The opponents for every Duke basketball game this season are all but known.
According to a report on Thursday from Kyle J. Andrews of The Baltimore Sun, Coppin State will be in Durham to play the Blue Devils on Nov. 28. With that news, it seems the non-conference portion of the 2020-21 Duke basketball schedule is finalized, except for the opponent in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and a few small question marks regarding some of the dates and venues.
We’ll get to all that here in a minute.
First, assuming there will be no changes to the ACC schedule rotation, the 20-game conference slates for each of the 15 squads are also known, minus the dates and the order of the outings.
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Duke is set to face Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pitt, and Wake Forest both home and away. The Blue Devils should also host Boston College, Clemson, Syracuse, and Virginia, as well as travel to Florida State, Miami, NC State, and Virginia Tech.
The non-conference portion of the Duke basketball schedule
With the NCAA allowing all D-I teams to play 27 total games apiece in the 2020-21 regular season — if taking part in a multi-team event, which is the case for the Blue Devils — it seems Mike Krzyzewski and his staff have now filled in all the holes for Duke’s contests outside of the ACC.
Here is what the non-conference portion looks like for the Blue Devils (though keep in mind that anything could change given current world conditions):
- Nov. 25 against Gardner-Webb (Cameron Indoor Stadium)
- Nov. 28 against Coppin State (Cameron Indoor Stadium)
- Dec. 1 against Michigan State in the Champions Classic (ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando)
- Dec. 4 against Bellarmine or Elon in Duke’s own multi-team event (Cameron Indoor Stadium)
- Dec. 5 against Bellarmine or Elon in Duke’s own multi-team event (Cameron Indoor Stadium)
- Dec. 8 or 9 against an unknown opponent in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge (location also unknown)
- Dec. 12 against Charleston Southern (Cameron Indoor Stadium)
Two of those seven non-conference foes, Michigan State and whichever team draws the Blue Devils in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, are likely to start the season inside the AP Top 25. The same goes for Duke.
As for Duke’s other non-conference foes, well, it seems safe to assume none will be ranked…
Gardner-Webb has received only one NCAA Tournament bid since entering D-I in 2002. Coppin State has put up single-digit wins in six of the past seven years. Bellarmine will be making its D-I debut this year. Elon has finished below .500 in each of the past three seasons. And Charleston Southern is coming off a 14-18 campaign.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball news and views.