DURHAM -- When Duke's unbeaten women's basketball team takes the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the loudest cheers often come for a group of fans who know exactly what the Blue Devils are feeling.
"We want them to know we love them and we are there supporting them and we were there from the start," said freshman Josh Hairston, a reserve forward for Duke men's team.
Hairston is among a handful of men's players who sit under one basket to watch the Duke women, who are 20-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country.
The Blue Devil men, of course, have established Cameron has one of the toughest home courts in the country. They won their fourth NCAA championship in April and are ranked No. 3 with an 19-1 record that has them among the candidates to win it all again.
That doesn't mean they don't have time to watch the team they share Cameron with continue its quest for national glory.
"They have a winning tradition just like we do," senior guard Nolan Smith said. "They play big games and they play in the same gym that we do. A lot of teams, their men and women don't even play in the same gym, which I feel like is weird. But it's special for us with our girls. They win just like we do. They keep the winning going."
With two teams rated in the top five and a combined 37-1 record, Duke arguably has the best basketball in the country this season.
Connecticut deserves to be in the conversation -- the UConn women, the reigning NCAA champions, are 18-1 and ranked No. 2, while the No. 5 Huskies men are 17-2.
Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie experienced something similar in her previous coaching stop at Michigan State, where the men's team is a perennial national championship contender under coach Tom Izzo. McCallie took the Spartans women to a national championship game appearance in 2005 before taking over at Duke in 2007.
Standing in Cameron Indoor Stadium after a recent practice, McCallie pointed to the men's four national championship banners hanging from the rafters and said she's inspired by them.
"I think the better the basketball is, the more attractive the school is and the better it will be overall," McCallie said. "We haven't done all the things the guys have done. That motivates the heck out of me. Being around excellence always excites me."
Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski said he and McCallie have formed a friendship.
"Joanne and I are close friends," Krzyzewski said. "She doesn't call on me for advice; she doesn't need advice. But we try to support one another. We write notes or see each other to wish each other well."
During the season, the two rarely have a chance to speak in person because of their hectic schedules, which include travel for games and recruiting trips. Handwritten notes have become their main form of communication.
"They are funny," McCallie said. "I've had to congratulate him a lot. I've been writing him a lot because when he's accomplished those [milestones], I'm writing about that to him.
"What's mind-boggling is he always states his support. 'I'm really pulling for you. We want things to be special here.' That is so enormous. I'm always struck by the return speed of it, because, at some point, he's a busy guy."
The players on the 2010-11 teams became particularly close during the past summer, when the two freshmen classes arrived on campus at the same time and lived in a co-ed dormitory.
"The first day we met each other at summer classes, we made a point to say hello because we will be together for four years," Hairston said. "It was automatically like a brother-sister relationship. We all had the same classes together. Some of us went in and worked out together. It was just that family atmosphere."
As the season has progressed, they still hang out together and lean on each other for support. When Hairston, Tyler Thornton and Chloe Wells were not seeing much playing time in games, they talked about their shared experiences.
"Josh and Tyler -- we had the same type of struggles because we weren't playing that much," said Wells, a freshman guard on the women's team. "We'd talk about how practice was going."
All three have seen their roles change and increase as their team entered ACC play, where both are atop the league standings.
At this point, the men's 66-61 loss at Florida State on Jan. 12 is the lone blemish Duke has suffered in basketball this season. The women's team gathered to watch that game on television even as they were preparing for their own trip to Florida State two days later.
"I feel good when they win and I feel bad when they lose," Duke senior all-American guard Jasmine Thomas said. "One thing that really sticks out was that Florida State game. Watching them and seeing a game that they should have won and seeing it come out an upset and seeing that we have them coming up next, you couldn't help but have that in your mind. Now we've got to really take care of business. We really do support each other."
The women's team did take care of business, beating the Seminoles 87-70 at Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 14.
The men's players don't hide their appreciation and pride in the teams' combined success.
"We want to be really supportive, especially when they have their really big games," Hairston said. "We want to show our support. We don't want people thinking because, 'Oh, it's the women's team' (that) we aren't paying attention to them.
"We need to watch them and support them, and we want them to be successful. They are having a great season so far. We are happy for them."
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