Duke has already faced Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Boston College twice this season, but plays two new opponents this week as the Blue Devils travel to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels Wednesday and then face Maryland in Cameron on Saturday. While facing UNC for this first time this late in the ACC season is normal for Duke, head coach Mike Krzyzewski's side has also yet to face Miami (Fl.), Virginia Tech, and Virginia. Yesterday, Krzyzewski offered his thoughts on the scheduling:
"There are a number of teams in our league that we haven't played yet, but this is our 10th game," he said. "There should be more balance, because teams change positively from January to February. So everybody in the league - and I'm not saying it benefits us or doesn't benefit us - but overall you have more equity involved if you play a team in January and you play a team in February. How we've done it this year, I just think it's not very good, for everybody. To play in a condensed manner is not an equitable way of doing the league."
While Krzyzewski is specifically speaking about this year's schedule, he has been vocal about other aspects of ACC scheduling in the past. The ACC expanded to include Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami (Fl.) in 2003 and Krzyzewski was one of many in the college basketball world who spoke out against the decision:
"The two-division concept in basketball for our league would be really bad," Krzyzewski told ESPN at the time about a possible expansion. "All of a sudden, you wouldn't be playing these teams twice."
The Blue Devils face every team twice this year except Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Miami (Fl.).
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.