The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - For two years, Alana Beard made basketball and studying her life at Duke.

OK, she was boring, but the time she put in became her stepping stone to success.

Beard was selected as the Associated Press player of the year in women's basketball. Also honored was Houston's Joe Curl, who was chosen as the coach of the year after guiding his team to a school record for victories in a 28-4 season.

The AP award was the latest in a string of honors for Beard, a 5-foot-11 senior who led the best four-year run in Duke history. It happened, she said, because of what she did as a freshman and sophomore.

"You can't come in looking to party and live the college life," Beard said. "I used my first two years to develop myself, develop my game, develop as a person. You could probably call me incognito, anti-social, whatever you wanted to call me, because I was in the gym or in my books the whole time.

"I knew where I wanted to be, so I used my first two years to do that."

Beard's journey has been filled with achievements. The Blue Devils earned their first No. 1 ranking when she was a junior, won the ACC regular-season and tournament championship in each of her four years and reached the Final Four twice.

Along the way, Beard became just the second three-time AP All-American and the first women's player at Duke to have her jersey number retired. This season's team was 30-4, finished at No. 1 and reached the regional finals.

If the Blue Devils could have taken that next step to the Final Four, Beard would have felt much better about her awards. She received another player of the year award, the Wade Trophy.

"If I was here playing, it would mean my team was here," she said. "But I'm here by myself accepting these awards. If I was accepting these awards with my teammates, it would be awesome. It's an honor to have the awards, but we all know I couldn't have accomplished any of this without my team."

Beard averaged 20.2 points and 5.2 rebounds during the regular season, shot 50.8 percent and led the team in steals. With 2,697 points, she's the leading scorer in Duke history, men or women.

Voting for the awards was done before the NCAA tournament by the media panel that picks the weekly AP Top 25. Beard was the overwhelming choice, receiving 39 of 47 votes. Connecticut's Diana Taurasi, the 2003 player of the year, had four votes, while Penn State's Kelly Mazzante received three and Stanford's Nicole Powell one.

Curl received 19 votes and Duke's Gail Goestenkors had nine.

"It's overwhelming to me, it really is," Curl said. "It's something I can't put into words, the personal pride I have in this award. But I realize this is a total program award and it needs to be given to them."

Houston won the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 years.

Just five years ago, in Curl's first season at the school, the Cougars were 5-22.

"I'm really not a coach first," Curl said. "First I'm a Christian, second I'm a husband, third I'm the father of two daughters plus the whole basketball team, fourth on the list I'm a teacher and fifth, I'm a coach.

"I take that coaching title very seriously, but to be the best coach you can be, you have to be better at the first four things on the list than the last one."

Women's Basketball Coach of Year List

Year	Coach	Team
2004	Joe Curl	Houston
2003	Geno Auriemma	UConn
2002	Brenda Oldfield	Minnesota
2001	Muffet McGraw	Notre Dame
2000	Geno Auriemma	UConn
1999	Carolyn Peck	Purdue
1998	Pat Summitt	Tenn.
1997	Geno Auriemma	UConn
1996	Angie Lee	Iowa
1995	Geno Auriemma	UConn

Women's Basketball Player of Year List

Year	Player	Team
2004	Alana Beard	Duke
2003	Diana Taurasi	UConn
2002	Sue Bird	UConn
2001	Ruth Riley	UND
2000	Tamika Catchings	Tenn.
1999	Chamique Holdsclaw	Tenn.
1998	Chamique Holdsclaw	Tenn.
1997	Kara Wolters	UConn
1996	Jennifer Rizzotti	UConn
1995	Rebecca Lobo	UConn