Non-Conference Schedule

[BlueDevil2K]

There's been some discussion recently about how strong Duke's non-conference schedule was this year. Now that everybody has wrapped up their regular season (except for Penn, since the Ivy has no conference tournament), I decided to look at how all of our opponents fared. It's pretty remarkable:

Kansas			26-5	  16-2	Big 12 	         - 1st
Ohio State		25-6	  13-5	Big 10	         - 1st
Michigan State		24-7      13-5	Big 10 	         - 1st
Michigan		23-8	  13-5	Big 10	         - 1st
Washington		21-9	  14-4	Pac 10	         - 1st
Temple			24-6	  13-3	Atlantic 10 	 - 1st
Belmont			27-7	  16-2	Atlantic Sun     - 1st
Davidson		23-7	  16-2	Southern S	 - 1st
Penn			19-11	  11-2	Ivy		 - 2nd*

UNC-Greensboro		13-18	  10-8	Southern N	 - 1st
Tennessee		18-13	  10-6	SEC		 - 2nd
Western Michigan	12-19	  6-10	MAC West	 - 3rd
Colorado State		19-10	  8-6	MWC		 - 4th
Presbyterian		14-15	  8-10	Big South	 - 6th
St. John's		13-18	  6-12	Big East 	 - 11th

(hopefully the formatting holds up...)

Overall, 9 of our 15 opponents finished at least tied for first in their division or conference, with Penn becoming the 10th if they defeat Princeton. Of those 10 opponents, 8 (all but UNC-G and Penn) finished with single-digit losses. 11/15 had winning records overall, and 12/15 had winning records in their conference.

We'll see how the rest of the season shapes up, but you can't argue that this year's squad isn't battle-tested!

Brian

[Wander]

Whoa, Tennessee finished tied for 2nd in the SEC?!

[DukieTiger]

Duke played (and mostly beat) some solid competition this year, that's for sure. 2 of 3 against the B1G (strongest conference this year) co-champs.

Regarding Tennessee, it should be noted that they improved significantly mid-year when they added Jarnell Stokes. Not that this takes away from Duke's schedule, but helps explain how they did so well in-conference.