Duke MBB Scheduling: 2025-26

AlaskanAssassin said:
Yea I think so too, but I wonder if he did it thinking Cedric would be on the team.
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I have a cold take: Jon knows that he has 13-15 ACC teams on the schedule that won't be Q1/Q2. Those games have to come from somewhere, and I can't blame him for not wanting to go to Lubbock, Starkville, or Iowa City. You only have to watch some of the ACCN filler network like "A Weekend at Liquor Barn (Louisville)" to sympathize with him.
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
I think it's funny that people get excited over big games and then instantly assume it will be disastrous. You say it won't be "a poor effort", but in the same sentence imply that it won't be good at all, even when it's a winning achievement. Have to admit I take your "pathetic" gif with a strong bit of distaste. Scheduling "like Gonzaga" has worked out very well for Gonzaga.

I'm all on board for more games against quality non-con opponents. Maybe we win, maybe we lose, but it sure is more fun than watching us beat up on patsies.
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I agree with the first part of your statement. On the "pathetic" part, I assume Jason was referring to the state of the ACC that forces Duke to schedule so many big non-con opponents, not that it's pathetic that we are doing so...pathetic that we have to. But, again, I'll state that even with a strong ACC, I like playing a ton of high caliber non-conference opponents...as you say, we can take some losses but watching us stomp overmatched patsies is very boring.
 
Billy Dat said:
I agree with the first part of your statement. On the "pathetic" part, I assume Jason was referring to the state of the ACC that forces Duke to schedule so many big non-con opponents, not that it's pathetic that we are doing so...pathetic that we have to. But, again, I'll state that even with a strong ACC, I like playing a ton of high caliber non-conference opponents...as you say, we can take some losses but watching us stomp overmatched patsies is very boring.
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Not for everyone here. Duke was ahead by 30+ against Clemson with a few seconds before halftime. Freshman Dunleavy is waving for the ball at half court. He gets the pass and banks in the shot. Terrific!
 
Billy Dat said:
I agree with the first part of your statement. On the "pathetic" part, I assume Jason was referring to the state of the ACC that forces Duke to schedule so many big non-con opponents, not that it's pathetic that we are doing so...pathetic that we have to. But, again, I'll state that even with a strong ACC, I like playing a ton of high caliber non-conference opponents...as you say, we can take some losses but watching us stomp overmatched patsies is very boring.
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Yeah, I wasn't say Duke was pathetic for scheduling these games or that Gonzaga is pathetic. I was saying the ACC is pathetic that Duke feels the need to schedule so aggressively in the non-con. Sorry if that was not clear.

And, in regards to what CB&B said -- my point was that Duke fans get all thrilled about these big games but then some fans freak out when we lose games. If you have EVER LISTENED to the podcast you know that is not how I respond to losses. Last fall when Duke dropped contests to Kentucky and Kansas, I remained very, very high on the team and saw nothing but chances to improve on the performances we had in those games. Lo and behold, Duke got markedly better as a result of lessons learned in those games and the team was soon setting records for efficiency and winning margins.

Anyway, I love love love that Duke has bit off a huge mouthful of a schedule against power conference teams that figure to be ranked in the preseason. There is almost no chance a young Duke team that is just playing together for the first time goes through that gauntlet unblemished -- as I said, a 4-3 record against those teams would be pretty darn good. I just want Duke fans to temper their angst when Duke loses games in the fall... because I am pretty darn confident we will.
 
duke2x said:
ACC told us the teams Duke plays and where. No surprise Duke gets Louisville twice. The surprise is NCSU-UNC only happens once.

Twice: 9F, Louisville
Home: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
Away: at California, at Florida State, at NC State, at Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Stanford, at Virginia Tech
None: Miami

Link: https://theacc.com/news/2025/5/28/matchups-released-for-2025-26-mens-basketball-acc-schedule.aspx
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Kind of nice not to have play Jai Lucas (and Shelton Henderson) next season.
 
duke2x said:
ACC told us the teams Duke plays and where. No surprise Duke gets Louisville twice. The surprise is NCSU-UNC only happens once.

