Duke basketball: Next opponent in midst of complete chaos

The next Duke basketball opponent is in the midst of complete chaos. 

Whenever the Duke basketball team hits the road, it is an event for the opposition.

Perhaps that will not be the case when the No. 9 Blue Devils (16-3, 6-2 ACC) land in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday prior to Saturday afternoon’s matchup with the Louisville Cardinals (11-9, 5-5 ACC).

Louisville and men’s basketball head coach Chris Mack parted ways on Wednesday after his three and a half seasons with the program.

Rumors began to swirl after comments from Malik Williams suggesting the coaching staff had lost the locker room and players were no longer listening to the head coach.

Stories about the parting between Mack and Louisville being imminent surfaced on Tuesday afternoon.

ALSO READ: Duke survives in unspirited slugfest against Clemson

Associate head coach Mike Pegues has been named Louisville’s interim coach for the rest of the season.

Pegues served as the acting head coach for the Cardinals for the first six games of the season as Mack was serving a suspension from the NCAA. Louisville was 5-1 in those games, with its loss coming against Furman in overtime and wins against Mississippi State and Maryland.

After making the NCAA Tournament in eight of the nine seasons in which he was the head coach at Xavier, Chris Mack only led Louisville to the NCAA Tournament once (2018-19), although the team would have made the postseason in the canceled 2019-20 campaign.

Duke basketball unsure of what to expect in Louisville

Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils only know one thing when they travel to play the Cardinals: chaos.

Louisville always has a sold-out crowd when Duke comes to town. But considering the poor play of the team and the turmoil surrounding the program, it is unclear what type of crowd will be at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to Duke’s victory against Louisville in the ACC Tournament last season, the Blue Devils had dropped their last three games against the Cardinals.

Louisville swept the regular-season series between the teams a year ago.

Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Saturday.