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Duke Blue Devils: Albany Bails over HB2

By John Woodcock

March 24, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) moves the ball against Oregon Ducks forward Jordan Bell (1) during the second half of the semifinal game in the West regional of the NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
March 24, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) moves the ball against Oregon Ducks forward Jordan Bell (1) during the second half of the semifinal game in the West regional of the NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Duke Blue Devils have a hole in the schedule that was released yesterday.

Yesterday I suggested that the Duke Blue Devils basketball schedule was akin to a college football schedule. Heavy on the cupcakes, heavy on the home game revenue, but that wasn’t the whole story. There was an opponent missing on the schedule, the Albany Great Danes.

This was not a mistake on my part, Albany is not on Duke’s schedule now. It pulled out earlier in response to North Carolina HB2’s discriminatory language. This was not necessarily its decision, the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo issued an order preventing unnecessary travel to North Carolina by State University of New York institutions. Albany is one of those schools.

On face it seems a bit misguided. Duke University is a private institution and therefore is not affected by the narrow bathroom language of HB2 which effects only public facilities. However the law also includes language that is far more reaching, and it is this language that others like NBA Commissioner Adam Silver have cited as their true opposition to the bill.

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So the Great Danes are not coming to Durham. This also means that Duke’s schedule is not quite as set in stone as it appeared. The Albany game was part of an early season tournament event. Duke has to replace it. It can’t simply walk away from the game or write it off as a financial loss.

You would imagine that lots of schools would love to play Duke in Cameron Indoor, but those schools have also filled in their date books by now. According to reports by Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Marist might be looked at as a replacement.

Next: Duke Basketball Non-Conference Schedule

Duke is already playing Grand Canyon this year and so it is likely that one of the over three hundred division one basketball teams can be prodded into showing up.

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