When Coach K and his scheduling guru think about each season"s men"s basketball schedule, they have a lot to consider.
Mike Cragg, the associate athletic director for men"s basketball and chief schedule architect, takes into account everything from Duke"s recruiting to potential NCAA Tournament teams when he drafts the men"s basketball schedule each season. And with the power of Duke basketball"s name, Cragg and Krzyzewski have some room to play.
'Every coach does what is great for his program,' Cragg said. 'The top programs can do what is best for them.'
Before playing N.C. State Thursday night, No. 5 Duke had the 18th most difficult schedule to date in the nation--only two top-10 teams had lower strength of schedule ratings. This ranking, which is considered by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, will rise once the Blue Devils move deeper into their ACC schedule.
Playing almost every game on national television, Duke is not as thirsty as some teams for new exposure. So instead of playing college basketball"s heavyweights each game, the Blue Devils have focused on matching up with the top teams in mid-major conferences.
'We have made a strategic play into playing mid-majors who are NCAA Tournament-type teams--Valpo, Davidson, Illinois-Chicago,' Cragg said. 'They usually have senior-dominated teams that are tournament-tested. They provide what out-of-conference games are about, preparation for the conference season and for March.'
For the schools playing Duke from mid-major conferences, the opportunity provides not only exposure that can become a factor in NCAA selection, but also considerable revenue for programs with smaller athletic budgets.
The contest against Valparaiso gave Duke both the chance to play a potential first or second-round NCAA opponent and an opportunity to take the court in a major city, another point of emphasis in the schedule. This season, the Blue Devils played games in New York, Chicago and Charlotte, and began a home-and-home series with Temple that will bring them to Philadelphia next season.
The team has visited Madison Square garden nine times in the last seven years and has two scheduled games in New York this season. Duke has a long-standing series with St. John"s and played Oklahoma in a packed Madison Square Garden Dec. 18.
St. John"s, a team Duke has played every year since the 1998-1999 season, is the only out-of-conference squad the Blue Devils have matched up with consistently the past few seasons. Krzyzewski said he does not mind that Duke does not have a long-term series with a team of similar stature.
'We are two of the top five programs in the history of the game, so we would like to keep that going,' Krzyzewski said of the series with St. John"s. 'Whether you think someone is down or not, we can be down, that changes right away. I would like the keep the St. John"s thing going.'
Taking the place of a consistent out-of-conference matchup against a top team has been the Dreyfus Classic in Madison Square Garden each of the past two seasons, which Duke treats as a home game. Cragg said the team has booked New Jersey"s Meadowlands for a similar contest next season but has yet to secure an opponent.
'We"ve done something unique having a game up in New York each of the last two years against Texas and Oklahoma, which is very good,' Krzyzewski said.
Duke formerly had a series with Michigan, but Krzyzewski chose to discontinue the annual game soon after former Duke player and assistant coach Tommy Amaker took over the program.
'Coach K does not want to play against his former players and coaches,' Cragg said. 'He is not comfortable with that. He roots for those guys. We definitely had a great series with Michigan so that hurt us.'
John O"Connor, Georgia Tech"s director of basketball operations, said his primary goal is to create a balanced schedule.
'You have some big games,' O"Connor said. 'Then you try to balance it off a little bit in terms of playing the mid-majors.'
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