The ACC released basketball schedules Tuesday, and Duke has some challenging games. Toughest might be Purdue at Purdue, but Davidson and Xavier won't be cakewalks. Neither will Georgetown, and if Duke gets UCLA in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, that's going to be a great game too.
On a more depressing note, the unbalanced schedule grows increasingly absurd. Why is Duke playing Virginia Tech and Florida State twice and Virginia, Clemson, State, and Georgia Tech once? It makes absolutely no sense to weaken rivalries which are, in some cases, 100 years old or more.
Given recent media developments - the Big Ten network moving to Time-Warner and the SEC's enormous new contract with ESPN - the expansion argument makes more sense than it did at the time. But isn't there a way to handle it without destroying basketball?
We like the pod idea:Â three pods of four teams, regionally based.
Northern Pod:
- B.C.
- Maryland
- Virginia
- Virginia Tech
Tobacco Road Pod:
- Duke
- UNC
- State
- Wake Forest
Goober Pod:
- Clemson
- Georgia Tech
- FSU
- Miami
Each pod plays home-and-home. You can mix and match the rest for TV. It makes more sense than what's happening now. Here's Duke's schedule. We'll update our schedule over the next few days.
2008-2009 Duke Basketball Schedule
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