# 2005–06 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team

The 2005–06 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2005–06 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Gail Goestenkors in her 14th season at the school, and played its home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 31–4, 12–2 in ACC play to finish second in the regular season conference standings. They were defeated in the ACC tournament but received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Playing as No. 1 seed in the Bridgeport region (East), the Blue Devils defeated Southern, USC, Michigan State, and UConn to reach the Final Four for the third time in five years. Duke was one of three ACC schools to play in the 2006 Final Four, joining North Carolina and Maryland. In the National semifinal round, the Blue Devils easily defeated LSU to advance to the National championship game where the team was beaten by conference foe Maryland, 78–75 in overtime.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 18, 2005* | No. 1 | at Penn State | W 93–67 | 1–0 | Bryce Jordan Center University Park, PA |
| Nov 20, 2005* | No. 1 | at Old Dominion | W 93–56 | 2–0 | Ted Constant Convocation Center Norfolk, VA |
| Nov 22, 2005* | No. 1 | Fairfield | W 110–44 | 3–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Nov 26, 2005* | No. 1 | Arkansas State Duke Classic | W 110–56 | 4–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Nov 27, 2005* | No. 1 | Auburn Duke Classic | W 69–37 | 5–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Dec 4, 2005* | No. 1 | at No. 16 Texas | W 84–70 | 6–0 | Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX |
| Dec 6, 2005* | No. 2 | at TCU | W 92–52 | 7–0 | Daniel–Meyer Coliseum Fort Worth, TX |
| Dec 19, 2005* | No. 2 | Ball State | W 110–24 | 8–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Dec 22, 2005* | No. 2 | Colorado State | W 99–52 | 9–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Dec 28, 2005* | No. 2 | vs. St. John's San Diego Surf'N Slam Classic | W 105–57 | 10–0 | San Diego, CA |
| Dec 30, 2005* | No. 2 | at San Diego San Diego Surf'N Slam Classic | W 119–52 | 11–0 | San Diego, CA |
| Jan 2, 2006 | No. 2 | Wake Forest | W 100–54 | 12–0 (1–0) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Jan 5, 2006 | No. 2 | Florida State | W 87–68 | 13–0 (2–0) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Jan 8, 2006 | No. 2 | at No. 6 Maryland | W 86–68 | 14–0 (3–0) | Comcast Center College Park, MD |
| Jan 11, 2006 | No. 2 | at Georgia Tech | W 67–59 | 15–0 (4–0) | Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, GA |
| Jan 14, 2006 | No. 2 | at Boston College | W 66–52 | 16–0 (5–0) | Conte Forum Chestnut Hill, MA |
| Jan 16, 2006* | No. 2 | at Holy Cross | W 84–36 | 17–0 | Hart Center Worcester, MA |
| Jan 19, 2006 | No. 2 | NC State | W 77–57 | 18–0 (6–0) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Jan 23, 2006* | No. 2 | No. 1 Tennessee | W 75–53 | 19–0 | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Jan 26, 2006 | No. 2 | at Clemson | W 97–56 | 20–0 (7–0) | Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC |
| Jan 29, 2006 | No. 2 | No. 3 North Carolina | L 70–74 | 20–1 (7–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Feb 6, 2006 | No. 2 | at Virginia Tech | W 73–62 | 21–1 (8–1) | Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, VA |
| Feb 10, 2006 | No. 2 | Virginia | W 88–65 | 22–1 (9–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Feb 13, 2006 | No. 1 | No. 4 Maryland | W 90–80 | 23–1 (10–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Feb 19, 2006 | No. 1 | at Miami (FL) | W 99–93 | 24–1 (11–1) | University of Miami Convocation Center Coral Gables, FL |
| Feb 22, 2006 | No. 1 | Virginia Tech | W 93–51 | 25–1 (12–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| Feb 25, 2006 | No. 1 | No. 2 North Carolina | L 65–77 | 25–2 (12–2) | Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC |
| ACC tournament ||||||
| Mar 3, 2006* | No. 2 | vs. Virginia Tech Quarterfinals | W 69–56 | 26–2 | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
| Mar 4, 2006* | No. 2 | vs. No. 4 Maryland Semifinals | L 70–78 | 26–3 | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 19, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (16 BPT) Southern First round | W 96–27 | 27–3 | Ted Constant Convocation Center Norfolk, VA |
| Mar 21, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (8 BPT) Michigan State Second round | W 85–51 | 28–3 | Ted Constant Convocation Center Norfolk, VA |
| Mar 26, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (4 BPT) No. 16 Michigan State Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen | W 86–61 | 29–3 | Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard Bridgeport, CT |
| Mar 28, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (2 BPT) No. 8 Connecticut Regional Final – Elite Eight | W 63–61 | 30–3 | Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard Bridgeport, CT |
| Apr 2, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (1 SAN) No. 5 LSU National Semifinal – Final Four | W 64–45 | 31–3 | TD Garden Boston, Massachusetts |
| Apr 4, 2006* | (1 BPT) No. 4 | vs. (2 ABQ) No. 3 Maryland National Championship | L 75–78 | 31–4 | TD Garden Boston, Massachusetts |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | Not released |
| Coaches | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |