After an 8-0 spree through a tough non-conference schedule that included the Michigan St. Spartans, Kansas St. Wildcats, and Butler Bulldogs, it's time to start talking about the Duke Blue Devils going undefeated.
Duke’s Basketball Schedule: The Four Biggest Roadblocks In The Way Of An Undefeated Season
Really? With 23 regular season games, the ACC tournament, and the NCAA Tournament still to go?
Apparently so. Coach Mike Krzyzewski says he's not exactly going to try to avoid a perfect season, but he doesn't see it happening. Last year wasn't the ACC's best year, as the Maryland Terrapins were the only other ACC team to finish the season ranked in the AP Top 25, and Duke still lost three conference road games by multiple scores.
The Blue Devils should finish the calendar year without a loss, but have four tough road games the rest of the way:
- A span of four road dates in five games concludes with a trip to play Maryland on Feb. 2.
- Another multiple-game trip away from Cameron Indoor ends with the Virginia Cavaliers on Feb. 16, who've already upset Minnesota and Virginia Tech in back-to-back road games.
- On Feb. 26 the Dukies travel to Virginia Tech, where the perpetually underachieving Hokies might be able to put an upset together.
- If nothing else fails, Harrison Barnes and company will give it their best shot on Mar. 5, when Duke travels to play UNC on the last day of the regular season.
The last team to complete an undefeated season was Bobby Knight's 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers. The last (and only) ACC team to pull it off was Frank McGuire's 1956-57 North Carolina Tar Heels, though that also occurred in a down year for the conference: the Heels were the only ACC team ranked at the end of the year. Four ACC teams ended the season ranked in the year before and after UNC's undefeated run.
The N.C. State Wolfpack also banged out an unbeaten regular season in 1972-73, but were ineligible to finish the run in the postseason.
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