Kara Lawson's first camp as Team USA's senior team overseer interrupts a brutal stretch to open her Duke season.
For Kara Lawson, the cure for varsity blues is the red, white, and blues.
The newly-crowned head coach of the United States' women's basketball team, who doubles as the overseer of Duke University's program, is engaged in her first major national responsibilities this weekend. Lawson, managing director Sue Bird, and more have assembled 17 players to partake in a Team USA-branded training camp at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which essentially serves as the first step on the road to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
"It hasn't been too hard to juggle it," Lawson said of her dual duties. "I've got great staffs on both ends. I think that's the key to it. You got to have a great staff with your college team. You got to have a great staff with your assistants here ... The collaboration has been at a high level and it needs to be for us to be at our best."
In addition to assembling the very preliminary roster, defined by the Paige Bueckers-defined "young and turnt" core headlined by several other young WNBA talents, Lawson has also enlisted current pro bosses Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbets, and Stephanie White to assist her in this new endeavor.
Durham is perhaps an unusual place for Lawson to get away from it all: the cloud of a 4-6 start (albeit all but two coming against ranked competition) to her sixth season at the helm of the Blue Devils no doubt follows her. To put that latter number into perspective, the Americans have but three losses on their all-time Olympic ledger, the last coming in the 1992 semifinals in Barcelona. Lawson and her eventual dozen will thus be defending a 61-game winning streak when she touches down in LA in three summers.
The weekend, with both the American camp and final exams in full swing, was obviously no time to solve and assess the Blue Devils' issues on a wide scale. But several of Lawson's star-spangled proteges offered intriguing endorsements after their first day of practice under her watch.
"It's been great so far. I respect her so much," said Cameron Brink, regarded for her defensive efforts on both the collegiate and professional level. "I think something we opened up with today was the importance of physicality and handling it well. I think she's just such a solid coach, and I'm just really thankful to be working with her."
"She's an amazing coach," said Sonia Citron, able to offer one of the more unique perspectives as a former ACC foe at Notre Dame. "I remember, every time we played Duke, just how tenacious her defense was. I think that's something I look forward to, because I pride myself on my defense. I love a coach that really pushes it on that side of the ball."
Citron, fresh off an All-Star freshman tour with the Washington Mystics, is no doubt pleased to be free of the Duke D, which allowed less than 57 points a game while forcing over 20 turnovers, both best in the ACC last season. It was enough to convince Citron's teammate Kiki Iriafen that Lawson "means business" this weekend while the injured JuJu Watkins observed that practices at Cameron are "intentional."
That brand of smash mouth basketball further appealed to Angel Reese on a personal level: shortly after declaring her relative loyalty to her Chicago Sky contract, Reese explained how she appreciated the sense of tough love Lawson generated as a first impression.
USA Women’s basketball head coach Kara Lawson on Angel Reese:
— Women’s Hoops HQ (@WomensHoopsHQ) December 13, 2025
“She’s great. Got a great personality, works hard in practices, coachable. She’s physical, competitive, so I thought it was great to see that.” pic.twitter.com/PSQ4G1t5xx
"I love hard coaching," lauded Reese, making her unofficial senior team debut with Citron, Iriafen, and several others. "I love somebody that's going to get on me and is going to tell me and be very intentional with me and everybody else and do whatever is best for the team. I can tell that she is very intentional about defense ... She's about her business, just like me, but at the end of the day, I think she wants to win, and she's going to have fun while doing it."
Lawson, 44, is well-versed in the expectations of Team USA, having partaken in the 2008 run to Beijing gold alongside Bird. It was part of a 12-year WNBA career that featured a 2005 championship ring and an invite to the 2007 All-Star Game, both as a member of the defunct Sacramento Monarchs.
For all the Blue Devils' early struggles, Lawson and Co. managed to open ACC play on a high note with a 70-54 win over Virginia Tech on Dec. 7, holding the Hokies to 27 percent from the floor last weekend. Lawson's next blue task lands on Thursday when Duke hosts South Dakota State (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
