Any idea when all of the scheduling becomes official?
Gduke.com still has the 2019-20 schedule. The depressing thing is that Countdown to Craziness was on Oct 18, 2019 about 1 year ago and we still are in limbo about 2020-21.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I think we can be sure this season will be like no recent one.
-jk
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
With the front-page news that Duke will be hosting Charleston Southern, we are inching closer to a 27-game regular season.
11/25: Gardner-Webb at Duke
12/1: Champions Classic vs. MSU @ Orlando
12/4: Elon or Bellarmine at Duke
12/5: Elon or Bellarmine at Duke
12/8 or 9: ACC-B1G Challenge, most like at Duke
12/12: Charleston Southern at Duke
I still expect to see one more non-conference game before ACC play, most likely the weekend after November 25th. And then the ACC scheduled can begin in earnest after the 12th of December.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
the America East conference announced today they will begin league play Dec 19...each team plays all others twice, BUT all games will be on Saturday and Sunday (back to back) at one location to limit travel.
It looks like we have an almost complete non-conference schedule. Duke will host Coppin State on Saturday, November 28th. Now we just need confirmation of the Champions Classic and the ACC-B1G opponent.
11/25: Gardner-Webb at Duke
11/28: Coppin State at Duke
12/1: Champions Classic vs. MSU @ Orlando
12/4: Elon or Bellarmine at Duke
12/5: Elon or Bellarmine at Duke
12/8 or 9: ACC-B1G Challenge, most likely at Duke
12/12: Charleston Southern at Duke
It's not the most robust non-conference schedule. Then again, there is this thing called COVID that is causing havoc right now. I'm not going to judge any team for their non-conference schedule this season.
Well that gives us an HBCU opponent, which we were lacking by avoiding Howard. So that’s good. Agree that overall the non conference schedule is weak - basically the two “tournaments” plus a bunch of no-name schools unlikely to be competitive. But that’s along the lines of what we’ve seen in recent years, and the team will need those tune-up games.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I will admit to a degree of disappointment at this non-conference schedule, as I mentioned here earlier when we backed out of the Battle for South Dakota (or whatever), but I suppose I understand the logic. With a schedule capped at 27gms, and a conference slate of 20 ACC opponents who will be largely high-level competition, there needs to be some margin for cupcakes and polishing up a young team.
In a typical year with 30+ games, there's room on the schedule for another challenging pre-season event and/or 1-2 more headline opponents on neutral court sites, while also keeping the mid- and low-major walkovers. This year, it was one or the other, and it's not reasonable to ask the team to only schedule conference opponents and top-25 or even top-75 KenPom projected teams.
Again, it's disappointing, but I'll still watch.
I will certainly still watch too, but I'd say that Duke's choosing 100% cupcakes beyond the Champions Classic and ACC/Big 10 is very disappointing. I get the point about needing to maybe pull back on the non-con challenges this year due to our (relatively) young team but I think there is some fair criticism here that we absolutely could and should not have chosen 5 cupcakes and 0 Top-25/75 level games to round out the schedule. I don't buy that the 20 game ACC schedule excuses that call. Other high-ranked teams with similarly-challenging major conference schedules are being more aggressive on non-con scheduling. Consider:
Baylor: Top 25 Ariz St. and likely Top 5 Villanova (MTE), Top 50 Seton Hall, Top 10 Illinois (Jimmy V), Top 5 Gonzaga, Top 75 Auburn (SEC/Big 12) + 18 Big 12 + probably 2 cupcakes.
Villanova: BC and likely Top 5 Baylor (MTE), Top 25 Texas (Big East/Big 12), Top 10 Virginia, St. Joe’s, @ La Salle, Temple, + 20 Big East.
Kentucky: Top 50 Richmond; cupcakes Detroit and Morehead St. (MTE), Top 10 Kansas (Champions Classic), Top 75 Ga. Tech, Notre Dame, Top 25 UCLA (CBS Classic), Top 50 Louisville, Top 25 Texas (SEC/Big 12) + 18 SEC.
Baylor seems to have gone a little crazy, particularly given how stacked the Big 12 is going to be. But, I don't see why Duke's non-con doesn't look more like Villanova's or Kentucky's.