Duncan's defensive skills were not a part of her repertoire when she left University High School in Chicago for Division I ball at Harvard.
"She did not play in a competitive league in high school," Delaney Smith says. "The games I saw her play in were the most un-physical games I've ever seen. We had our concerns about her defense."
The Big D
But Delaney Smith concentrated on Duncan's defensive fundamentals, and the results have been prosperous for the Crimson, whose opponents are shooting only 37 percent from the field this year.
"I had to re-learn almost my entire defensive game," said the Leverett House junior. "My shooting from was fine, because I had received coaching in camps, but I was missing a lot of fundamentals. Kathy taught me those."
"In my freshman year, I didn't work well in the offense," Duncan adds. "I was running a different pattern or speed it seemed."
Despite her inability to fit into the flow of the offense, Duncan still managed to score in double-figures nine times during her freshman campaign, leading the team in shooting percentage with 54 percent. She also finished second in rebounding, pulling down 147 caroms.
"Now, for some reason, I work into the offense better," Duncan says.
Duncan has blossomed in the last two years, being named a member of the All-Ivy First Team and Harvard's co-MVP (with Hayes) as a sophomore. Duncan destroyed Yale earlier this season by scoring 28 points against the Elis, including two free throws in the last minute which clinched the 60-59 win--Harvard's first-ever victory in Payne Whitney Gym.
"She is a pure, soft shooter," Delaney Smith says. "I feel terrific every time the ball leaves her hands."
The sixth-year Harvard coach is trying to help Duncan develop confidence in her turn-around jumpers down low near the basket.
"She has a Sikma-type, unorthodox pivot and a quick release to take shots in the lane," Delaney Smith says.
It isn't always gusting on the shores of Lake Michigan, and likewise, Duncan doesn't consistently put her opponents in cold storage.
Duncan has a great ability to know when her shot is off and she tends to stop shooting when that happens, as in last Friday's 66-62 loss to Princeton. However, Delaney Smith realizes that Duncan is more dangerous on her off nights than most players can be on their best nights.
"Sarah, I need you to score," Delaney Smith commanded her forward in the second half of the game.
"I just want to become more consistent," Duncan says. "I want to be dependable and always do the little things right."
Basketball hasn't been Duncan's lifetime love, but she has been playing since she was a baby. The sister of Harvard basketball great Arne Duncan, Sarah used to play with Arne and his friends and she was always the worst player. In elementary school, her favorite sports were swimming and gymnastics.
However, basketball became her new passion in sixth grade after she started playing with girls her own age--and dominating them.
Ever since Duncan introduced the windy city's gusts to the Ivy League, the Crimson has usually been sailing under sunny skies. If Harvard wins its final three games at home this season, the clear conditions at Briggs cage will reveal another Ivy League championship banner soaring high in the breeze.