NY Post: Duke Says No More St. John's

[WhiteboardGuy]

Calhoun has said that he is open to a home-and-home with Duke, but that K wants the return game at MSG while he wants it in Hartford. Given that the Huskies would be playing at Cameron, you can understand why Calhoun doesn't want to play Duke at the Garden, which at best for UCONN is a neutral court and at worst is a second road game.

[Coballs]

Calhoun has said that he is open to a home-and-home with Duke, but that K wants the return game at MSG while he wants it in Hartford. Given that the Huskies would be playing at Cameron, you can understand why Calhoun doesn't want to play Duke at the Garden, which at best for UCONN is a neutral court and at worst is a second road game.

Not necessarily so. The UConn fans take always the Garden by storm. My guess is that they would probably outnumber Duke fans. Hartford, however, would play more like at true homecourt.

[dukejunkie]

Maybe K should use this opening to dangle a carrrot in case anybody is debating their future after the season. Isn't Kyle due his "home" game?

If not, it could even be used to help with recruiting. "We can't promise you a starting spot but we can promise you a game at ..."!

It's a shame scheduling has to be planned far in advance.

[JasonEvans]

Can we take from this that you see little value in replacing the St John's game w/a home-home series? Good competition is always welcome but it would be nice, IMO, if we could see the inside of someone new's gym. I know the potential payoffs make this tough sometimes but not everyone has a small arena. Kentucky and Louisville would be willing to play us on their home floors, instead of in some dome somewhere, I'll bet.

I am not saying there is no value in a home-and-home, but I do think it is more valuable to play in the arenas that frequently host NCAA tournament games -- the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Sprint Center in Kansas City, Rupp Arena in Lexington, the United Center in Chicago, and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis are all perfect examples of places we should play if we can arrange it.

--Jason "we will not be doing a home-and-home with a Mid-Major -- count on it" Evans

[Acymetric]

I don't know if this is the instance that you were specifically referring to but Duke played Delaware in Cameron in December 1995 when Mike Brey was coach there.

Yeah, I think that was what I was thinking of. Thanks.

[Wildling]

I would prefer to see us add a tough OOC opponent to this slot. I fondly remember the late season games with Arizona, UCLA, and Notre Dame from years past. A tough OOC game late in the season is a great emulator of Sweet 16 and Elite Eight match-ups.

I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't mind another matchup with a Big East foe however. I have a lot of friends who are Big East fans, most notably Syracuse, I would love to see them play at the Dome.

[Kdogg]

Yes, that was always my impression as well.

Likewise, now that Lavin is gone, I'd love to see the UCLA series renewed if Ben Howland is interested.

Duke likes to schedule a late season series with a competitive opponent with cache. Former oppenents like ND, UCLA and now St. Johns also offered recruiting opportunties in talent rich areas. I think that rules out series with UK, KU, and Mephis. I'm hoping UCLA is back on the schedule. If Lavin wasn't such a coward they would still be on the schedule.

[devildownunder]

I am not saying there is no value in a home-and-home, but I do think it is more valuable to play in the arenas that frequently host NCAA tournament games -- the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Sprint Center in Kansas City, Rupp Arena in Lexington, the United Center in Chicago, and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis are all perfect examples of places we should play if we can arrange it.

--Jason "we will not be doing a home-and-home with a Mid-Major -- count on it" Evans

I know the the mid-major home-home isn't happening. It would be great if it did but it won't. Of course, there is the argument that a school like Gonzaga isn't really a mid-major anymore, so we could have one with them. But they still play their big "home" OOC games in Seattle. I actually would trade an extra "ncaa arena" game for a trip to truly hostile road environment any day. I'm just a believer in going into the lion's den when you have a team that can handle it. There isn't anything that toughens up a team mentally any better, IMO. No, I can't prove that. Oh well.

[devildownunder]

I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't mind another matchup with a Big East foe however. I have a lot of friends who are Big East fans, most notably Syracuse, I would love to see them play at the Dome.

Syracuse would seem to be an especially good fit for money and recruiting reasons. The Dome is huge, so we can play them on campus without anyone sacrificing a big gate, both schools have New York-area fan bases AND the dome frequently hosts NCAA tournament games.

Hey, somebody get Jim Boeheim on the phone!

[Bob Green]

...but it is a long darn flight from RDU to the west coast and back for game.

RDU to the west coast and back is a piece of cake. You should try the RDU to Narita run if you desire to experience a "long darn flight."

