While Duke hasn't officially released the schedule, copies of it have been flying around cyberspace, including this one we've received from an Iron Duke, who reported it came with his season ticket order form. If Duke's taking ticket orders, odds are the schedule is pretty close to this, if not exactly correct.
It's listed below, but first a few comments: Duke
starts out with Dennis Wolff's B.U. Terriers
in the pre-season NIT. We won't be at all surprised if they face Bobby
Gonzalez' Manhattan team in the second round. Past that, Duke may
see Quin Snyder's Mizzou team, provided they can survive Sam Houston State
(which they should) and then either Drexel or Princeton.
On the other side of the bracket is Miami of Ohio, Alabama, Wisc. Milwaukee,
Memphis, Army, Temple, New Mexico State under new coach Reggie Theus, and
UCLA.
Duke will be favored, but strong runs by Manhattan, Mizzou, Alabama, Memphis,
Temple, or UCLA won't be a surprise.
Just as a thought, Reggie Theus played under Jerry Tarkanian and was an
assistant under Rick Pitino, so you have to imagine he absorbed some defensives
principles even if he never practiced them much as a player. And while we
were wondering why a surprisingly hot shot assistant (you have to be
familiar with his history to understand why it's surprising - he was a
shoot-first ask questions later and maybe not such a great team player in his
day) would take a job in the sticks, relatively speaking - and Las Cruces is an
outpost, to be sure - maybe the proximity to Vegas is why. Maybe he's
angling for the Rebels job the next time it's open.
Davidson is sandwiched in between the campus NIT games and the (hoped-for)
games in New York. They are well coached and mentally tough and no easy
out, as several teams have learned in recent years.
Duke plays Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Classic, which will find Josh McRoberts
gettting booed in his home state. Mike Davis thinks he has the most talent
he has yet had at Indiana, so should be a fun game.
On the other hand, IU fired Coach K's mentor and arguably treated him badly,
so he may have a bit of a desire to stick a foot up IU's butt.
Ivy League team Penn is in Cameron December 7th, then Duke has a big clash
with Texas in East Rutherford on the 10th. Valpo (we should remember
they have a kid who is recovering from a near-death experience, though he won't
be on the team yet if he ever returns), and St. John's round out December except
for a game with Mike Dement's UNC-G team on the 31st in the Greensboro Coliseum.
A road game at Georgetown and Temple in Philly round out the non-conference
portion of the schedule.
In the conference games, after last year's notable tension with Virginia
Tech, the rematches should be fun. The game in Cameron will be intense,
and Duke will likely be looking for a bit of payback in Blacksburg - and maybe
J.J. Redick in particular, after his family was abused.