BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Duke basketball. It’s one of the sport’s biggest brands. It’s referred to by former and current men’s players as “The Brotherhood.” This season, Duke’s women’s team embraced the moniker “The Sisterhood,” even wearing it as a logo on their warm-ups.
That sisterhood has been on full display in March Madness.
“Family,” junior guard Ashlon Jackson said ahead of No. 2 Duke’s Elite Eight game against No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday. “We’re united within anything and everything we do. It’s always ‘We before me.’”
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Head coach Kara Lawson’s team returned all 10 players with remaining eligibility, a rarity in the transfer-portal era.
Of course Lawson, like all coaches in today’s game, had to work to “re-recruit” her roster.
But each player made the decision on her own. Factoring in was the belief the players had in each other as well as in Lawson and her staff.
“There was never a conversation,” Jackson said. “We just love each other. We’re always together, whether that's on or off the court. I could never fake this. This is really a family, a sisterhood.”
The leaders of The Sisterhood and The Brotherhood are very well-connected, like their teams.
“We’re texting each other every day through this run – just words of support,” Lawson said of Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer.
It’s the first time since 2013 that the Duke men’s and women’s team both advanced to at least the Elite Eight.
Lawson took over the women’s team in July 2020, after Joanne P. McCallie stepped down after 13 seasons. McCallie went 330-107 during her Duke tenure, winning the ACC Coach of the Year award three times and leading the ...
