Jon Scheyer and Duke are walking straight into one of the hardest schedules in the country, and the preseason AP Top 25 made that plain on Monday.
The Blue Devils are set to play 10 regular-season games against teams in the preseason top 25, a number that only starts to capture how steep the climb is. That total doesn’t even include exhibition games against No.
8 Tennessee or No. 17 Kansas.
Duke hosts Tennessee later this evening in Cameron and then heads to Lawrence to meet the Jayhawks on Sunday in the final preseason game.
The regular-season slate is loaded with heavyweight matchups. Duke will see No.
1 Florida, No. 3 Illinois, No.
4 UConn, No. 6 Michigan State, No.
9 Virginia twice, No. 11 Louisville, No.
14 Miami (FL), No. 15 Gonzaga, and No.
19 Texas Tech.
That means five of those games come against teams sitting in the preseason top 10. It’s a punishing list, but also the kind of schedule that fits a Duke team expected to be in the thick of everything when March rolls around.
Before the ACC grind even begins, Duke will have already gone through Florida, Illinois, UConn, Michigan State, and Texas Tech. Gonzaga arrives later in the year, similar to how the Blue Devils handled Michigan a season ago.
The reality is that this group may need a little time to settle in. Duke has lost just five combined regular-season games over the past two seasons, but that kind of run is going to be tough to repeat with this schedule in front of it. Two or three regular-season losses may not be a realistic expectation.
Part of that adjustment comes from the roster turnover Scheyer is managing. Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski, and freshmen Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Deron Rippey Jr., and Cameron Williams are all projected to have major roles. They’ll need time to get in sync with returning players Caleb Foster, Cayden Boozer, Dame Sarr, and Patrick Ngongba.
There is at least a softer opening stretch to help Duke find its rhythm. The Blue Devils begin the regular season at home against Army and Coastal Carolina in Durham before traveling to Chicago to face Michigan State on November 10th.
That early window matters, especially with Foster and Scharnowski needing to get as close to 100% as possible. Four of Duke’s next six games after that are against Top 10 teams.
The season gets real, real fast.
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Among the names worth watching are Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Deron Rippey Jr. and Wilkins, who are all expected to have notable roles in the game and beyond. Tennessee brings the kind of top-10 challenge that can expose inexperience fast, so this meeting should tell Duke plenty about how ready those younger pieces are to handle a higher level of pressure before the schedule turns real. [Read more 🡒]