The ACC released the 2014-15 men's basketball conference schedule Wednesday afternoon, after announcing the season's conference matchups several months earlier. The Blue Devils drew a back-heavy schedule, with all four matchups against Syracuse and North Carolina coming in the final four weeks of the regular season.
Duke's top-ranked recruiting class and returning nucleus will be tested throughout the conference slate, though, which includes road games at new ACC member Louisville Jan. 17 and defending conference champion Virginia Jan. 31, as well as the home-and-home contests with the Orange and Tar Heels.
After rounding out the 2014 calendar year with a home game against Wofford Dec. 31, the Blue Devils will open up ACC play Jan. 3 against Boston College at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke will then make a two-game road swing to pay visits to in-state rivals Wake Forest and N.C. State Jan. 7 and Jan. 11, respectively, before returning home to take on Miami Jan. 13.
The first big test of the ACC schedule comes Jan. 17 with Duke's first-ever trip to the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., to face Rick Pitino's Cardinals, just one year removed from a national championship run that eliminated the Blue Devils in the Elite Eight. That contest will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2 and is scheduled for a noon tip-off. If Duke wins its first 16 games of the season, head coach Mike Krzyzewski's first crack at career victory No. 1,000 would come against Louisville.
Just two days later, Jamie Dixon's Pittsburgh squad will make its first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium as a member of the ACC in an ESPN Big Monday-televised game, tipping off at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will then step outside the conference slate for a Jan. 25 neutral-site game against St. John's at Madison Square Garden.
Duke will have the opportunity to avenge last season's loss in South Bend, Ind., with a 7:30 p.m. game against Notre Dame Jan. 28, before a Saturday battle with the Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena Jan. 31 in a rematch of last year's ACC tournament championship game. Georgia Tech comes to Durham Feb. 4 for a Wednesday contest, after which the Blue Devils will welcome the Fighting Irish to town Feb. 7 for their second meeting of the season.
Duke will travel to Florida State Monday, Feb. 9 on short rest to play the Seminoles but will then have until Saturday to prepare for a Valentine's Day contest at the Carrier Dome against Syracuse. Hoping to rekindle the budding rivalry that produced two epic games last season, the ACC scheduled the Blue Devils and Orange for two meetings in a three-week span, both falling on Saturdays—Syracuse comes to Durham Feb. 28. The Valentine's Day game will start at 6 p.m.; a time for the game in Durham has not been set.
As was the case last year—albeit aided by the winter storm that struck the Triangle area last February—Duke will have very little prep time between meetings with Syracuse and North Carolina. The Blue Devils host the first matchup between the Tobacco Road rivals this season, with tip-off set for Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 9 p.m.
Sandwiched between the home games against North Carolina and Syracuse are a home game against Clemson Feb. 21 and a road game at Virginia Tech Feb. 25.
The Blue Devils conclude the regular season with a visit from Wake Forest March 4 before the annual trip to the Smith Center in Chapel Hill March 7.
The ACC tournament has shifted up a day this year, with the first rounds of the tournament starting Tuesday, March 10 and the championship game tipping off in primetime Saturday, March 14.
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