There are really good college basketball schedules, but Duke put together something special in its out-of-conference slate.
Duke will face a ridiculous amount of top teams in the country, including Michigan State, Illinois, UConn, Florida in Gainesville, Georgia at Madison Square Garden, Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden, and Gonzaga at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
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Because of how good this out-of-conference schedule is, it’s not crazy to think that Duke has a chance to lose a couple of games. In fact, it wouldn’t really be all that surprising. At the same time, I don’t think many Duke fans would be surprised if it wins all of these games, because that’s what it does.
Duke is arguably the best program in America for a reason, year in and year out, and has a real opportunity to make some major noise during this college basketball season, especially with the talent it will face.
There are other benefits to playing these top teams, as Duke looks to earn a top national seed. Winning a national championship in March Madness is obviously the biggest priority for the Blue Devils, and according to Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Duke has a real opportunity to be the number one national seed because of its schedule.
“While Florida remains an overwhelming choice to begin the campaign as the nation’s top-ranked team, the Gators no longer have the inside track to the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed,” Lunardi wrote.
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“The release of conference pairings and nonconference schedules shifts that distinction to Duke, which plays seven games against the top 10 teams on our seed list, including a visit to Gainesville on Dec. 1. Duke’s projected résumé is a tick ahead of Florida’s at this point.”
Many are viewing Florida as the best team in America, at least on paper.
However, Florida’s schedule, while decent, isn’t the same caliber as Duke’s. For that reason, it’s not crazy to suggest that Duke might get the upper hand in the regular season, especially if we factor in that it will win in the ACC, which it should if it plays the right way.
