OOC schedule

[Classof06]

Reading the article about Temple playing Florida, Tennessee and Villanova got me to thinking about Duke's schedule a little bit. Simply put, I'd really like to see Duke play big name teams more often in the regular season. And using our Georgetown series as an example, I'd like to see these big games in a home-and-home situation. It seems Duke only plays 1-2 really good OOC teams a year, almost always on neutral courts. I know during my years at Duke, I loved the kind of rivalry we began to develop with Michigan State when we played in a home-and home in '04 and '05; we beat them both times, but they later knocked us out in the '05 Sweet 16. As great as that home-and-home was, however, it was the ACC-Big 10 challenge so it's not like we really had a choice.

This year we play Wisconsin and Pitt, but both feel like they're a year late. Now don't get me wrong, Duke does a great job of playing quality teams that make the tournament, and they should continue doing that. But I know some of you out on the West Coast were saying how you'd love to see Duke come out and play a UCLA or go and play a Kansas, and I would love to see that, too. When was the last time you saw Duke go out to the West Coast??? Last year UNC played a stretch of Gonzaga, Tennessee, Ohio State and Kentucky within their first 7 games. That's what I'm talking about. Everyone has to have cupcake games, but Cornell, Albany and New Mexico State just don't do it for me like Memphis and Texas a couple years ago. Alas, as good as playing Memphis and Texas was, both those games were at neutral sites as well. Some say neutral sites give it a tournament feel, but venues like MSG and Continental Airlines Arena in NJ are blatantly pro-Duke while our VCU game at the HSBC arena in Buffalo was completely Anti-Duke; not so realistic.

With the abundance of freshman and sophomores we'll have this year, I think OOC games against big name teams, especially on the road, would go a long way in developing this group. Like I've said before, I think we have the nucleus of what should be a NC contender at some point, maybe as early as the '08 season. The better the teams we play against, the better off we'll be...

[SilkyJ]

Reading the article about Temple playing Florida, Tennessee and Villanova got me to thinking about Duke's schedule a little bit. Simply put, I'd really like to see Duke play big name teams more often in the regular season

someone(s) always comment on this every year, especially Duke-haters. But when you look at the numbers, we always have one of the top RPIs, a top SOS, and a top OOC/SOS (and in this case you are really talking about OOC/SOS, obviously)

Year RPI - SOS - OOC/SOS
2007 15 3 10
2006 1 1 6
2005 4 4 46
2004 1 4 24

at the end of the day I will say what I always say on this board:

In K we trust.

[Lord Ash]

Yeah, haters always bash on us, but Dukes schedule is always one of the hardest in the country.

I would, however, like to see us at Kansas or Kentucky once in a while.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Yeah, haters always bash on us, but Dukes schedule is always one of the hardest in the country.

I would, however, like to see us at Kansas or Kentucky once in a while.

We play a reasonably tough OOC schedule, and a killer in conference schedule. But not as tough as most other ACC schools, because THEY have to play Duke at least once, maybe twice!

[ACCBBallFan]

I expect Duke will play one in California next year as a bon voyage to Demarcus Nelson.

Then it only makes sense to play UCONN the next year for McClure and Syracuse for Paulus, but I doubt they go to Lithuania for Marty, maybe New Hampshire.

Return match to Albany is probably the Paulus senior away game rather than the Cuse and McClure is from western CT nowhere near Storrs, or Hartford. So probably some mid major in western CT or NYC area rather than UCONN too.

[Pepsi114]

DeMarcus is a senior this year, so any "bon voyage" would have to happen in the NCAAs.

[Indoor66]

I expect Duke will play one in California next year as a bon voyage to Demarcus Nelson.

Then it only makes sense to play UCONN the next year for McClure and Syracuse for Paulus, but I doubt they go to Lithuania for Marty, maybe New Hampshire.

Return match to Albany is probably the Paulus senior away game rather than the Cuse and McClure is from western CT nowhere near Storrs, or Hartford. So probably some mid major in western CT or NYC area rather than UCONN too.

K has never attempted to schedule games near a players home. That is more of a Kerolina tradition.

[Zeb]

I remember seeing several references through the years about K trying to schedule games in players' home state/towns. Two that stand out: We played in Oregon for Dunleavy, and we went to the Alaska Shootout for Boozer.

[ACCBBallFan]

Thanks. Yes I meant this year on Nelson but have not heard any in Calif games rumored. So it may be more of a UNC tradition.

Assuming K were to do this for McClure, closest schools to Stamford in CT are Sacred Heart and Fairfield. I would guess playing someone in NY like Columbia, Iona, LIU, NYU, Manhattan, Fordham, Hofstra or Stony Brook would take the emphasis off Dave's mythical hmecoming and on to NY too much .

[tbyers11]

K has never attempted to schedule games near a players home. That is more of a Kerolina tradition.

K has tried to schedule game near player's hometown in the past. They played the University of Portland in Portland for Dunleavy. They went to the Great Alaska Shootout in 1998, even though they had just been there in 1995, for Trajan because Trajan was out with a knee injury in 1995. They also played a game against Canisius in the 1991-1992 season for Laettner.

K doesn't seem to schedule these games as much as Carolina, but it does happen