Twice: 9F, Louisville
Home: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
Away: at California, at Florida State, at NC State, at Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Stanford, at Virginia Tech
None: Miami

Link: https://theacc.com/news/2025/5/28/matchups-released-for-2025-26-mens-basketball-acc-schedule.aspx
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Thanks for finding and sharing this. Here's their conference-wide graphic.

accmbbopponents2526.png

Teams that don't play each other next season:

Boston College and UNC
California and NC State
Clemson and Virginia
Duke and Miami
Florida State and Louisville
Georgia Tech and SMU
Notre Dame and Wake Forest
Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech
Stanford and Syracuse

Travel issues:

California and Stanford are permanent partners, as expected.
Georgia Tech plays California twice, and plays Stanford once in Palo Alto.
Notre Dame plays Stanford twice, and plays California once in Berkeley.
NC State doesn't play California, but does play Stanford in Raleigh.
Syracuse doesn't play Stanford, but does play California in their home dome.

So the ACC made sure that no team flies out west to play just one game.
 
A few quick thoughts (besides the obvious that DBR is right about in the main story -- expansion and the loss of home/homes stinks).

Not having Carolina and State play twice, or having Duke play Miami at all, are stupid when the league needs its conference games to have the maximum amount of juice as possible.

Based on what seems to be the consensus (in light of NC State's portal gains), that the Top 4 next season will be Duke, Louisville, UNC and State, Duke has by a slight margin the "toughest" slate of games against the Top 4 and NC State by far the easiest:

Games against Top 4
Duke: 5 - 2 home, 3 road
Louisville and North Carolina: 4 - 2 home, 2 road
NC St.: 3 - 2 home, 1 road

The full conference slates are otherwise fairly balanced as between Q1/Q2/Q3 games based on Torvik's current "projected" T-Rank ratings.

Duke
Q1: 7 - UNC (#15), @ UNC, Louisville (#18), @ Louisville, @ NC St. (#42), @ Notre Dame (#66), @ Pitt (#74)
Q2: 8 - SMU (#41), Clemson (#48), Virginia (#50), Syracuse (#63), @ Va. Tech (#80, @ Fla. St. (#83), @ Cal (#85), @ Stanford (#100)
Q3: 3 - Wake (#78), Ga. Tech (#87), BC (#102)

North Carolina
Q1: 8 - Duke, @ Duke, Louisville, @ SMU, @ NC St., @ Virginia, @ Miami, @ Syracuse
Q2: 7 - Clemson, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pitt, @ Ga. Tech, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Wake, Va. Tech, Fla. St.

Louisville
Q1: 7 - Duke, @ Duke, @ UNC, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Miami, @ Pitt
Q2: 8 - SMU, NC St., Virginia, Syracuse, Notre Dame, @ Wake, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, BC

NC State
Q1: 8 - Duke, UNC, @ Louisville, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Virginia, @ Notre Dame, @ Pitt
Q2: 6 - Virginia, Miami, Syracuse, @ Wake, @ Fla St., @ BC
Q3: 4 - Wake, Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, Stanford
 
Nugget said:
A few quick thoughts (besides the obvious that DBR is right about in the main story -- expansion and the loss of home/homes stinks).

Not having Carolina and State play twice, or having Duke play Miami at all, are stupid when the league needs its conference games to have the maximum amount of juice as possible.

Based on what seems to be the consensus (in light of NC State's portal gains), that the Top 4 next season will be Duke, Louisville, UNC and State, Duke has by a slight margin the "toughest" slate of games against the Top 4 and NC State by far the easiest:

Games against Top 4
Duke: 5 - 2 home, 3 road
Louisville and North Carolina: 4 - 2 home, 2 road
NC St.: 3 - 2 home, 1 road

The full conference slates are otherwise fairly balanced as between Q1/Q2/Q3 games based on Torvik's current "projected" T-Rank ratings.

Duke
Q1: 7 - UNC (#15), @ UNC, Louisville (#18), @ Louisville, @ NC St. (#42), @ Notre Dame (#66), @ Pitt (#74)
Q2: 8 - SMU (#41), Clemson (#48), Virginia (#50), Syracuse (#63), @ Va. Tech (#80, @ Fla. St. (#83), @ Cal (#85), @ Stanford (#100)
Q3: 3 - Wake (#78), Ga. Tech (#87), BC (#102)

North Carolina
Q1: 8 - Duke, @ Duke, Louisville, @ SMU, @ NC St., @ Virginia, @ Miami, @ Syracuse
Q2: 7 - Clemson, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pitt, @ Ga. Tech, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Wake, Va. Tech, Fla. St.

Louisville
Q1: 7 - Duke, @ Duke, @ UNC, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Miami, @ Pitt
Q2: 8 - SMU, NC St., Virginia, Syracuse, Notre Dame, @ Wake, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, BC

NC State
Q1: 8 - Duke, UNC, @ Louisville, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Virginia, @ Notre Dame, @ Pitt
Q2: 6 - Virginia, Miami, Syracuse, @ Wake, @ Fla St., @ BC
Q3: 4 - Wake, Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, Stanford
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I would have added SMU and Miami to that but we shall see.
 
