It's early, but fair.
People can make whatever comments they want about Duke, but as we look at the roster and schedule heading into next season, there's plenty of reason to believe the Blue Devils will be one of the best teams in America.
Duke is challenging itself, has a star-studded roster with veteran talent from top to bottom, and has the best coaches in all of college basketball in Jon Scheyer. It's going to be interesting to see how Duke plays in some of its out-of-conference games, as it will take on Michigan State, Illinois, UConn, Florida, and some other programs.
Those UConn and Florida games are definitely the most intriguing of the bunch. There's a strong argument being made right now that Florida is the best team in America by a somewhat wide margin, and everybody knows what Dan Hurley and UConn have done over the past couple of years. With Duke losing to UConn last year in March Madness, this game means even more.
That's why insider Jon Rothstein believes that this is going to be the biggest game of the college basketball season.
Rothstein usually has a good feel for a lot of these things, so him saying that this is going to be the biggest out-of-conference game of the year certainly holds weight.
"The most anticipated nonconference game on my list for '26-'27: UConn-Duke," Rothstein said on his Inside College Basketball podcast Thursday. "... This is the rematch game; this is the game that people wanted to see after the dramatic finish in the Elite Eight, when Braylon Mullins hit the biggest shot, in my opinion — considering the opponent and considering what was on the line — in UConn history."
"This is going to be a massive, massive game. Two coaches, Dan Hurley and Jon Scheyer, that are faces of the sport, and in my opinion, the only two programs in college basketball right now that are truly still operating at a blue-blood level. An incredible, incredible appetizer to Thanksgiving and an incredible, incredible dish to be featured in a week that is known for food," he said, per the CT Post.
This game being on Thanksgiving only adds fuel to the fire, as the two will meet at 7:00 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the game streamed on Prime Video.
The contest will be held at T-Mobile Arena, a great venue for all involved. It ultimately doesn't mean everything for Duke if it were to win or lose this game, but it would be a nice step in the right direction to get a win against one of the better teams in America early on in the year, at least in the sense that it could build some confidence early on.
