2014-2015 Schedule Speculation

[pfrduke]

Schedule building is one of my favorite off-season activities, and since our off-season started a little earlier than desired, I thought I'd dig in. Knowns so far:

11/14-15 (likely) - campus games in Coaches vs. Cancer - opponents TBD
11/18 - Michigan State (Indianapolis)
11/21 - Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals - Stanford/UNLV/Temple (Brooklyn)
11/22 - Coaches vs. Cancer finals/consolation - Stanford/UNLV/Temple (Brooklyn)
12/2 or 12/3 - ACC/B1G Challenge game (almost certainly on the road after 2 straight home games - my bet is on return trip to Ann Arbor or a trip to Madison)

A couple notes: the CvC field is disappointing. It's the weakest preseason tournament field for Duke that I can recall (2010 NIT field wasn't great, since UConn stunk that year, but playing the Huskies in NY is probably tougher than any of the matchups here - 2009 CvC was also pretty weak). The silver lining aspect of that is that we're likely to get our preseason tournament winning streak started up again. Also, the CvC guarantees the host schools a spot in NY, so even if we did something silly like lose one of the campus games, we'll be playing in the Barclays regardless.

The team probably will get Thanksgiving week off, with maybe a home game that Saturday or Sunday as a warmup to the ACC/B1G road trip. Glad we have a road game coming this year - we should draw one of the top 3-4 teams in the Big Ten and it probably won't be MSU given the Champions Classic game. I'd prefer Ann Arbor or Madison to Columbus, but as long as it's not College Park, I'll be happy.

Several of the other ACC teams have their preseason tournaments lined up:

BC - Puerto Rico (ok field, headlined by UConn and New Mexico, also featuring Dayton and West Virginia - BC will likely get one of these 4 teams as a first-round opponent)
Clemson - Paradise Jam (pretty weak field - Clemson and LSU likely to be the two best teams; Weber State might be next best)
FSU & Notre Dame - Hall of Fame Tip Off (I'm assuming this was set before ND was joining the conference - the two will almost certainly be placed across the bracket from each other with Providence and UMass as the other opponents; all teams that could be at large/bubble teams)
Georgia Tech - Old Spice (tough at the top - Kansas and Michigan St - plus Tennessee, Xavier, and Marquette)
Miami - Charleston (weak field so far - major conference bottom feeders (both USCs! Penn State!) plus Akron and Cornell)
UNC - Atlantis (strong field - includes Florida, Wisconsin, UCLA, Oklahoma, and Georgetown - I assume this will be seeded to set up a UNC-Florida final)
Pitt - Maui (pretty good field - Arizona, San Diego St, Kansas St, Missouri, BYU, Purdue, and, of course, Chaminade - there should be 2-3 top 25 teams out of that group)
Syracuse - 2kSports (pretty good final 4, with Texas, Iowa, and Cal)
Virginia - Barclays (weak field - Vanderbilt, Rutgers, and La Salle; that's worse than the CvC. Virginia should aim higher than this)

[1 24 90]

I'm trying to pinpoint when win # 1,000 is going to take place. 17 wins to go!

[hurleyfor3]

W w w w w w l w w w w w w w w w w l w w w w w w w w l w l w w l w w l w w l

Board won't let me do all caps, even with spacing

[Dev11]

W w w w w w l w w w w w w w w w w l w w w w w w w w l w l w w l w w l w w l

Board won't let me do all caps, even with spacing

Lose at the Dean Dome, ACC runner-ups, and Sweet Sixteen? I feel like we have a higher ceiling than that.


Unless you did that backwards, in which case the non-con home win streak is toast.

[hurleyfor3]

Lose at the Dean Dome, ACC runner-ups, and Sweet Sixteen? I feel like we have a higher ceiling than that.

I thought that this year.

[blazindw]

I wonder whether we will have any true road games other than the ACC/B1G challenge in the nonconference schedule? Also, who will be our annual NYC "home game" opponent? I'd love to see us play a couple more games on the road against some quality opponents. It would hopefully help us prepare for the long road in the ACC.

[pfrduke]

I wonder whether we will have any true road games other than the ACC/B1G challenge in the nonconference schedule? Also, who will be our annual NYC "home game" opponent? I'd love to see us play a couple more games on the road against some quality opponents. It would hopefully help us prepare for the long road in the ACC.

