Duke Basketball: 3 key takeaways from 2022-23 ACC league schedule

Duke Basketball once again will be the “hunted” instead of the “hunter” in league play. What are some key takeaways from the ACC schedule release?

Unfortunately for the program, things didn’t go as planned at the end of the season for Coach K and Duke Basketball. They lost twice at the worst time to rival North Carolina, including in the final minute of the Final Four. The good news is that they did win their first ACC regular-season title in a decade by finished 16-4 for first place.

With a new head coach and an almost entirely new roster, the Blue Devils look to defend its crown in the league. The conference schedule came out for everyone this past week and there are some interesting stretches for the team to deal with. Here’s a closer look at some takeaways from their ACC slate.

Tricky opening slate of games

Duke’s first ACC game technically is at home against Boston College on December 3rd but that should be a winnable game. The stretch where they fully play league games will be a little harder, considering how the home/road splits worked out. Three of those four comes on the road (NC State, Boston College, Wake Forest), with the home matchup in-between coming against Florida State. It’ll be the first set of true road games for the program all season and with so many freshmen, it wouldn’t be surprising if they tripped up on at least one of them.

Easy stretch heading into last second UNC matchup

The opening part of the ACC schedule for the Blue Devils was road-heavy, while the ending is mostly at home. As usual, the last game of the regular season is against rival North Carolina, with the game on the road. But what helps Duke is that the three games prior are all at home against Louisville, Virginia Tech, and NC State. Those are three very winnable matchups and sets them up nicely for one last true road battle, with revenge on their mind.

Key 3-game stretch at the start of February

Duke’s first game against North Carolina is at home on February 4th, part of a strong part of the schedule that the young team could struggle with. After the Tar Heels are a pair of road matchups against Miami and Virginia, two teams that can beat the Blue Devils at home. If you even want to add the next two opponents (Notre Dame at home, Syracuse on the road), that’s a couple of weeks where they’ll have a fight on their hands.

If the Blue Devils can get through this part of the schedule with at most one loss, they’ll be in a great position to win the ACC regular-season crown for the second straight year. But if there’s any part of the league schedule that they could go on a little skid, this would be it.