Duke player reveals the sisterhood in the locker room with her viral videos
Duke player reveals the sisterhood in the locker room with her viral videos
Wesley Webb, Special to USA TODAYSun, March 29, 2026 at 10:03 AM UTC
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Duke player reveals the sisterhood in the locker room with her viral videos
SACRAMENTO, CA — After No. 3 seed Duke’s buzzer-beater victory on March 27 over second-seeded LSU, one of the first things the Blue Devils did in their locker room was hand the microphone to guard Emma Koabel for postgame interviews.
Koabel didn’t play in the game but she still has big role on the team.
In August, she sustained a knee injury that sidelined her for the season. But she has found a meaningful way to contribute – creating content for the Blue Devils’ social media accounts.
“Her biggest point of why she makes content (is) so that people can experience it – the little girls that are looking up to us,” junior forward Jordan Wood said. “I wish I had somebody like Emma when I was growing up.”
In the wake of Duke’s dramatic Sweet 16 win, Koabel interviewed her teammates while showing the posterboard bracket marking the program’s second consecutive trip to the Elite Eight. Duke’s next matchup is against top-seeded UCLA on March 29.
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She started creating content at 16, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now 21, she continues to push herself for a career in sports media.
“It's something that I've just been drawn to, and I love doing,” Koabel said.
Koabel wants people outside of the Duke locker room to experience what it is like to have a bond as strong as the Blue Devils do, and to step into the shoes of a DI basketball player.
She puts a spotlight on the “sisterhood,” which the team embraces as its brand. Players credit Koabel for showing personalities of the team that may go unnoticed.
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“It just shows the softer side of us,” sophomore forward Toby Fournier said. “These are my sisters, so being able to see that other side of us is really important.”
Koabel also “coaches” assistant coach Kyra Elzy on how to create her own social content.
“She always asks me for tips and pointers with her Instagram reels and things like that,” Koabel said. “We have little little sessions where I'll teach her a new thing here and there, which is cool.”
Moving forward in a potential sports media career, Koabel takes a lot of inspiration from ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
“[Rowe] always asks really good questions that keep you engaged and have really good answers,” Koabel said. “[Teammates and I] were talking yesterday about potentially having maybe a sideline interview gig and being the next Holly Rowe.”
Players have already noticed the Rowe resemblance in Koabel’s postgame interviews.
“She always has a great question, and she's always poised in her interviews,” Wood said. “It's just a ‘one-take wonder’ with Emma.”
Wesley Webb is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Out for season, Duke's Emma Koabel creates videos to spotlight sisterhood
Source: “AOL Sports”
