Duke is already being treated like a national title-level team in preseason rankings, but Jon Scheyer’s group won’t get the luxury of easing into that reputation. The schedule is stacked with ranked opponents from the start, and the Blue Devils will spend much of the season trying to back up the buzz.
Jon Rothstein has Duke No. 2 in his latest Rothstein 45, trailing only Florida. Gary Parrish has the same top two in CBS Sports’ Top 25 And 1, with Florida first and Duke second. Both rankings lean on the same idea: Duke is loaded with returning production and reinforced by Scheyer’s work in the transfer portal and incoming class.
Rothstein’s projected starting five features Caleb Foster, John Blackwell, Dame Sarr, Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and Patrick Ngongba II. CBS builds its No. 2 ranking around Duke bringing back four of its top six scorers - Ngongba, Foster, Cayden Boozer and Sarr - from a 35-3 team that reached the Elite Eight, then adding Blackwell, Drew Scharnowski, Jacob Theodosiou, Cameron Williams, Deron Rippey Jr., Bryson Howard and Boumtje Boumtje. Our parent network wasn’t ready to name a projected starting five, however.
The bigger story is what comes next. Duke’s known schedule already includes three preseason games and seven regular-season nonconference matchups, and the early slate is anything but soft. The Blue Devils host Belmont on Oct. 8 and Tennessee on Oct. 20 before heading to Kansas on Oct. 25 in what is a surprisingly challenging exhibition run.
Then the real gauntlet begins.
Michigan State, Illinois, Washington State, UConn, Florida, Texas Tech and Gonzaga are the nonconference games currently on the regular-season calendar. Of those seven, five show up in both preseason rankings.
Michigan State is No. 5 in Rothstein’s list and No. 6 in CBS, and Duke meets the Spartans on Nov. 10 at the United Center in Chicago. Illinois checks in at No. 3 in both rankings and visits Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov.
- UConn is No. 4 in both and faces Duke in Las Vegas on Nov.
- Florida sits at No. 1 in both and hosts the Blue Devils in Gainesville on Dec.
- Gonzaga is No. 17 in Rothstein’s rankings and No. 14 in CBS’ list before the teams meet Feb. 20 in Detroit.
That means Duke is slated to face four teams ranked inside the top six of both lists in a stretch from Nov. 10 to Dec. 1: Michigan State, Illinois, UConn and Florida. Washington State and Texas Tech are the only known regular-season nonconference opponents that do not appear in either ranking.
The preseason schedule adds even more ranked tests. Tennessee is No. 10 in Rothstein’s rankings and No. 15 in CBS, while Kansas sits No. 32 in Rothstein’s list and does not appear in the Top 25 And 1.
Belmont is outside both rankings. Duke hosts Tennessee before traveling to Allen Fieldhouse for the Kansas exhibition.
The ACC schedule brings more of the same. Duke will play home-and-away series against North Carolina and Virginia.
Virginia is No. 8 in Rothstein’s rankings and No. 9 in CBS, while North Carolina is No. 29 in Rothstein’s list and No. 26 in CBS. Those two series alone give Duke four regular-season conference games against teams that appear in both rankings.
Among Duke’s home-only ACC opponents, Miami is No. 18 in Rothstein and No. 22 in CBS. On the road, Louisville stands out at No. 16 in Rothstein and No. 13 in CBS. Clemson and Syracuse also make the back end of Rothstein’s rankings at Nos. 42 and 43, and Duke will visit both.
The rest of the ACC slate is made up of California, Florida State, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt and Stanford at home, plus Boston College, Georgia Tech, SMU and Wake Forest on the road. None of those teams is included in either current ranking. The conference will release the full schedule with dates, times and television information in September.
By Rothstein’s count, Duke is set to face 11 different regular-season opponents from his top 45. Because Virginia and North Carolina are on the schedule twice each, that becomes 13 regular-season games against teams on his list. Add the preseason games against Tennessee and Kansas, and Duke’s total rises to 13 different ranked opponents and 15 scheduled contests.
Using CBS’ narrower Top 25 And 1, Duke has nine different ranked regular-season opponents and 11 regular-season games against them after accounting for the two games each against Virginia and North Carolina. Include the Tennessee preseason game, and that becomes 10 different ranked opponents and 12 scheduled contests.
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