We just don't schedule these, though. We haven't played a non-conference, non-ACC/B1G challenge true road game since 2011 and that was at UNCG because it gave us a chance to play in the Greensboro Coliseum (the Temple game in 2012 was at Wells Fargo, not the Liacouras Center). The last one of these that was in a pure college arena was at Michigan in 2009 (not an ACC/B1G game - we played at Purdue in the challenge that year).

[blazindw]

We just don't schedule these, though. We haven't played a non-conference, non-ACC/B1G challenge true road game since 2011 and that was at UNCG because it gave us a chance to play in the Greensboro Coliseum (the Temple game in 2012 was at Wells Fargo, not the Liacouras Center). The last one of these that was in a pure college arena was at Michigan in 2009 (not an ACC/B1G game - we played at Purdue in the challenge that year).

Oh, I know we don't schedule them. Just sorta wishful thinking on my part...

[SCMatt33]

We just don't schedule these, though. We haven't played a non-conference, non-ACC/B1G challenge true road game since 2011 and that was at UNCG because it gave us a chance to play in the Greensboro Coliseum (the Temple game in 2012 was at Wells Fargo, not the Liacouras Center). The last one of these that was in a pure college arena was at Michigan in 2009 (not an ACC/B1G game - we played at Purdue in the challenge that year).

We have played other road games. They were just forgettable. We went to Georgetown for the last time in 2010 and to St. John's for the last time in 2011. Neither was on a campus site, but both were on the other team's regular home court. Beyond this, it depends on your definition of a true road game. If you go by what the common perception is of the fans and media, a game like Temple in 2012 would not count. The only games they have played at Wells Fargo in the recent past are Duke and Villanova (who plays a significant number of games there). However, in the committee room, this is counted towards Duke's "road" record because it met the official definition of a "home" game for Temple. This definition has to do with proximity and ownership of ticket sales, but it was considered a "true" road game by the technical definition.

The lack of road games on the schedule in the last two years, though, has to do more with the ACC than any change in scheduling philosophy. Dukd has pretty consistently scheduled 9-10 road games per year depending on the challenge game for several years now. The difference is that with the extra conference games, Duke stopped scheduling the equivalent (1 home and 1 road) non conference games.

[pfrduke]

We have played other road games. They were just forgettable. We went to Georgetown for the last time in 2010 and to St. John's for the last time in 2011. Neither was on a campus site, but both were on the other team's regular home court. Beyond this, it depends on your definition of a true road game. If you go by what the common perception is of the fans and media, a game like Temple in 2012 would not count. The only games they have played at Wells Fargo in the recent past are Duke and Villanova (who plays a significant number of games there). However, in the committee room, this is counted towards Duke's "road" record because it met the official definition of a "home" game for Temple. This definition has to do with proximity and ownership of ticket sales, but it was considered a "true" road game by the technical definition.

The lack of road games on the schedule in the last two years, though, has to do more with the ACC than any change in scheduling philosophy. Dukd has pretty consistently scheduled 9-10 road games per year depending on the challenge game for several years now. The difference is that with the extra conference games, Duke stopped scheduling the equivalent (1 home and 1 road) non conference games.

Nothing that you said is different from anything I said.

I think when people on this board talk about "true" road games, they mean something other than games played in NBA arenas, even if those NBA arenas happen to be the most frequent home court for our opponent. Which is why I pointed to Michigan in 2009 as the last road game in a college arena.

I agree with you that the 18-game ACC schedule decreases the likelihood of adding another road game.

Also, I don't feel strongly one way or another about the need for "true" road games. If we're not prepared to play in a hostile environment after 9 ACC road games, a trip to Allen Field House (for example) in November/December isn't going to change that.

[Lar77]

I thought that part of the deal to get the Barclays Center for the ACC Championship was that the ACC has to play a couple of games against the A10. I'm sure Duke is on that list.

[SCMatt33]

Nothing that you said is different from anything I said.

I think when people on this board talk about "true" road games, they mean something other than games played in NBA arenas, even if those NBA arenas happen to be the most frequent home court for our opponent. Which is why I pointed to Michigan in 2009 as the last road game in a college arena.

