Potential big time non-conference games Duke basketball should schedule

Duke vs. Connecticut (Madison Square Garden) 

Pivoting back to potential matchups at Madison Square Garden, wouldn’t this game be fascinating.

UCONN, in its first year back in the Big East, getting a crack at the Duke Blue Devils before heading into conference play.

The pure thought of seeing Huskies head coach Dan Hurley as animated as ever on the sidelines of Madison Square Garden against Duke would have television executives drooling, not to mention the continued improvement of the program since Hurley took over.

Perhaps even parlay this game with a double-header that includes Arizona State, who is coached by former Blue Devil legend and brother of Dan, Bobby Hurley.

A surprising number is that Duke and Connecticut have only played ten times in the storied history of the two programs, with the Blue Devils holding a 6-4 advantage.

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The last time the two teams saw each other was in the 2014-15 season, and that ended in Duke winning the National Championship, in the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which was the final basketball game played in the arena that used to host the then-New Jersey Nets and Seton Hall Pirates.

A return to the national college basketball scene will only help Dan Hurley build the UCONN program back to the top, and a game against Duke in Madison Square Garden would only accelerate that process.