Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari will coach against each other Thursday as the head coaches of the United States and Dominican Republic's men's national basketball teams, respectively.
The pair will stand on the same floor November 13 when Duke and Kentucky will play each other as part of the State Farm Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. The contest will be a part of an entire 24-hour lineup of games on ESPN welcoming back college basketball.
Other games in the lineup include Harvard, coached by former Blue Devil Tommy Amaker, facing Massachusetts and Butler, who Duke defeated for the 2010 national championship, playing Xavier.
Last season Duke opened at home with a narrow 77-76 win atop Belmont. Duke will probably open with an opponent at home on Friday Nov. 9, before the Tuesday game vs. Kentucky.
The Blue Devils and Wildcats have not played since the 2001-2002 season and famously played in the East Regional finals of the 1992 NCAA Tournament, 20 years ago, when Christian Laettner hit a shot off a fullcourt pass with time expiring to send Duke to the Final Four in a 104-103 victory.
Laettner later played with Team USA in the 1992 Olympics, when the "Dream Team"--the first time the Americans used professional basketball players in the Olympics--earned gold with Krzyzewski as an assistant coach.
Last month, Duke released part of its 2012-2013 schedule on GoDuke. The schedule includes a matchup at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Ohio State, which defeated Duke last regular season and a potential matchup in November against Louisville, coached by Rick Pitino. Pitino was the coach of the 1992 Kentucky team.
Editor's note: This post originally stated this would be the first game of the year--that is likely incorrect. The Blue Zone regrets the error.
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