Will KU Jayhawks schedule game against Duke at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium?

Bill Self has traveled to Tobacco Road many times while on the recruiting trail during his 22 seasons as men’s college basketball coach at the University of Kansas.

However, the 61-year-old Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer has never coached a game against North Carolina at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham; or against North Carolina State at the Lenovo Center (before that, known as Reynolds Coliseum) in Raleigh.

This all will change in a short period of time.

KU, which under Self is 5-0 against UNC (four games in NCAA Tournament, one in Allen Fieldhouse), and 2-0 against N.C. State (one in NCAAs, one in Bahamas) will complete current home-and-homes with the Tar Heels and Wolfpack during the 2025-26 nonconference season. UNC lost to KU 92-89 on Nov. 8 in Lawrence, while N.C. State visits KU on Dec. 14 in a pair of marquee home games for KU this campaign.

Meanwhile, the Jayhawks — who are 4-2 versus Duke in the 22-year Self era (four Champions Classic games, one NCAA Tournament, one Maui Invitational) — have no current plans to play the Blue Devils in their cozy 9,314-seat arena.

Self — his Jayhawks will tangle with the Blue Devils at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Vegas Showdown at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas — believes that will change.

“Yes I’d love to,” Self said, asked if he has a desire to play Duke in Durham some day. “I’d love to go home-and-home with Duke like we do with Carolina. I think that would be great.

“Obviously we’re going to play them (Blue Devils) this year. Next year I think we play Kentucky (in Champions Classic while Duke plays Michigan State) and the year after we play Duke (in Champions Classic, while UK plays MSU). It would have to work out around the Champions Classic so to speak.

“To answer your question,” Self added, “I haven’t been there (Cameron Indoor). I’ve driven by it. I’ve never been in it. I think that would be pretty cool. That would obviously be a bucket list thing for all coaches to do just like it would be a bucket list thing for them to come here as well.”

Duke and KU have played on the schools’ respective campuses in the past, just not under current coaches Self and Jon Scheyer.

The Mike Krzyzewski-led Blue Devils, who lead the all-time series vs. KU 8-6, tripped Larry Brown’s Jayhawks 74-70 on Feb. 20, 1988 in Allen Fieldhouse. KU avenged that loss that season in the Final Four semifinals, 66-59, in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. Duke slugged KU 102-77 on Feb. 18, 1989, at Cameron Indoor in a battle of teams coached by Krzyzewski and Roy Williams.

The last meeting, KU’s 69-64 victory over Duke on Nov. 15, 2022, was a Champions Classic battle in Indy between teams coached by first-year Duke coach Scheyer and KU assistant Norm Roberts. Roberts subbed for Self, who was serving a self-imposed four-game suspension designed to speed up the NCAA case into KU basketball.

So Self went 3-2 in head-to-head matchups against fellow Hall of Famer Coach K.

Asked if Coach K is the greatest coach of all-time, Self said: “I can’t speak to all time because I wasn’t around obviously when coach Wooden (John, UCLA) was doing it. There’s no question he (Krzyzewski) is the standard of modern, our generation, basketball.”

Scheyer is in his third season at Duke. He has a record of 58-19. Krzyzewski went 1,129-309 from 1980 to 2022 at the ACC school.

“He’s done a great job,” Self said of Scheyer. “Let’s call it like it is. Duke has been really, really good for a long, long time in large part because of coach (Krzyzewski), but also because of the culture they had built over time, recruiting great players.”

Duke has freshmen starters in Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach.

“I am sure there are some different philosophical approaches (between Krzyzewski and Scheyer) because I am not in the know. What Jon has done in a short amount of time is very impressive. What they’ve done in recruiting is probably more impressive. They have a team this year that would be considered one of the favorites to go all the way,” Self said.

“He’s done a great job probably not in the easiest of situations to do a great job (replacing a legend). That makes it even more impressive,” he added.

Tuesday’s KU-Duke game is part of a four-team Vegas Showdown event that will include a one-day doubleheader in Vegas. KU meets Duke at 8 p.m. Central with Furman and Seattle to follow.

KU will play Furman on Nov. 30 at Allen Fieldhouse while Duke plays Seattle on Nov. 29 in Durham.

A year ago, KU played in the three-game Maui Invitational in Honolulu as its Thanksgiving week event.

“I actually think those long events are when you actually have a chance to become a team,” Self said. “Atlantis (Bahamas) and Maui are different, three games in three days wear you out. How do you rest guys certain games? This will be a game I’m sure both teams play to win regardless of the bench situation, that kind of stuff.”