SAN ANTONIO -- Eight certainly proved to be enough for Duke's return to the Final Four.

A December defection by two players left the Blue Devils with just eight on the roster for most the season.

Coupled with nine-year assistant coach Joanne Boyle's hospitalization a week earlier with bleeding on the brain, the Blue Devils found they needed each other more than ever to survive as a team.

Duke not only survived but flourished. And the Blue Devils learned a valuable lesson that sometimes, less really is more.

Duke (31-3) has lost just once since the early season crisis and carry a 22-game winning streak into tonight's national semifinal against Oklahoma (31-3).

"We had to come together or we were going to die," senior guard Krista Gingrich said.

Sophomores Rometra Craig and Crystal White, two members of one of Duke's most highly regarded recruiting classes, announced on consecutive days they would transfer.

It left the Blue Devils little time to prepare for their Atlantic Coast Conference opener on the road at Virginia.

"It was a shock and tough to deal with but we got right on the bus, had a team meeting that night and said this doesn't change our goals, it doesn't change our dreams," coach Gail Goestenkors said.

She said Duke's 107-73 win the next day was the key to the season.

"We came out and played one of our best games of the year," she said. "We were so focused and intent on showing the nation we were for real."

More good news followed when Boyle returned to the bench in January.

"To have someone so healthy all of sudden be in the hospital and have it be touch and go ... it was tough for all of us," Goestenkors said. "It really binded us together as a team because we all knew that everybody had to give a little bit more."

Duke responded to the adversity by going undefeated in the ACC, earning a No. 1 seed in the East Regional and the Blue Devils' second Final Four berth.

The Blue Devils are led by two sophomores: All-American guard Alana Beard, the ACC player of the year, and forward Iciss Tillis, who spurned the Sooners out of high school in Tulsa, Okla., to play for the Blue Devils.

Oklahoma earned its first Final Four berth with a lineup featuring four senior starters, including the guard tandem of All-American Stacey Dales and LaNeisha Caufield.

"I think they have more seniors than we have players," Goestenkors said.

Oklahoma, which nearly dismantled its program 12 years ago and went just 5-22 in coach Sherri Coale's first season in 1996-97, won the Big 12 and earned the league's first Final Four appearance.

Oklahoma is also just the third school in history to send a men's and women's team to the national semifinals in the same season.

"That's what we do at the University of Oklahoma. We win championships," Coale said. "The expectations continue to escalate."

Coale played down any advantage against Duke's slim roster by noting that every Blue Devils player averages at least 17 minutes per game. The Sooners depend heavily on a six-player rotation.

"They have only eight players but they might be conceived to be deeper than we are because all eight of those guys play a lot," Coale said.

The Sooners are the only Final Four team without championship game experience. Perennial powers Tennessee and Connecticut play in Friday night's other semifinal.

"Being the newcomers on the block, it's a thrill for us," Dales said. "But we have experience and maturity. Our approach to this tournament has been to have fun, to enjoy ourselves."

Coale has kept her team loose with team-building activities such as scavenger hunts.

Whatever she planned for the Duke game was a well-guarded secret.

"If I told you," she said, "I'd have to kill you."