This week Duke’s men are touring the conference’s western reaches. The home crowds at California and Stanford have been the sparsest among the 18 stops on the ACC circuit, although the much-hyped Blue
Devils are sure to be a big draw.
Stanford was stuck in neutral for the decade prior to coach Kyle Smith’s arrival last year, while Cal is struggling to escape the weight of eight straight losing seasons. Both stood 13-4 on the year as the Devils dropped in.
Duke’s first stop was at Berkeley, California Wednesday, where the Golden Bears dropped to 12-3 at Haas Pavilion following Duke’s 71-54 win.
Cal, 14-19 last year in its ACC initiation, won six times within the conference, most notably at NC State, Florida State, and Miami, all in a row around this time last year. Mark Madsen’s team swept the season series with the Wolfpack, earning its sole ACC road win in the process, and topped Virginia Tech in double-overtime in the Bears’ first-round debut in the ACC Tournament.
Madsen replaced Mark Fox, formerly of Georgia, who posted losing records in all four seasons at Cal. Fox is currently an associate head coach at Kentucky.
In his third year at Berkeley, Madsen is two wins shy of surpassing the best mark at the school (14 wins) in the previous six seasons, buoyed by a nonconference schedule that included lightweights Cal State Bakersfield, Sacramento State, Presbyterian, Northwestern State, and D-II Dominican. With 13 ACC games remaining after Duke’s visit, plus the ACC Tournament, the Bears have ample room to register a significant turnaround in program fortunes.
Stanford, Madsen’s alma mater, is Duke’s second opponent on its West Coast swing. The Cardinal are regarded as Cal’s archrival, a function of their proximity (39 miles) and the football competitiveness of the “Big Game”, first played in 1892. Oh, and their elite academics.
Stanford has been more prosperous recently on the basketball court, winning 21 games last season. The Cardinal have seen several familiar ACC faces on the bench, including Duke great Johnny Dawkins (2009-16) and Roy Williams protégé Jerod Haase (2017-24). Dawkins won the NIT in 2012 and was later replaced by Haase, who in nine years had a breakeven record with only three winning seasons.
Stanford’s Smith enjoyed a 21-win debut, including a road victory at Chapel Hill that created hardly a murmur in ACC circles. That could change with the attention commanded by flashy freshman playmaker Ebuka Okorie, the league’s No. 2 scorer behind Cameron Boozer. (Okorie reneged on a commitment to play for Tommy Amaker at Harvard.)
While both Stanford and especially Cal have considerable room to grow this year, neither has as great a chance to rise as Miami, which sank to 7-24 in 2025.
Just three years ago the Hurricanes were in the Final Four; last season they spiraled to a 3-win ACC mark after Jim Larranaga walked away in disgust at the state of college ball. This season Miami already is 15-2, and with Duke and Clemson the only teams still undefeated in ACC play as they prepare for a Saturday showdown at always-tough Littlejohn Coliseum.
Rookie head coach Jai Lucas, formerly a Jon Scheyer assistant at Duke, has the advantage of avoiding facing the Blue Devils altogether this go-round. Still, it’s unlikely the Canes can match the stunning single-season rise of Louisville from 2024 to 2025 under Pat Kelsey. Or, for that matter, the improvement in Wake’s fortunes once Steve Forbes settled in, or at Duke as Mike Krzyzewski rebounded from the Covid droop.
But there’s a chance the Hurricanes, led by sharp-shooting, 6-9 Indiana transfer Malik Reneau and overall .516 team field goal accuracy, can approach the 16-win advance Larranaga engineered at UM earlier this decade.
| BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME ACC Team Improvement Based On Change In Wins Year To Year |
||
|---|---|---|
| School | Win Rise | Seasons |
| Louisville | +19 | 2024>2025 |
| Duke | +19 | 2021>2022 |
| Wake | +19 | 2021>2022 |
| Notre Dame | +17 | 2014>2015 |
| Miami | +16 | 2021>2022 |
| North Carolina | +14 | 2004>2005 |
| Duke | +14 | 1985>1986 |
| North Carolina | +14 | 1956>1957 |
