One time was so nice, Kara Lawson had to do it twice. After starting the season 3-6, they grabbed their second ACC Championship in two years by beating No. 2 seed Louisville 70-65. The match was not without its drama as Lawson and Co. trailed by 4 in the final minute but the group rallied to take things into overtime, where they buried it. It was the ultimate fruit of Kara Lawson’s season-long efforts and she was understandably pretty emotional after the win.

As the players were shaking hands with the confetti falling around, Lawson ran towards the crowd and enthusiastically celebrated with three jumps. She even shouted towards the crowd before retreating to conduct the post-game interviews. “It’s very special for this group to kind of complete the journey in the ACC, because everyone knows about our start,” Lawson said. “Every time I hear ‘3-6’ for the rest of my life, I’m probably going to think about this year because I heard it so much. People just come up to you and go, ‘3-6.’”

The rest of the NCAA community doubted Kara Lawson. And at the time it felt well within reason. Two of the first 6 losses were to unranked opponents and they should have more fight against the top teams. They lost by 30 points to UCLA, 17 points to South Carolina, and 16 points to LSU. 

Naturally, that led to some criticism regarding her role with Team USA, which is set to challenge for the World Cup later this year. Add her ‘beef’ with Flau’jae Johnson to the mix, fans were pretty negative about her Team USA role. However, this ACC title win has brought back some respect for Lawson.

Kara Lawson Redeems Herself Ahead Of The Team USA World Cup Qualifiers

“Ima be very honest… I don’t wanna hear no more foolishness about Kara Lawson. Every time y’all have thought you had a gotcha moment, she’s proven herself over and over again. 🗣️ BACK TO BACK 🏆,” wrote a fan. “Say what you want about Kara Lawson but she’s a back-to-back ACC Champion 🤷🏾‍♂️,” fired another. No one can argue with results. Lawson is now a 2-time conference champion and 1-time regular season winner while taking Duke to the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive time in 6 years. Her trophy cabinet does not lie, especially for a program competing with the likes of North Carolina and Louisville. 

This further underscored how myopic a fan and media narrative can be. After just 9 games, Lawson was deemed unfit to lead the team at the World Cup and the Olympics. Patience is not a popular virtue. At the same time, there is still no guarantee that Lawson would succeed with Team USA. Even if she fails, Lawson has shown that she is fit to lead the side, at least until proven otherwise. 

“Kara Lawson is really having her ‘what are they going to say now’ moment… they only lost twice in conference play. congrats to her and lady blue devils,” wrote another fan. The Blue Devils miraculously recovered after that disastrous start. On a December Zoom call during USA women’s basketball training camp in Durham, Lawson answered the dreaded question: what made her confident she could still lead the Olympic team, given her Blue Devils’ rocky start? 

“The result doesn’t always go the way you want,” Lawson had said. “If it did, everyone would be undefeated. Just have to have the appropriate level of understanding of seasons and how they ebb and flow. When you’re going through a challenging portion of your season—I didn’t get dumber.” The process is clearly more important for Lawson. She trusted it and the results came. Surely, she could have lows and highs with Team USA but the process will be consistent.

“Incredible. Once again, Kara Lawson was an inspired choice to lead Team USA,” another fan commented. “This is a trust play, and I have come to believe that good coaches inspire teammates to trust each other in moments like this. Incredible shot, great ball movement, big-time moment.” One of the central criticisms for Lawson has been that her tactical ability has often been left wanting. But this time she got it just right.

The fan is referring to the clutch shot from Riley Nelson in the final seconds of overtime. The play was a textbook example of late-game execution. The Cards were trailing 65-67 with Tara Nair handling the ball. She was getting double-teamed well beyond the three-point line. She found the pass to Ashlon Jackson at the logo, who drove to the paint and kicked it out to the corner to Nelson for the open shot. Lawson has made such smart plays and improved upon her substitutions as the season has gone on. Hopefully, she can do the same with Team USA at the upcoming qualifiers.