Duke basketball nearing historic game against Rick Pitino, St. John’s

The Duke basketball team is nearing a historic game against an old foe. 

There is a long history between the Duke basketball program and the St. John’s Red Storm and another chapter is about to be written.

CBS Sports‘ Jon Rothstein reported on Friday that the two sides are talking about playing in the 2024-25 season in New York City at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, the home of the United States Open.

It would be the first college basketball game played in the historic venue.

The schools have not played each other since the 2018-19 season when Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett led the Blue Devils to a 30-point victory over the Red Storm.

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Duke and St. John’s played each other in every season from 1998-2012 but only three times since.

However, the programs look dramatically different after the retirement of Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski and hiring of Rick Pitino by St. John’s in March.

Pitino has been open about creating a much more difficult schedule for the Red Storm under his tenure and bringing St. John’s back to the prominence and success it had under the legendary head coach Lou Carnesecca.

Duke basketball could have very different vibe around roster

Duke enters this season as a projected Top-3 team in the country but it will likely look very different if the team takes the court under the roof at the US Open with the expected departures of Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, Mark Mitchell, and Kyle Filipowski.

The Blue Devils already have the No. 2 recruiting class in the country with the commitment of 5-star prospects Kon Knuepple and Isaiah Evans as well as 4-star wing Darren Harris.

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Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024, has Duke in his two finalists and the program is still in the mix for Dylan Harper, Patrick Ngongba II, and VJ Edgecombe, all listed as 5-star prospects.

There is still work to be done between the schools to get this game finalized but it seems like Duke is making a trip to Queens, New York to play in a historic matchup against St. John’s.