Duke-Gonzaga Set For November

Duke basketball has had a rough year, but next year is likely a different story. With a core back that will be experienced and much tougher, and some dynamic freshmen, Duke is already pegged as a Top Five team next season.

So a game with Gonzaga is probably a great idea.

Duke will play Mark Few’s Zags in Las Vegas on Black Friday - November 26th.

It’s a great game for Duke but games like that are a necessity for Gonzaga. The Zags have outgrown the West Coast Conference and are about to enter post-season play undefeated, unless someone surprises them.

That’s very difficult to do in the ACC and ACC teams get well tested during the regular season.

This year, Gonzaga scheduled Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Baylor, Iowa and Virginia and beat them all except for Baylor (the game was canceled).

KU was competitive for a good bit of the game, West Virginia came close, losing by five, and Iowa lost 99-88.

And of course Virginia got exposed, losing 98-75 and giving up about twice as many points as they usually do.

We don’t believe they’ve had any significant scares in the WCC this season.

Let’s just take the 2017 team since that was the first Gonzaga team to get to the championship game: to get there, it had to beat San Diego State, Northwestern, West Virginia, Xavier and South Carolina before losing to UNC.

Scheduling games like Duke is a necessity. And for Duke, coming off of this year, Gonzaga is a huge chance to jump back in the national conversation.