(Editor's note: Duke junior guard Sheana Mosch, the Blue Devils' co-captain, will share a diary with ESPN.com throughout the season.)

Dec. 19, 2001

This season has already brought so many challenges to our team and we're only 10 games in. The two early losses to Toledo and South Carolina left us absolutely astonished at first, but it initiated a lot of changes to our attitudes and determination.

Secondly, one of our coaches, Joanne Boyle, was hospitalized about three weeks ago due to bleeding in the brain. Lastly, two of our players, Rometra Craig and Crystal White, announced they were transferring from Duke. For a while it seemed as if nothing was going our way, but ultimately it has made us stronger.

After the second loss, our team did a little soul searching with figuring out how committed we really were to winning a national championship. And I'll tell you what, I've never been on a team in my entire life that was so dedicated to succeeding.

Krista Gingrich is our lone senior and only remaining member of the Final Four team of 1999. Krista, the coaches and a few ex-Duke players were able to boost us up a bit by reminding us all the pain that team had to go through before succeeding.

Finding the rainbow
About a few days after the losses, I received an e-mail from Lauren Rice (who was a senior my freshman year) that really helped out ...

"I just want you to know that I know exactly what you are going thru ... in the 98-99 season, the year we went to the final four, we came out of the gates ranked No. 4 as well, and we had the talent to prove it to people and we believed we were that good. We had everyone back and we were focused and determined to get to the Final Four.

"Well, then we came out and got stomped by UConn on television by 30 and got beat at home by Va. Tech. Then, went to Notre Dame to get trampled by nearly 30 pts and see Ruth Riley nearly notch a triple-double in front of 200 people from my hometown! How embarrassing and what a major disappointment!!

"We were NEVER supposed to be in that position ... but you know what?? Coach G showed us that we had weaknesses and if we were ever going to go where we wanted to go, then we were going to have to take those weakness and work the heck out of them until they didn't show anymore.

"I know exactly what you are going thru -- you expect to win. You practice hard to prepare to win and then something just falls apart when you get out there. I'm telling you -- I guarantee that the games you have played will make you stronger in the long run. By the end of the season in 1999, we were laughing about the losses we had earlier, but the one thing we said was that if we hadn't lost some of those games, we would have thought we were invincible and that wasn't true. Instead, they reminded us of how tough we needed to be." -- Lauren Rice

Rice was so right. In order to find the rainbow you have to be willing to put up with a little rain. Even after our team was cut down to only eight players when Rometra and Crystal left, and without having our beloved coach Boyle around every day, we managed to pull together and become even more dedicated than before.

And honestly, we're playing our best basketball right now. Joanne was even able to make it out to our last home game against UNC-Greensboro! It was so good to see her in the stands and I thank God every day for performing such an awesome miracle with her recovery.

Georgia Schweitzer has been filling in her spot for the past two weeks, and it's really great to have her around again. We have been more focused, intense and consistent during practices and games since all these challenges have been brought upon us.

We know in the end, though, that all these will make us much better players and persons than ever before. Until then, Joanne, keep getting better! We love you and miss you every day.

And for anyone who heard the rumor, yes it's true --Lindy Brown (our sports information director), did indeed beat me in a game of PIG, but only because he wouldn't let me shoot any of my trick shots and his hook was falling that day. I'll get you back, Lindy!

Happy Holidays!

Sheana