Who's Next: Ranking the Teams Duke Basketball Hasn't Played
Out of the 353 teams in Division I, Duke basketball has played more than 225 at some point in its history.
Many of the teams, such as Merrimack, Cal Baptist and North Alabama, are relatively new to Division I. Others, however, have a long history but, for some reason, just haven’t crossed paths with the Blue Devils.
The list includes seven schools who have made the Final Four and one who won the national title.
Duke knocked two off the list last season—Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin.
We looked at the remaining teams Duke has yet to play and ranked the ones that would be the most intriguing game. Here’s a look at the top of the list.
Ancient History
First, we look at the teams with asterisks—the programs Duke has played, but not with Mike Krzyzewski as coach. There are 16 such teams, including well-known schools such as Tulane, Rice, Louisiana and East Tennessee State. There are also former Final Four teams such as St. Bonaventure, Loyola-Chicago, Wyoming and Western Kentucky. And there are Power Conference teams (who also made the Final Four) Oregon State and Georgia.
The top 10
As for the teams that Duke has never played, here, in ascending order of interest, are the top 10.
Just outside the top-10 are well-known teams such as Fordham, Hofstra, Boise State, Marshall and Southern Miss. There’s Nevada, Bowling Green and Grambling. There’s also Loyola Marymount and former Final Four schools Seattle and Jacksonville.
10. High Point: The Panthers may not be a well-known program, but they have the unique honor of being the only Division I team in North Carolina Duke has never played.
9. UTEP: The Miners were known as Texas Western at the time and are the only former national champion never to play Duke.
8. Dartmouth: Duke prides itself on its academics and regularly includes Ivy League teams on its non-conference schedule, but the Blue Devils have never played the Big Green, the only Ivy Duke has ducked.
7. Indiana State: Larry Bird’s alma mater has never had the chance to play Duke.
6. TCU: One of three power conference teams not to play Duke in basketball or football.
5. Nebraska: The Huskers are in the Big Ten now, but they’ve never matched up with Duke in the annual challenge with the ACC, or any other time in their history.
4. Washington State: The only Pac-12 team Duke has never faced in basketball. The Cougars have never played Duke in football, either.
3. Ole Miss: The Rebels are the third power team never to play Duke in football or basketball.
2. Wichita State: The Shockers have developed into a national factor under coach Gregg Marshall and will likely cross paths with Duke eventually if they continue making runs in the NCAA tournament.
1. Houston: Phi Slama Jama made it to five Final Fours but were never at a peak when Duke was a national threat. Houston has been on the upswing in recent years and could find itself tangling with the Blue Devils in the near future.
