Coach K: No Fans at Cameron Will Also Hurt Duke's Opponents
ACC Network analysts Dalen Cuff and Luke Hancock think that Duke will lose one of the biggest home court advantages in sports by not allowing fans into home games to start the season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only essential operations and broadcast personnel will be allowed into Cameron Indoor Stadium. In part one of our analysis of the impact no fans will have on Duke’s home court advantage, Cuff said that teams would no longer be afraid to come to Cameron. In part two, Hancock went a step further, saying teams would come in with a chip on their shoulder, knowing this is the year to take it to Duke.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has a very different take, however, after seeing a trip to Cameron fire up many an opposing team over the years.
“I’m starting my 41st year here, so I’ve benefited greatly from having that sixth man,” he said. “It created one of the best environments in sport, not just basketball. Not having that, we’ll see. After we play a couple teams I’ll let you know how good or bad it is. I will tell you this: I know overall, it’s an advantage, but other teams really looked at that as a challenge coming into Cameron, because of our fans. That created some unbelievable games over the years, many unbelievable games over the years. It’ll be interesting to see how our opponents adjust to not having the Cameron Crazies in there, also. Everybody’s got to adjust.”
