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

[Faustus]

As for the Syracuse suggestions, I'm pretty sure Boeheim falls into the category of coaching friends of K that are off-limits for regularly scheduled match-ups (would have been very interesting if Syracuse had joined the conference during expansion as was originally intended).

Just for tradition and sheer interest, I'd love to see a true home and home with Kansas for a game in Allen Fieldhouse. Last time I think Duke played there it was with Quin Snyder and Kevin Strickland and Danny Ferry and Duke slipped out with an overtime win. I'm pretty sure Kansas returned the visit in another season, and have an extremely vague recollection that Duke won that one relatively handily, but I don't trust that memory. I do miss the home and homes we used to have with the marquee name college powers, however. Georgetown suffices for this season and you surely don't want to overdo it with the conference season as draining as it is, but these match-ups are why you play the games in my opinion. These are games we still talk about years later - freshman Laettner missing the critical free throws at the end that could have beaten Sean Elliot's Arizona (is that Duke's only loss at the Measowlands?) and Richard Nixon consoling him afterwards (wonder if he asked Christian what he asked David Frost just before the camera light turned on? Hope not), and I still remember a second half 3 pointer by Quin Snyder there in Allen Field House that hit the back of the rim, bounced about eight feet in the air, and dropped clean through to help our comeback. That must have been late 1980s. On the other hand, I've already forgotten anything about this season's UNC-A game.

[johnb]

To take off from Jason's earlier suggestion:

How about a doubleheader--not a tournament--at an NCAA-type site. So it could be Duke-Kentucky, Notre Dame-UCLA, but the game would be played in Chicago.

[calltheobvious]

UCLA could be a problem from a travel standpoint. At that point in the season, I don't think flying 2200 miles is a great idea late in the season. This year we play St. John's on a Thursday. If we had to go to LA for that game it would require the kids to leave on Wednesday and get back to school after classes were done on Friday.

I like Memphis. Kentucky would be nice too as there is certainly some history there. From the SEC, Florida is another good choice, though we get down to that state to play FSU and Miami fairly regularly. I think K likes taking us to places where we have alums and where we can establish a bit more of a profile from a recruiting standpoint.

We don't seem to get to the Midwest very often. How about someone like Illinois, perhaps playing the game in Chicago? I could also see a nice series with Ohio State. Texas (try to play the game in Dallas, perhaps?) or even Kansas (if we played in KC) would also be attractive.

I too am glad we are dropping St. John's. We have gotten little out of that series in recent years. I imagine that the folks at CBS and ESPN, who televise many of our non-conference games, may be consulted as to who they think a good opponent would be for a big national game.

Heck, I would not rule out K and Duke thinking really outside the box and putting something radical together that changes the TV game paradigm in some way. Perhaps a made-for-TV event at some central location involving Duke, KY, UNC, Kansas, UCLA, and a couple other powers.

-Jason

I happen to know of a spiffy new arena going up, with an owner who would be willing to make a very attractive offer to host such an event. How about a made-for-TV Saturday CBS triple-header involving

Duke
UNC
Kentucky
Texas,
Kansas,
Oklahoma.

There's no doubt in my mind Jerry Jones would turn cartwheels to have the new Cowboys stadium host such an event. You could also turn it into a full weekend deal with two double-headers, in which case UCLA and Indiana could come, too.

[JasonEvans]

To take off from Jason's earlier suggestion:

How about a doubleheader--not a tournament--at an NCAA-type site. So it could be Duke-Kentucky, Notre Dame-UCLA, but the game would be played in Chicago.

I happen to know of a spiffy new arena going up, with an owner who would be willing to make a very attractive offer to host such an event. How about a made-for-TV Saturday CBS triple-header involving

Duke
UNC
Kentucky
Texas,
Kansas,
Oklahoma.

There's no doubt in my mind Jerry Jones would turn cartwheels to have the new Cowboys stadium host such an event. You could also turn it into a full weekend deal with two double-headers, in which case UCLA and Indiana could come, too.

Yup, these are the exact kind of things of which I am thinking. The really lucrative thing would be 4 teams playing a double-header on national TV -- something bigger than just another game of the week on CBS or ESPN.

The big problem is that it would be almost impossible for Duke and UNC to do this at the same time during the ACC season (Jan - March) and the nation considers Duke and UNC to be the top 2 programs in the nation.

But, if you could pull it off so both of us could be off at the same time in the ACC schedule you could do the Duke-UNC invitational where the two schools co-host and invite 2 other storied programs to play against us. Like this year we might invite UCLA and UConn and next year we invite Kentucky and Kansas and so on. Make it star-studded with famous alums showing up and all kinds of pomp and circumstance. It could be huuuuge. Play it in huge stadiums like the Ga Dome and Meadowlands -- places where Duke and Carolina still have big fan bases but where it is a big event to have these two schools in town.

--Jason "thinking outside the box, that is what I am talking about" Evans