Nugget said:
A few quick thoughts (besides the obvious that DBR is right about in the main story -- expansion and the loss of home/homes stinks).

Not having Carolina and State play twice, or having Duke play Miami at all, are stupid when the league needs its conference games to have the maximum amount of juice as possible.

Based on what seems to be the consensus (in light of NC State's portal gains), that the Top 4 next season will be Duke, Louisville, UNC and State, Duke has by a slight margin the "toughest" slate of games against the Top 4 and NC State by far the easiest:

Games against Top 4
Duke: 5 - 2 home, 3 road
Louisville and North Carolina: 4 - 2 home, 2 road
NC St.: 3 - 2 home, 1 road

The full conference slates are otherwise fairly balanced as between Q1/Q2/Q3 games based on Torvik's current "projected" T-Rank ratings.

Duke
Q1: 7 - UNC (#15), @ UNC, Louisville (#18), @ Louisville, @ NC St. (#42), @ Notre Dame (#66), @ Pitt (#74)
Q2: 8 - SMU (#41), Clemson (#48), Virginia (#50), Syracuse (#63), @ Va. Tech (#80, @ Fla. St. (#83), @ Cal (#85), @ Stanford (#100)
Q3: 3 - Wake (#78), Ga. Tech (#87), BC (#102)

North Carolina
Q1: 8 - Duke, @ Duke, Louisville, @ SMU, @ NC St., @ Virginia, @ Miami, @ Syracuse
Q2: 7 - Clemson, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pitt, @ Ga. Tech, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Wake, Va. Tech, Fla. St.

Louisville
Q1: 7 - Duke, @ Duke, @ UNC, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Miami, @ Pitt
Q2: 8 - SMU, NC St., Virginia, Syracuse, Notre Dame, @ Wake, @ Cal, @ Stanford
Q3: 3 - Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, BC

NC State
Q1: 8 - Duke, UNC, @ Louisville, @ SMU, @ Clemson, @ Virginia, @ Notre Dame, @ Pitt
Q2: 6 - Virginia, Miami, Syracuse, @ Wake, @ Fla St., @ BC
Q3: 4 - Wake, Va. Tech, Ga. Tech, Stanford
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This ACC schedule is a bad joke. Not even playing everyone in the “conference”? Setting up UNC to not play State home and home when they are long time rivals and only 45 minutes apart? A blatant attempt for UNC to avoid a tough game which could put them out of MM.
 
In what’s now a somewhat-too-early moment, I’d guess Duke and UofL will be preseason consensus 1 and 1a in the ACC. And fighting for 3 and 4, maybe SMU, NCSt, Miami, UNC, and (my) dark-horses, Syracuse and ND. Heels are no lock for ACCT double-bye. Nor for the NCAAT.
 
Really dumb we don't play Miami in Lucas' first year.....
And how can you really say who regular season champion is? This also makes tournament seeding a crap shoot.
 
gumbomoop said:
In what’s now a somewhat-too-early moment, I’d guess Duke and UofL will be preseason consensus 1 and 1a in the ACC. And fighting for 3 and 4, maybe SMU, NCSt, Miami, UNC, and (my) dark-horses, Syracuse and ND. Heels are no lock for ACCT double-bye. Nor for the NCAAT.
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I have no idea how Clemson's roster is looking, but Brownell usually finds a way to field a competitive team.
 
duke2x said:
ACC told us the teams Duke plays and where. No surprise Duke gets Louisville twice. The surprise is NCSU-UNC only happens once.

Twice: 9F, Louisville
Home: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
Away: at California, at Florida State, at NC State, at Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Stanford, at Virginia Tech
None: Miami

Link: https://theacc.com/news/2025/5/28/matchups-released-for-2025-26-mens-basketball-acc-schedule.aspx
Click to expand...

I could see this schedule possibly yielding only five Q1 games. 2xLouisville, @UNC, @NCSU, @ND. Maybe Pitt or FSU will be better than expected.
 
soflabluedevil said:
This ACC schedule is a bad joke. Not even playing everyone in the “conference”? Setting up UNC to not play State home and home when they are long time rivals and only 45 minutes apart? A blatant attempt for UNC to avoid a tough game which could put them out of MM.
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I didn’t realize State rolling up into the fetal position two minutes in constituted a tough game for UNC
 
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