Duke basketball home-and-home series with legendary blue blood program crumbles
The Blue Devils could have had an iconic series with an elite program in the sport
College basketball needs more home-and-home series instead of neutral site games and Jon Scheyer has been a proponet of that since he became the head coach of the Duke basketball program.
He immediately scheduled a home-and-home series with Arizona and has been looking to add another marquee series to the schedule of the Blue Devils, which he almost had solidified.
Talks started very quietly that Duke and Kansas were chatting about games in two of the most iconic venues of the sport but that has fallen apart, according to CBS college basketball insider Matt Norlander.
His report came minutes after CBS' Jon Rothstein stated that the Blue Devils and Jayhawks are finalizing an agreement to play a neutral site game in Las Vegas next season.
"Initial designs on Kansas vs. Duke would be in a home-and-home agreement," Norlander said.
Sources previously indicated to me that initial designs on Kansas vs. Duke would be in a home-and-home agreement. Would love to know what changed. We already see these two on a neutral floor every three years in the Champions Classic.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 18, 2024
Get these teams playing in Cameron and AFH. https://t.co/6CF4ctAXnC
It makes sense that the two schools would want to play each other on campus since they play at least once every three years on a neutral floor in the regular season during the Champions Classic. It will happen again during the 2025-26 campaign in the iconic early season event.
Kansas has not played inside Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1989 and Duke hasn't played in Allen Fieldhouse since 1988. It would have been one of the biggest dates in the college basketball regular season.
There is no date, time, or venue in Rothstein's report but it's likely the game would be played in a T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a worthy building for a game of this magnitude but doesn't create the environment like either team's home arena.
If the game gets finalized, it adds another daunting challenge to Duke's non-conference schedule, which includes a matchup against Kentucky in the Champions Classic, the return game of the home-and-home series in Tucson against Arizona, hosting an SEC school in the ACC vs. SEC Challenge.
It has also been reported that Duke will open its season against Maine, the home state of top incoming freshman Cooper Flagg, in Durham on November 4.
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