Analysis of Duke's hoops schedule

Home: UNC-Greensboro, Coastal Carolina, Charlotte or Elon, Radford, St. John's, Gardner-Webb, Long Beach State, Penn, Tulsa

Road: Wisconsin, Georgetown

Neutral: NIT Tip-Off semifinals and final (if Duke advances), Gonzaga, Iowa State.

Analysis: This schedule is front-loaded with easy early games that will allow a Duke backcourt that's short on depth to develop. The Blue Devils are likely to count on freshmen Andre Dawkins and Mason Plumlee or Ryan Kelly to play significant minutes. Six straight games to start the season against opponents that aren't in BCS conferences will ease their transition to college basketball.

Outside the conference, Duke will get a chance to market its program at traditional big city hot spots. Highlights include games against Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden, Georgetown in Washington, D.C., and Iowa State at Chicago. The Blue Devils also will visit Wisconsin in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Games at North Carolina on Feb. 10 and at home against the Tar Heels on March 6 are the in-conference highlights. The Blue Devils' in-conference schedule should be somewhat challenging. They play twice each against the Tar Heels, Maryland (which should be the ACC's third-best team because Greivis Vasquez is back) and Clemson, which has defeated Duke in the teams' last two meetings.

Oct. 24	Pfeiffer, TBA
Nov. 3	Findlay, 7
Nov. 13	UNC Greensboro, 7
Nov. 16	Coastal Carolina, NIT Tip-Off at Durham, 7
Nov. 17	Charlotte or Elon, NIT Tip-Off at Durham, 6
Nov. 21	Radford, 7
Nov. 25	NIT Tip-Off semifinals at New York, N.Y., 7 or 9
Nov. 27	NIT Tip-Off final at New York, N.Y., 5
Dec. 2	at Wisconsin, 9:15
Dec. 5	St. John's, 3:30
Dec. 15	Gardner-Webb, 7
Dec. 19	vs. Gonzaga at New York, N.Y., 4
Dec. 29	Long Beach State, 7
Dec. 31	Pennsylvania, 6
Jan. 3	Clemson, 7:45
Jan. 6	vs. Iowa State at Chicago, 10
Jan. 9	at Georgia Tech, 2
Jan. 13	Boston College, 7
Jan. 17	Wake Forest, 8
Jan. 20	at N.C. State, 9
Jan. 23	at Clemson, 9
Jan. 27	Florida State, 9
Jan. 30	at Georgtown, 1
Feb. 4	Georgia Tech, 7
Feb. 6	at Boston College, 2
Feb. 10	at North Carolina, 9
Feb. 13	Maryland, 1
Feb. 17	at Miami, 7
Feb. 21	Virginia Tech, 6:30
Feb. 25	Tulsa, 7
Feb. 28	@ UVa, 7:45
March 3	@ Maryland, 9
March 6	UNC, 9

Note: Duke must win the Preseason NIT regional on its home floor to advance to the semifinals in New York.

-- Ken Tysiac