Dribble Handoff: Duke vs. Gonzaga, Kentucky vs. Indiana among home-and-home hoops series we’d like to see – CBS Sports
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Duke and Arizona recently announced an agreement to schedule a home-and-home series beginning in the 2023-24 season. The series breaks a longstanding tendency by the Blue Devils to (mostly) abstain from challenging nonconference road games and sets college hoops up with what should be one of the best home-and-home series on the slate over the next few years. It also got us thinking about all the fun possibilities of other nonconference matchups.
A lot of quality games are played between conference and nonconference opponents alike that persistently deliver the goods, of course — Duke-UNC, Cincinnati-Xavier and Kentucky-Louisville all come to mind. There are plenty of other juicy matchups, however, that either haven’t happened recently, or haven’t taken place at all, and could deliver drama inside fun atmospheres.
So which nonconference matchups would we schedule if the powers-that-be granted our panel executive power for a day to put down any home-and-home series on the slate? Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander, David Cobb and myself each weigh in on that question below.
Kentucky vs. Indiana
Kentucky and Indiana met every year from 1965 through 2012. They’ve played a total of 57 times, these two massive basketball brands from bordering states with campuses separated by only 170 miles.
It was one of the great non-league rivalries.
But the annual series came to an end following the 2011-12 season — after Christian Watford hit one of the most memorable buzzer beaters of this century to lift the Hoosiers past the Wildcats — because the two sides couldn’t agree on how to continue it. Kentucky coach John Calipari wanted to take the series off campus and play it at a neutral site. But then-Indiana coach Tom Crean wanted to keep the series as-is and alternate between Assembly Hall and Rupp Arena. Neither man budged. And nothing has changed in the past decade. So now UK and IU do not play every year, which is unfortunate for a variety of reasons, mostly because having one fewer game annually between prominent powers isn’t good for anybody.
Though I understand the appeal of neutral-site games — monetarily and otherwise — I’ve always been a believer that college basketball is best in home venues. Gonzaga-Duke in Las Vegas was great last year — but it would’ve been 10 times cooler inside The Kennel or Cameron Indoor. And that’s why I appreciated the announcement earlier this week that first-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer has agreed to take his Blue Devils on the road to Arizona at the expense of another neutral-site contest. Now wouldn’t it be great if more coaches of blue-blood programs were willing to more regularly do the same and give their season-ticket holders more interesting non-league matchups to enjoy at home? — Gary Parrish
Gonzaga vs. Duke
It’s an encouraging sign that Jon Scheyer is willing to do what Mike Krzyzewski was unwilling to do for the final fourth of his career: opt in to home-and-home series against power-conference opponents. With that in mind, we’re not stopping at Arizona vs. Duke. Let’s keep it out west and get the Blue Devils to play a school that has offered up a couple of really great games in the short series history. Duke and Gonzaga have never played at each other’s home gyms. It’s not surprising, but it’s something that should end sooner than later. Just the visual is tremendous. Conjure it up in your mind now: Gonzaga unis inside Cameron Indoor; Duke players fighting uphill at the Kennel.
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Duke and Arizona recently announced an agreement to schedule a home-and-home series beginning in the 2023-24 season. The series breaks a longstanding tendency by the Blue Devils to (mostly) abstain from challenging nonconference road games and sets college hoops up with what should be one of the best home-and-home series on the slate over the next few years. It also got us thinking about all the fun possibilities of other nonconference matchups.
A lot of quality games are played between conference and nonconference opponents alike that persistently deliver the goods, of course — Duke-UNC, Cincinnati-Xavier a…….
Duke and Arizona recently announced an agreement to schedule a home-and-home series beginning in the 2023-24 season. The series breaks a longstanding tendency by the Blue Devils to (mostly) abstain from challenging nonconference road games and sets college hoops up with what should be one of the best home-and-home series on the slate over the next few years. It also got us thinking about all the fun possibilities of other nonconference matchups.
A lot of quality games are played between conference and nonconference opponents alike that persistently deliver the goods, of course — Duke-UNC, Cincinnati-Xavier a…….