Duke schedule vs. Carolina schedule
Here is the Duke men's bball schedule:
Mon, Nov 10 Presbyterian W 80-49
Tue, Nov 11 Georgia Southern W 97-54
Sun, Nov 16 Rhode Island W 82-79
Thu, Nov 20 Southern Ill.
Fri, Nov 21 Michigan W 71-56
Sun, Nov 23 Montana W 78-58
Fri, Nov 28 Duquesne
Tue, Dec 2 at (10) Purdue
Sat, Dec 6 at Michigan
Wed, Dec 17 N.C. Asheville
Sat, Dec 20 at (16) Xavier
Wed, Dec 31 Loyola (MD)
Sun, Jan 4 Virginia Tech
Wed, Jan 7 (24) Davidson
Sat, Jan 10 at Florida St.
Wed, Jan 14 at Georgia Tech
Sat, Jan 17 (21) Georgetown
Tue, Jan 20 N.C. State 8:00 pm
Sat, Jan 24 Maryland 12:00 pm
Wed, Jan 28 at (19) Wake Forest
Sun, Feb 1 Virginia 2:00 pm
Wed, Feb 4 at Clemson 9:00 pm
Sat, Feb 7 (22) Miami (FL) 1:30 pm
Wed, Feb 11 (1) North Carolina
Sun, Feb 15 at Boston Coll.
Thu, Feb 19 at St. John's
Sun, Feb 22 (19) Wake Forest
Wed, Feb 25 at Maryland
Sat, Feb 28 at Virginia Tech
Tue, Mar 3 Florida St.
Sun, Mar 8 at (1) North Carolina
Here is UNC's:
Sat, Nov 15 Pennsylvania W 86-71
Tue, Nov 18 Kentucky W 77-58
Fri, Nov 21 at UCSB W 84-67
Mon, Nov 24 at Chaminade
Tue, Nov 25 Oregon
Sun, Nov 30 N.C. Asheville
Wed, Dec 3 at (5) Michigan St.
Sat, Dec 13 Oral Roberts
Thu, Dec 18 Evansville
Sat, Dec 20 at Valparaiso
Sun, Dec 28 Rutgers
Wed, Dec 31 at Nevada
Sun, Jan 4 Boston Coll.
Wed, Jan 7 Charleston
Sun, Jan 11 at (19) Wake Forest
Thu, Jan 15 at Virginia
Sat, Jan 17 (22) Miami (FL)
Wed, Jan 21 Clemson
Wed, Jan 28 at Florida St.
Sat, Jan 31 at N.C. State
Tue, Feb 3 Maryland
Sat, Feb 7 Virginia
Wed, Feb 11 at (7) Duke
Sun, Feb 15 at (22) Miami (FL)
Wed, Feb 18 N.C. State
Sat, Feb 21 at Maryland
Sat, Feb 28 Georgia Tech
Wed, Mar 4 at Virginia Tech
Sun, Mar 8 (7) Duke
Duke currently has 4 out of conference opponents in the top 25, with St John's at 4-1 with a solid start and potentially a sleeper team.
Carolina, on the other hand, has 1 team scheduled that is in the top 25, and only another one possible due to early season tournies (Duke had a potential one as well in UCLA before they lost to Michigan).
What I want to know is, why does the media fall in love with teams that have tons of talent, but refuse to schedule any tough non-conference games? This is not anything new for UNC, as they regularly schedule pushovers out of conference, teams just good enough to boost the Tar Heels RPI due to their otherwise dominance in their small conferences (see: UNCA, Evansville, Charleston), but teams that are normally very little match for the perennial "pre-season National Champs."
Duke used to be guilty of the same years ago if I remember correctly, but Coach K decided that his teams needed to be battle tested and started getting mid-season meat in his scheduling.
I guess this is more of a rhetorical vent than anything, but just wanted to see if anyone else was on this mind train. :)