Hey all,
Was discussing this with a fellow Dukie today... if you could have a regular series set up with another team in the NCAAs, who would it be? Say a home and home series, three games at each to last six years?
Oh, Kansas might be a fun one... getting into Phog?
Kansas would be my first choice. Would love to see a running series with them alternating between Phog Allen and Cameron each year. That would be cool. I listed a few others below that would interest me.
Any one or two of these would be interesting each year
1. Florida
2. Louisville
3. Syracuse
4. UCLA
5. Indiana
6. Butler
7. Mich St
8. Memphis
9. Texas
10. Villanova
The two that immediately came to my mind were KY and KA. But one consideration might be what series gets us added exposure in new major metro or valuable recruiting areas? With that thought, I'd add to that list: Fla Gators, UCLA (SoCal fallbacks would be USC or SDSU, or maybe northward to Berkeley or UW), Northwestern (or another CHI-area school), TX and maybe Pitt or Rutgers from B.E.
And depending on how recruiting goes over the next year, I wouldn't be shocked to see a coming home-and-home with either or both of GA or UNLV/AZ...
My first choice would be Michigan St. I have a ton of respect for Coach Izzo and think this would be a competitive series year in, year out.
T '05, SOM '10
kentucky....would love to shut big blue nation's mouth year in and year out...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
connecticut...that way I would know who to cheer for that year
just kidding
I cheer for both every year
April 1
Division 2 Fort Hays State... That is where I coach
But seriously, have to agree with some posters on here that said Kansas. Great tradition, 2 best places in the country to play a college basketball game
Cool thread idea. I gotta echo the people throwing out KU and UK. They're the obvious choices for guaranteed primetime matches.
... and I think this thread is just begging to become a poll, maybe after there's a rough consensus of the 5 or 6 top candidates.
IMO
I think Kentucky has to top the list, bust I also think that Florida, Syracuse, and MSU would be fun.
I also like the thread idea, although it reminds me how disappointed I am that Coach K doesn't seem to believe the team needs to play true road games (GTown and St. J were on NBA courts and not on campus, even if those teams do play a number of games there) out of ACC play. I would love to see Duke play in front of the Kansas, MSU, Ky, etc. student sections, but I have resigned myself to the likelihood that it won't happen anytime soon.
Given that FSU, UM, and GT are both in the ACC, I don't think Coach K will see a need to get any added exposure in Ga and Fl by playing the flagship schools in those states.
Personally, I would love to see a home and home with another one of the blue bloods (Ky and KU being at the top of that list).
My Quick Smells Like French Toast.
For national recruiting relevance, I'd like to see Duke have home and home relationships with Arizona, UCLA, Cal Berkeley and U Dub. These can be varied, but Duke should have a West Coast presence at least twice a year.
[OK, I can be legitimately accused of selfishness...why not? At least I'd get to go to some live, in-season games. As things are now, that's not really possible.]
Arizona may be a bit problematical, since K still remembers the jobbing the team got in Tucson on February 24, 1991. A double OT loss in Tucson as a result of a wrongful call by a -- let us say -- hometown ref, who denied a three-pointer to Greg Koubek. That point would have given us the win in regulation. I was there and I know that Greg was behind the line. That season ended well for us, though.
But Lute is long gone and there is a new day. Indeed, revenge is now on my mind...
I'm pretty sure Sean Miller would find it of interest. For bigger money, there are Phoenix and DC venues.
And the other (now) Pac-12 teams would be interested as well, I'm sure. No need to think small (only one opponent) here.
going into an opposing arena probably doesn't help with the ncaa's as much as going to a bigger venue.
I doubt we'd go to ky or ks because of the lack of likely recruits and large alumni base.
I'd aim for ucla, Stanford, a Chicago school, georgetown, and maintaining st. johns.
I think many/most of us would like to see something at Rupp or Allen, but it ain't happening. It's. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Let me clarify that.
It's. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Let me rephrase that a little.
It's. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Next, play, with neutral site games in Jersey or somewhere, against schools most of us are tired of seeing.
Why we don't have space for even one such series still baffles me. I get all the arguments on all sides that have been beaten to death. (Blah blah simulate NCAAT blah). Even then, I still don't understand why we don't have one single slot for something like UNC-UK, which has lasted many years. Or IU-UK. Just one. But Michael Krzyzewski has 900 more wins than I do, and he's got his way he likes to do it, so, meh, I give up, who cares.
So why are we still talking about it? Nothing is going to change.
A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
---Roger Ebert
Some questions cannot be answered
Who’s gonna bury who
We need a love like Johnny, Johnny and June
---Over the Rhine
UNLV? Kidding. (Sort of.)
I agree that Duke should head out West more often. Right now it seems to happen only when Coach K wants to give a West Coast player a hometown game.
I think Washington is a good idea -- more than in most places, I think the Huskies' coach will stay put and keep that program relevant for the suggested 4-6 year period.
Maybe throw a bone to the many Duke alumni clubs in the Pacific and Mountain time zones? Schools in metro locations like Colorado, California, USC, Arizona State? Maybe pick two such teams and have a home game against one and an away game against the other. Then alternate. Two games out West each season may be asking too much -- with various neutral site games built into the schedule, the team already travels enough -- but one per season would be quite manageable.
1) Florida-2000
2) Indiana-2002
3) Kansas-2003
4) UConn-2004 (w/help from refs)
5) Michigan State-2005
6) LSU-2006
7) VCU-2007
8) West Virginia-2008
9) Villanova-2009
10) Arizona- 2011
The payback list...the last 10 teams that have knocked us out of the Tourney, and add Syracuse, Kentucky and Michigan.