Duke Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Blue Devils
By Joey Loose
Schedule Outlook
Nothing comes easy for Duke, though they do get a very winnable matchup against Dartmouth on opening night. Just four days later they’ll host a very strong Arizona squad. On November 14th, they head to Chicago, facing off against Michigan State in this year’s edition of the Champions Classic.
With a few difficult games out of the way, the Blue Devils get back to Durham for a trio of home games as part of the Blue Devil Challenge, though none of Bucknell, La Salle, or Southern Indiana should post a significant challenge. A November 29th date at Arkansas, part of the new ACC/SEC Challenge, will be a different story.
ACC play begins with a road trip to Georgia Tech on December 2nd but doesn’t continue until the beginning of January. In fact, the nonconference schedule only has one further challenge for the Blue Devils sandwiched by a few mid-major contests at home. They’ll head to Madison Square Garden on December 20th and play Baylor a few days before Christmas.
After the calendar flips to 2024, the schedule is only ACC games and it’s a very easy start for the Blue Devils. They’ll play Pittsburgh twice in January but that might be their biggest challenge, with several winnable games against teams like Clemson, Notre Dame, and Syracuse in the opening weeks.
The first significant challenges comes with road games against Virginia Tech and North Carolina in early January and late February. A tricky road test against Miami comes on February 21st and is their only contest with the Hurricanes this season. Their only matchup with Virginia is a week and a half later at home before the Blue Devils finish the regular season against rival North Carolina for Senior Night on March 9th.