The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has released the 2025–26 men’s basketball schedule, and notably, Duke will not face Miami during the regular season. This absence is due to the ACC’s scheduling format, where each team plays 18 conference games: home-and-away against one primary partner and one variable partner, single games against 14 other teams, and omits one team entirely each season. For Duke, the primary partner is North Carolina, and the variable partner for this season is Louisville. Miami is the team Duke will not play in the regular season .
This scheduling decision has drawn attention, especially considering Miami’s recent hiring of former Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas as their head coach. The absence of a Duke-Miami matchup means fans will miss out on a potentially compelling storyline of Lucas facing his former team .
The ACC’s move to an 18-game conference schedule aims to provide teams with more flexibility for non-conference games, potentially enhancing their NCAA tournament resumes. However, it also results in some traditional or intriguing matchups being skipped each season .
While Duke and Miami won’t meet in the regular season, there’s still a possibility they could face each other in the ACC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament, depending on how the season unfolds.