[devildownunder]

Not necessarily so. The UConn fans take always the Garden by storm. My guess is that they would probably outnumber Duke fans. Hartford, however, would play more like at true homecourt.

Gampel Pavilion is only about 20 years old. One wonders why they would have built an on-campus arena so recently that isn't big enough for them to host marquee games there. Seems silly to me.

[roywhite]

Gampel Pavilion is only about 20 years old. One wonders why they would have built an on-campus arena so recently that isn't big enough for them to host marquee games there. Seems silly to me.

See Carmichael Auditorium, Chapel Hill. Built in 1965; started with 8,000 seats, eventually expanded to 10,000; team moved to Smith Center in 1986.

[PumpkinFunk]

Syracuse would seem to be an especially good fit for money and recruiting reasons. The Dome is huge, so we can play them on campus without anyone sacrificing a big gate, both schools have New York-area fan bases AND the dome frequently hosts NCAA tournament games.

Hey, somebody get Jim Boeheim on the phone!

Syracuse would be a great idea... especially given that we wanted them in the ACC, and even moreso: Coach K and Jim Boeheim have a good relationship. It could also be a really good yearly neutral site game in MSG (with 'Cuse, I think MSG is fairly neutral), rather than a home-and-home like the St. John's are now.

[ice-9]

Calhoun has said that he is open to a home-and-home with Duke, but that K wants the return game at MSG while he wants it in Hartford. Given that the Huskies would be playing at Cameron, you can understand why Calhoun doesn't want to play Duke at the Garden, which at best for UCONN is a neutral court and at worst is a second road game.

How about if the venues were Charlotte for Duke's home and MSG for U-Conn's home? That would make things more fair and both are NCAA tourney venues. I'm eager to see Duke play U-Conn regularly.

My wish list:
- U-Conn
- UCLA
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Florida
- Memphis
- Louisville

[JasonEvans]

Duke likes to schedule a late season series with a competitive opponent with cache. Former oppenents like ND, UCLA and now St. Johns also offered recruiting opportunties in talent rich areas. I think that rules out series with UK, KU, and Mephis. I'm hoping UCLA is back on the schedule. If Lavin wasn't such a coward they would still be on the schedule.

I agree that the "talent-rich recruiting area" thing is a big part of where Duke picks opponents. Heck, that is why Lavin begged out of the UCLA series, he was sick of Duke coming out there, whupping his butt, and then taking all the top California talent.

That said, Memphis is a talent-rich basketball locale. In just the past few years, that ACC has seen highly regarded recruits Leslie McDonald, Elliot Williams, Maurice Miller, and Thaddeus Young from the Memphis area.

-Jason "I would love a series with Gonzaga" Evans

[davekay1971]

A neutral site game against a tournament-caliber opponent would be nice. High profile for recruiting, would prepare both teams for March competition, etc. Kind of like our pre-Christmas MSG game, but closer to tourney time.

[JG Nothing]

There are three approaches we can take:
1) Week off
2) Tough OOC game
3) Weak OOC game

Here is one more option: North Carolina State University in years when we only have one conference game scheduled with them.

[tbyers11]

Here is one more option: North Carolina State University in years when we only have one conference game scheduled with them.

Purdue and Indiana scheduled a "non-conference" game a few years back when the Big 10 schedule only had them facing each other once. It would be cool from a tradition standpoint but with current state of the NCSU program, I'd rather play a higher quality non-conference opponent.

[sagegrouse]

I have scanned most of the messages here and didn't see this comment.

The late season big city/ big arena matchup is mostly about money (as is the early season NYC game). Remember that the men's hoops program supports the entire athletic department.

Moreover, while the match-up guarantees the TV bucks, to fill the arena it needs to be in a city where the Duke alumni fan base is large and enthusiastic or where the opponent can produce a sell-out. So "courting the alumni" is another way of saying, "putting fannies in the seats." I know that consideration works in NY and DC, but I don't know if it extends to Chicago, Philly, LA or Boston. (Actually, judging from the cheers in the GT game, Duke could draw well in Atlanta, but I don't know who the logical opponent would be -- and GT would be really upset.)

Now would K sign up for a game if it really hurt the team? No, of course not. It seems to me he is happy to have a couple of non-conference games to get the team adjusted to playing teams they don't know that well. Therefore, a mid-January and a mid-February game work out just fine.

sagegrouse
'As Deep Throat said to Bob Woodward, "Just follow the money."'





That said,

[jv001]

Yes let's play Villanova and beat the fire out of Taylor King. Play in Madison Square Garden our home away from home. Go Duke!