “confident in what they do.”

“How much that filters over to the rest of the group, I can’t say that for sure,” Lawson said. “But I have a good idea of what they’re going to bring (Monday), and that’s nice as a coach when you have a good sense of what your players are going to do in a big spot.”

That’s good to know because the Blue Devils may have to adjust on the fly while defending Colorado. The Buffaloes don’t rely heavily on 3-point shooting, yet knocked down a season-high 13 in their first round win over Middle Tennessee State.

They’re so confident about their ability to from the perimeter, they were calling Cameron Indoor Stadium a “shooter’s gym.”

“I haven’t heard that either,” joked Duke sophomore guard Reigan Richardson, a Charlotte native who transferred from Georgia. “Yeah, I’m not sure about that one.”

What the Buffs are sure about is they won’t be shy about letting it fly. Colorado averages about 17 attempts from 3-point range and five makes per game.

“It’s given us a lot of confidence going into the next game,” Colorado guard Kindyll Wetta said.

“We shoot like that in practice, too. So we know that’s something we’re capable of. We obviously don’t shoot that great every single game, but we know that we can.”

Iona was a gifted 3-point shooting team too, but Duke held the nation’s No. 2 team in 3-point percentage to just 2-for-11 shooting from behind the arc.