Since the subject has come up again -- with ESPN making a big deal about Duke playing a rare non-conference road game -- I thought it might be interesting to put the whole home/road/neutral debate into context by looking at what the rest of the ACC does in that regard.
We all know that Coach K would rather play neutral court games to better prepare his team for the NCAA. What about his peers? Here's my breakdown of ACC non-conference schedules this year:
Boston College -- No road games, four neutral court games, eight home games.
Clemson -- one road game (a traditional home-and-home series with South Carolina that is in Columbia this year), three neutral games, eight home games
Duke -- two road games, four neutral court games, seven home games. Note: One road game was dictated by the ACC; the other is at St. John's in MSG. I don't some don't like to count that, but it officially a home court for St. John's according to the NCAA and their home games there are set up very differently from when Duke plays, say, Gonzaga or Michigan State in the Garden. St. John's plays 10 games in the Garden this year -- more than they play in Carneseca Area on campus.
Florida State -- one road game (at Miss State), three neutral court games, nine home games
Georgia Tech -- two road games, three neutral court games, seven home games. Note: One road game is at Northwestern in the ACC Big Ten Challenge (if we don't get credit for that, nobody else does either); the other is at Dayton
Louisville -- One road game (at Western Kentucky), two neutral court games, 10 home games
Miami -- two road games (at Florida and at Charlotte), four neutral court games, seven home games
North Carolina -- two road games, five neutral court games, six home games. Note: One of the road games is quite good -- at Kentucky (like the Clemson-SC series, this is a home-and-home series that happens to be at Kentucky this year). But the other road game is phony -- against UNCG in the Greensboro Coliseum, which will be 75-25 pro-UNC. I checked the game against Davidson in Charlotte and that's the only game the 'Cats play in the Time-Warner Arena this season. Looking at this schedule, it looks like Roy has embraced K's preferred neutral court strategy.
NC State -- One road game, one neutral court game, 11 home games. Note: the one road game is dictated by the ACC (Purdue in the Challenge).
Notre Dame -- No road games, three neutral games, 10 home games
Pittsburgh -- two road games, four neutral games, eight home games. Note: One of the road games was dictated by the ACC (at Indiana in the Challenge); the other was a game at Hawaii to tune up for the Maui Classic. One of the neutral games is against Duquesne in Pittsburgh (but neither team's home court).
Syracuse -- two road games, two neutral games, nine home games. Note: One of the road games is dictated by the ACC (at Michigan in the Challenge)l; the other is a good one at Villanova. The two neutral games were in MSG, the home away from home for the 'Cuse.
Virginia -- three road games, two neutral games, seven home games. Note: One of the road games was dictated by the ACC (at Maryland in the Challenge). The other two are in-state -- at James Madison and at VCU.
Virginia Tech -- Two road games, two neutral court games, nine home games: Note: One of the road games dictated by the ACC (at Penn State in the Challenge); they also play at West Virginia later this month.
Wake Forest three road games, one neutral game, nine home games. Note: Three legitimate road games -- none dictated by the ACC -- at Tulane, at Arkansas and at Richmond
So break it down ... does Duke play the least road games? No, that would be BC and Notre Dame (zero), followed by Clemson, FSU, Louisville and NC State (one). Only Virginia and Wake Forest play more road games OOC than Duke.
Does Duke play the most home games? Again, no -- NC State (11), Louisville (10), Notre Dame (10), Syracuse (9), Virginia Tech (9), FSU (9), Wake Forest (9), Clemson (8), Pitt (8) and Boston College (8) all play more. Only UNC (6) plays less.
There have been seasons when Duke avoided OOC road games (including last year), because K would rather play top teams on neutral courts. But this isn't one of those years.