Joanne P. McCallie isn't planning to break any coaching records at Duke. Good thing. With a schedule like the Blue Devils face, she probably won't.

If nothing else, No. 6 Duke is certainly in for a challenge this season - the Blue Devils are the only team playing each of the top three in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 women's basketball poll.

"I'm not padding my record. I don't want to win a bunch of games," McCallie said. "I'm not going to make history at Duke. I'm not some kind of famous coach where, if I get 20 or 30 wins every (year), I'll be some spectacular person to cheer about. The bottom line is, student-athletes get excited for challenges, and I want our team to know how serious we are about them. So we have a serious schedule."

McCallie is counting on a brutal schedule that includes a Dec. 3 visit from No. 3 Ohio State, a Dec. 15 trip to No. 2 Stanford and a Jan. 18 home date against No. 1 Connecticut - in addition to the always tough Atlantic Coast Conference season - to get the Blue Devils tournament-tested.

"I'm not interested in being undefeated without challenge, 16 wins without a challenge," McCallie said. "I think that women's basketball has grown enough that the quality of the schedule for every team should be examined thoroughly, and people should know if they're serious about getting better or not, and I think we're very serious about getting better."

That tough schedule will put Duke's string of 11 straight 25-win seasons to the test.

"Sadly, I think some people look at records and they think a team is super. 'Wow, if they're 16-0, they must be great,'" McCallie said. "That's sad but true, but I think many people do judge you by what you go after. I know recruits do (and) people that are watching our program. We just want to be the very best in everything, and the Final Four, and all the opportunities that are out there only come about through a process."

Added senior Keturah Jackson: "The wins can't really count for anything if you're not playing anybody."

It also will force a relatively young team to grow up in a hurry.

The Blue Devils return three seniors from a team that went unbeaten at home, lost the ACC championship game in overtime to Maryland, claimed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years but dropped an emotional second-round game at Michigan State - where McCallie coached for seven years before coming to Duke in 2007.

Forward Joy Cheek and swing players Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell will be the nucleus of a group that also includes talented point guard Jasmine Thomas and center Krystal Thomas - who will be counted upon to strengthen an inside game that will miss Chante Black.

With Black and 3-point sharpshooter Abby Waner gone, the Blue Devils seem to be missing a go-to scorer, but McCallie is confident that somebody will step up as the season progresses.

"I think it's an evolutionary process - you can't make people 'go-tos,'" McCallie said. "You can't stare at somebody and say, 'You're it. You're the go-to.' People have to earn the privilege of being a consistent scorer. They have to earn that nightly, they have to earn that at practice. So I do think that balance is the way the game's meant to be played, but if I have Michael Jordan on my team, I'm not going to deny myself Michael Jordan. The idea of balance, I think, is critically important to success over a period of time. I think it's an important thing."