This may be Coach Kara's way of keeping the players grounded and focused on the goals of the season (ACC championships, Final Four). At the beginning of last season, Duke was mostly an afterthought in the ACC and nationally. The team was sitting at 5-4 at one point in the season. Yes, there was a loss to South Carolina (expected). However, there were losses to Davidson (at home) and an embarrassing blowout loss on the road to a really bad Clemson team. It wasn't until they beat down Virginia Tech, hammered Florida State, and finally defeated UNC during the regular season in the Lawson era that people started to think, "hey--maybe this team isn't so bad after all". The upset win over Ohio State in Columbus really changed the narrative of that entire season for many people. They used that one win to erase their thoughts on the team that was sitting at 5-4 (with that bad loss to Clemson) at one time.
This year, the team already has multiple wins over Top 10 teams (and yes, another double-digit loss to South Carolina) and more All-ACC caliber players. The offense is much improved. Reigan Richardson is getting national attention for her play. Toby Fournier is being compared to Stewie by our totally non-biased ACC Network crew. We're Top 10 in the rankings for the first time since the former coach's era. People are talking about Duke women's basketball again as a possible contender.
And yet, as Kara astutely points out, that doesn't matter. Because if this team goes on to lose during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament (like it did in 2023 despite having home court advantage over Colorado), then what? Analysts said a lot of great things about Kansas State last season after they defeated Iowa, but where did that lead them? Not to the national championship game--but Iowa was there. NC State didn't win an ACC title last year, but where did they end up? In the Final Four--which is where Duke wants to be this season. To get there, you can't listen to the noise from the outside (who will boost you up when you succeed and tear you down when you fail). You have to listen to the voices from within.
And that's coach's message--pundits can't tell you how good you are. You have to be the determinators of that because, unlike them, you can control how good you are. Kelly Gramlich's opinion does not matter. Neither does Doug Feinberg's, Andraya Carter's, Charlie Creme's, Rebecca Lobo's, etc. I, personally, agree with much of Kara's sentiment.
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