Duke, Tennessee Matchup In The Future Now That Kara Lawson Is The Head Coach Of The Duke Women's Basketball Program?

The Duke Women’s Basketball Program has a new head coach!

Who is it?

Kara Lawson who has many titles to her name. Those titles include WNBA Player, Broadcaster, Assistant Coach!

She played 13 seasons in the WNBA where she she averaged 9.8 points (41.4% FG, 39.0% 3-PT), 2.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists over 377 career games with the Sacramento Monarchs, Connecticut Sun, and Washington Mystics from 2003 to 2015. In addition to her WNBA career, which included a championship with the Monarchs in 2005 and an All-Star appearance in 2007, Lawson was a member of the Team USA roster that captured the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. “according to https://www.nba.com/celtics/roster/coaches/kara-lawson

She was an analyst for Washington as well as working for ESPN as a game and studio analyst for both Men’s and Women’s College Basketball as well as the NBA and she is an assistant coach for Boston in the NBA.

Recently, Kara Lawson added another title to her name!

What title is that? As stated above, Her new title is Head Coach! She is the new head coach of the Duke Women’s Basketball program.

Kara Lawson replaces Joanne P. McCallie who resigned after thirteen seasons as the head coach of Duke.

McCallie was 330-107 in her 13 seasons and was a three-time league coach of the year. Her teams won at least a share of the regular-season title four times and three ACC tournament titles while also making 10 trips to the NCAA tournament, including four consecutive trips to the Elite Eight in 2010-13. “according to an article by Mechelle Voepel on espn.com

But with the arrival of Notre Dame and Louisville into the ACC, Duke's success began to wane. The Blue Devils have not been in the league's top three in the regular season in four of the past seven seasons.according to an article by Mechelle Voepel on espn.com

With Kara Lawson becoming the new head coach of the Duke Women’s Basketball Program is there a possibility of Duke and Tennessee meeting on the hardwood again in the future?

I think that should be a priority as part of their non conference schedule.

Why?

Because Kara Lawson went to Tennessee.

There she was A four-time All-SEC selection and two-time All-America choice at Tennessee, Lawson played for the late Pat Summitt and led the Lady Vols to three NCAA Final Four appearances during her collegiate career. Lawson appeared in 143 games, making 137 starts, and helped Tennessee to a 126-17 overall and 54-2 mark in the SEC over her four seasons. Lawson guided the Lady Vols to four straight SEC regular season and tournament crowns, as well as 2000, 2002 and 2003 NCAA Final Four appearances.”according to https://goduke.com/news/2020/7/11/kara-lawson-named-fifth-womens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

Lawson currently ranks third all-time at Tennessee in three-point field goals made (256), second in three-point field goal percentage (.415) and also ranks third in career free throw percentage (.847).  Lawson averaged 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while closing her career ranking sixth in career points with 1,950.  Lawson also was stellar in the classroom and was a 2003 CoSIDA/Verizon First Team Academic All-America selection.https://goduke.com/news/2020/7/11/kara-lawson-named-fifth-womens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

The last time Duke who is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Tennessee who is a member of the Southeastern Conference played each other on the hardwood was on February 16, 2009 in Knoxville Tennessee where then seventh ranked Duke who was then coached by Joanne P. McCallie knocked off then thirteenth ranked Tennessee who was then coached by the late Pat Summit.

Jasmine Thomas scored 19 points and Chante Black added 18 points for Duke, which shot 41.8 percent and outrebounded the Lady Vols 49-36 while Briana Bass led Tennessee, which shot a season-low 32.1 percent with 14 points, and Kelley Cain added 10. “according to https://goduke.com/news/2009/2/16/3671892.aspx

What will the stats between Duke and Tennessee look like in the future? We won’t know unless Duke and Tennessee agree to schedule to play each other in the future as part of their non conference schedule. If they do the former Tennessee point guard Kara Lawson who is now the head coach of the Duke Women’s Basketball program will get to face her college alma mater not as player but instead as a Head Coach.