DURHAM, N.C. - Gail Goestenkors couldn't avoid it. When she arrived at Duke as the women's basketball coach in 1992, she had to walk by the same glass case each time she went to her office.
Inside sat a national championship trophy won by the men's program.
"We had a model right there for what could be done," Goestenkors said. "I had to pass that crystal ball, so it was highly motivating every single day."
Something sure worked. Goestenkors has led the Blue Devils to their first trips to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and NCAA championship game.
Of course, her counterpart with the men's team has continued to do pretty well, too.
Mike Krzyzewski has won three NCAA titles and 10 regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference titles in 25 years with the Blue Devils. Last season, he became the 19th coach in Division I history to reach 700 victories.
Now, Coach K and Coach G share one more milestone. Earlier this month, Duke became only the second school to have the No. 1 teams in both the men's and women's preseason polls.
Connecticut did it twice, in 1999 and 2003.
"It's really nice to have an elite program for men and women, and there's just a camaraderie here between both of them," Goestenkors said. "Other than that, I don't think either one of us is paying too much attention to rankings."
Krzyzewski sure isn't. As he often says, he only thinks about winning championships, and he and the Blue Devils have a good chance to add more this season. After squeezing a 27-6 record out of a team with only eight recruited players a year ago, Coach K plans to make the most of a full roster.
Guard J.J. Redick and center Shelden Williams made up 40 percent of the preseason All-America team, and they are joined by fellow seniors Sean Dockery and Lee Melchionni.
"We haven't had seniors like this for a long time," Krzyzewski said. "I am relying more on them and actually trying to teach them to teach. Over the years, that has been a big thing for our program, our upperclassmen teaching the younger guys."
They also can look at the women's team and its undisputed leader, All-American guard Monique Currie. She never missed a game last season despite being hobbled by stress fractures to two bones in her left foot.
Dockery attends as many women's games as he can and roots for what he calls "our sisters" down the hall.
"We all follow their team, and we all know they're really good," he said. "We're all family. Us being No. 1 together is pretty big for both programs."
Can they stay there? UConn won both titles in 2004, the only time that has happened since the women starting playing for an NCAA championship 25 years ago.
Krzyzewski last won in 2001, while Goestenkors is looking for her first championship. In her only trip to the final, she and Duke lost to Purdue in 1999.
"We know that our men are capable, because they've already won some titles," Currie said. "We think about it, trying to match what they did. We're at that level, and we just need to keep working hard."
Duke made it to the regional final last spring with only eight players on the roster, meaning Currie and everyone else had to play a large number of minutes.
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