Jon Scheyer and Duke aren't ducking any smoke this season. The Blue Devils will play a gauntlet of a schedule.
Along with a much-improved ACC, Duke will face a murderer's row of non-conference matchups to have them battle-tested and ready for the grind of conference play. This was already known, but the release of the preseason college basketball AP Poll on Monday highlighted the gauntlet that awaits Scheyer's crew.
Duke will play 10 games this year against teams ranked inside the preseason top 25. That doesn't include exhibition matchups against No. 8 Tennessee or No. 17 Kansas, either. Duke hosts Tennessee later this evening in Cameron before heading to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks on Sunday in the final game of the preseason.
In the regular season, Duke will face the following:
- No. 1 Florida
- No. 3 Illinois
- No. 4 UConn
- No. 6 Michigan State
- No. 9 Virginia (x2)
- No. 11 Louisville
- No. 14 Miami (FL)
- No. 15 Gonzaga
- No. 19 Texas Tech
Duke will face 10 games against teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25
10 games against Top 25 opponents, including five against teams ranked in the preseason Top 10. That's a brutal schedule, but exactly the type of slate you want a team of Duke's caliber to face.
Before ACC play begins, the Blue Devils will be battle-tested. They'll face Florida, Illinois, UConn, Michigan State, and Texas Tech before playing an ACC opponent. The Gonzaga game is later in the year, similar to Duke's matchup against Michigan a season ago.
Don't be surprised if it takes some time for this team to find its footing and there are a few more losses than Duke fans have grown accustomed to. The Blue Devils have lost a combined five regular-season games over the last two seasons. With the schedule it'll face, just two or three regular-season losses might not be realistic.
There are a lot of new pieces this year for Scheyer. Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski, and freshmen Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Deron Rippey Jr., and Cameron Williams are all expected to play significant roles. It will take some time for those guys to get comfortable with the returning pieces such as Caleb Foster, Cayden Boozer, Dame Sarr, and Patrick Ngongba.
Fortunately, Duke gets a couple of tune-up games to open the regular season against Army and Coastal Carolina in Durham before facing off against Michigan State in Chicago on November 10th.
Hopefully, Scheyer and company can work out any kinks in those first couple of games, along with getting Foster and Scharnowski as close to 100% as possible, because four of the next six games are against Top 10 opponents.
The season gets real, real fast.
Add us as a preferred source on Google