Outside of the ACC, the Duke Blue Devils and Syracuse Orangemen have proven to be quite a handful. It’s in the storied and competitive conference where their merit has been tested. On Monday night, the two will go to battle in a head-to-head clash of ACC title hopefuls and legendary coaches.
Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski’s run at Duke speaks for itself, but a clash with Syracuse great Jim Boeheim brings an already intense matchup to a whole new level. In fact, it’s fair to say we don’t know for sure just how great of a showdown we have to start the college basketball week, given the fact that Syracuse had to play through a nine-game suspension of their head coach. With that being the case, it’s entirely possible that Syracuse could end up being a lot better than their so-so 12-7 start on the year.
The drama is definitely thick in this one, as the Blue Devils attempt to avoid losing a third straight game, while also aim to extend their dominance over these very Orangemen and claim their fourth win in a row in this series. The last one came with little effort last February, when Duke won by 19. That alone could be enough to fuel the Orangemen to want to exact some revenge, but a lethargic 2-4 start in ACC play should also work as sound motivation. The same can be said for Duke, who has been just 3-2 inside the conference, which pales in comparison to North Carolina, who are perfect through five conference games and sit atop the league.
While this isn’t exactly a storied series (just eight prior meetings), the coaching lore and young talent on both sides works to lift Syracuse tickets to a stellar $228.22 on average for Monday, with fans having the ability to hit the cheap seats for just $135. That’s actually a solid drop down from the average Duke Blue Devils tickets, which hang out around $267.52 on average this year. That gives fans from both sides roughly a $40 discount for a rare meeting that could easily end up having huge ramifications inside the ACC. Conversely, Durham hotels on Hipmunk start at just $51, much less than a ticket to tonight’sgame.
Beyond the discount and rarity of the matchup, fans are also going to want to have the inside track on one other key element: who is going to win? Early signs point to Duke, who haven’t lost to three straight unranked opponents since 2007. It’s not the character of a Coach K squad, let alone one that won the national title a year ago and had aspirations to contend for one yet again during the 2015-16 season. Those aspirations may not have necessarily been overly realistic, but Duke still has up-and-coming guard Grayson Allen to lean on (leads team with 20.2 points per game), while they face the Orangemen in a comfort zone on Monday night – at home. With no defeats at Cameron Indoor Stadium this year and some respectable losses on the year, the Blue Devils figure to come out on top over Syracuse. Even if they can’t, fans at least get to see ticket prices drop a bit for a highly entertaining college basketball matchup.