Originally Posted by
houstondukie
Yes, they are #1 in the BIG EAST standings currently (15-2), and could win the BIG EAST outright with a win on the road against WVU. But in my opinion, they took advantage of an unbalanced BIG EAST schedule.
They played UCONN and PITT only ONCE EACH, and both games were at HOME. They beat PITT (by 6), but lost to UCONN (by 17).
They also played Syracuse (road win), Villanova (road win), and Marquette (home win, without Dominic James) ONLY ONCE. To their credit, they went 3-0 but how much would their standing in the BIG EAST change if they had played those teams twice?
@ Villanove and @ Syracuse are their two best road wins. Tonight's road game against West Virginia is only their NINTH TRUE ROAD GAME ALL SEASON. Duke, who has already played 11 true road games and plays @ UNC tomorrow (12 total), gets criticized by the Duke-haters every year for not playing more games outside CIS.
They've also struggled at times this year with losses to Western Kentucky (by 14 points, neutral site), Minnesota (neutral site), Notre Dame (by 33 points, road game), and UNLV (at Louisville). Good teams but not great and only one of those games was a true road game.