I think the NBA arena depends a lot on the team. For a team like Temple, it's definitely not the same as a road game. Georgetown on the other hand, would definitely be a road game same a one on campus in my book. That's pretty much their only home court. It's not like St. John's or Nova who split time. I can count on one hand the number of regular season games that Georgetown has played on campus in the last decade. If being in campus is the dividing line, you could say that we won't be playing true road games against Louisville because the Yum center isn't on campus. U of L doesn't have to share with an NBA team, but other than that, it's pretty much equivalent to Georgetown at the Verizon Center.

That being said, I wholeheartedly agree that non conference road games would help in the postseason. I can see them helping in the regular season given how much Duke struggled in early ACC road games this year, but it's not really significant.

[jmck214]

I thought that part of the deal to get the Barclays Center for the ACC Championship was that the ACC has to play a couple of games against the A10. I'm sure Duke is on that list.

That series doesn't start until the fall of 2015

[msdukie]

With Central Missouri's DII title today, you can likely add them to the exhibition schedule. Also, wasn't there a rumor a couple of months ago about scheduling Dayton in Cameron in December?

[HCheek37]

We will be playing UConn in the Meadowlands just before Christmas!

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...owlands-season

Katz also notes that the Big10/Acc Challenge partners will be announced next week. I'd think we are headed for a road game in Wisconsin. ESPN will dub it as the BATTLE OF THE K'S.

[Duvall]

We will be playing UConn in the Meadowlands just before Christmas!

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...owlands-season

Katz also notes that the Big10/Acc Challenge partners will be announced next week. I'd think we are headed for a road game in Wisconsin. ESPN will dub it as the BATTLE OF THE K'S.

Oof, the Meadowlands? I guess it comes cheap, at least.

[Olympic Fan]

And didn't I read that we are likely to play St. John's in the Garden in late January?

[pfrduke]

And didn't I read that we are likely to play St. John's in the Garden in late January?

Yes, the front page reported that last week (I think).

Getting a non-conference matchup against UCONN sort of makes up for the uninspiring field in the Barclays Center Classic.

[duke2x]

To borrow from the original poster, a summary of knowns and educated guesses:

11/14-15 (likely) - campus games in Coaches vs. Cancer - opponents TBD.
11/18 - Michigan State (Indianapolis)
11/21 - Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals - Stanford/UNLV/Temple (Brooklyn)
11/22 - Coaches vs. Cancer finals/consolation - Stanford/UNLV/Temple (Brooklyn)
12/2 or 12/3 -at Big Ten (Wisconsin per ESPN rumor)
12/20 (date is Sat, but only a guess) UConn in NJ (per ESPN rumor)
1/31 at St. John's (rumor linked on DBR)

I think we pretty much know the meat of the schedule. It is a safe assumption that we will play the other 5 games in Cameron because we would have a 7-6 split.

Home (16) - CVC (2); TBD (5), UNC, Wake, Syracuse, ND, Pitt, Clemson, BC, Miami, GT
Away (11) - St. John's, B10, UNC, Wake, Syracuse, ND, FSU, Louisville, UVA, VT, NCSU
Neutral (4) - CVC (2); UConn, MSU

[gumbomoop]

... makes up for the uninspiring field in the Barclays Center Classic.

It's at the Barclays Center, but it's actually Coaches v. Cancer Classic. [There's a separate BCC, which will feature UVa.]. Duke will be the obvious favorite for this, but both UNLV and Stanford will have solid teams.

UNLV returns 2 very good players -- big guard/leading scorer Bryce Dejean-Jones and PF/C Khem Birch, who started out at Pitt, transferred, averaged 10 rpg last season. Plus very strong incoming recruits, including 2 top-20 guys and Goodluck Okonoboh.

Johnny returns 3 starters, some promising sophs, and a solid recruiting class headed by Reid Travis, who's likely the starting PF right away. I realize Travis didn't wow people in the all-star games, but he wasn't out of his league. Johnny also brings in promising PG Robert Cartwright.

Temple probably by far weakest of the 4, so it would make sense for Duke to play them in semis. But I'll guess Duke will get UNLV, for old times' sake. Sure would prefer to see Dawkins and Krzyzewski in the final.