Duke basketball: What to expect from heavyweight secret scrimmage

In exactly three weeks, Duke basketball will be in Houston for a scrimmage.

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)

On Friday, Stadium's Jeff Goodman updated his tracker of upcoming closed-door scrimmages across the country, including the date of Duke basketball's season tune-up on the road. Duke plays at Houston on Oct. 29, marking the second year in a row that the Blue Devils are participating in a so-called "secret" get-together.

This week, ESPN's updated preseason top 25 has Duke and Houston among the top five. So it's safe to say the non-televised matchup will offer both sides a quality test.

The Blue Devils, who reached the Final Four last season but welcome back only two scholarship players and are under the direction of first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, sit No. 5 in ESPN's eyes. Two spots above them are the Cougars, who reached the Elite Eight before falling to Villanova, Duke's secret-scrimmage opponent from last year.

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Speaking of Duke's meeting with Villanova in Washington, D.C., in late-October 2021, it's worth revisiting that day to project what the follow-up coverage of Duke's meeting with Houston will look like this go-round.

By most leaked accounts, Duke was the better team against Villanova, but there was no official final score. Instead, as GoDuke.com detailed following the scrimmage, the squads squared off in several sessions of action: periods of 20 minutes and 10 minutes, late-game simulations, and six minutes for reserves and walk-ons to play.

Altogether, the Blue Devils and Wildcats were on the court together for roughly 2.5 hours, then-Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski noted at the time.

Shortly after the closed-door scrimmage, the Duke basketball program's official YouTube channel released the above four-minute highlight package from the action.

And three days later, the Blue Devils posted the following nine-minute behind-the-scenes look. (Plus, the Wildcats put out their version.)

Expect similar coverage — again, without an official score of any kind — in the hours and days after the Duke-Houston scrimmage.

On Oct. 21, eight days before scrimmaging Houston, Duke will hold its annual Countdown to Craziness celebration, featuring intrasquad Blue-White scrimmages.

Then on Nov. 2, the Blue Devils host Fayetteville State in their only exhibition outing before hosting Jacksonville on Nov. 7 in their regular-season opener.

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