The scoreboard showed a 40-point margin of victory for the Blue Devils, but Saturday's game was about more than just winning another exhibition.
Duke wrapped up preseason play against Central Missouri at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday afternoon, the sixth consecutive season the Blue Devils have welcomed the defending Division II national champions to Durham. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski usually schedules a local opponent for Duke's other tuneup game, but invites the Division II champions to campus every year.
"They can celebrate one last time before they get going to their next journey," Krzyzewski said. "They fought their butts off every possession, so you shake hands with them, you wish them the best.... A game like this is really good for the game. It's good for each of our teams, but it's really good for the game to do it this way."
The chance to play against one of college basketball's most storied programs was not lost on the Mules after Saturday's game.
"I don't know if [Krzyzewski] knows how special it is, the opportunity that he gives our kids and our program," Central Missouri head coach Doug Karleskint said. "As far as Division II, to come in here—it's a special place to play, this venue, and we can only get better because of it."
Playing against Duke in the preseason has become something of an open secret among Division II schools, a perk above and beyond the reward of winning the national championship. Shortly after defeating West Liberty 84-77 March 29 to capture the program's second national title, the Central Missouri players knew they would likely be making a trip to Durham seven months later.
Drury—the 2013 Division II national champion—is located in Springfield, Mo., about two hours south of Central Missouri. Sophomore center Sean O'Brien—the Mules' leading scorer Saturday with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting—said his team knew that the Panthers had come to Duke last fall for an exhibition game, a contest the Blue Devils won 81-65.
The opportunity to take the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium might not have matched the elation of cutting down the nets, but provided an experience few at the Division II level will ever duplicate.
"It was pretty exciting," O'Brien said. "I think every kid growing up kind of dreams about playing at Duke [or] North Carolina."
Karleskint said he worried before the game about how the Mules would respond under the bright lights and in front of the Cameron Crazies. The barometer test for him was the first five minutes of the game, during which many teams have folded under the pressure and energy that the Blue Devils generate from their fans.
As it turned out, the first few minutes were likely Central Missouri's best stretch of the day. The Mules jumped out to a 13-7 lead, drilling six of their first nine shots and forcing three Duke turnovers. But the hot shooting did not last, as Central Missouri finished the first half 3-for-17 and misfired on its first nine shots after intermission, a 6:09 drought that also included five turnovers.
"We were fired up and really ready to play out of the gate. We started off pretty good, and once we stopped scoring, our defense started slacking," senior guard Rakeem Dickerson said. "Obviously we lost and it got out of hand, but the experience was very good, the facilities are nice. There are some positives we can take away from this game."
Although the Blue Devils have won the exhibitions against the Division II champions by an average of 26.0 points per game, Krzyzewski maintained that the games are mutually beneficial because bringing in a defending national champion guarantees a quality opponent.
"We're bigger than they are and more athletic, but not any better-coached than them," Krzyzewski said. "They really play off each other well, they have a system. That's why we've played the Division II national champions every year, because you're always going to get a team that is well-coached. They're winners, they believe they can win."
For Karleskint, who counted down the days to Saturday's tip-off on Twitter, the opportunity to coach against Duke fell into his lap. He spent last season at the helm of Arkansas Tech and saw the Mules end his season in the opening round of the NCAA Division II tournament. After Central Missouri cut down the nets, head coach Kim Anderson left for Division I Missouri, and Karleskint was tapped as the program's next head coach.
The Mules tried to approach Saturday like any other game, but Karleskint admitted postgame that "obviously it's not." In addition to the excitement of his players, he coached his first game on the Central Missouri sideline opposite the winningest head coach in Division I men's college basketball history.
"He's one of the best ever—if not the best—ever," Karleskint said. "It's something that, right before tip, I looked down and it was a surreal moment to realize I was coaching against a legend, and just something I'll cherish for the rest of my life."
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