The Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team will play Kansas in Las Vegas this coming November as part of the Vegas Showdown as announced on Thursday. According to CBS Sports senior writer Matt Norlander, that battle could become a regular rivalry over the next five years.
Norlander shared on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that he’d heard rumblings of a five-year plan for the Blue Devils and Jayhawks to play in each of the next five seasons.
Norlander said the plan included neutral-site showdowns as a part of the Champions Classic in 2025 and 2028, should the fall event remain on the schedule until then. The report also included a potential home-and-home in 2026 and 2027, with each team traveling to the other’s campus once over those two years.
“Duke and Kansas haven’t officially agreed to play a home-and-home in ’26/27 just yet,” Norlander wrote in a follow-up message. “But the schools have been in talks on it for a long time and I think Jon Scheyer and Bill Self want to make it happen, which means it should.”
The 2024 edition of this out-of-conference rivalry will prove to be one of the most anticipated games of the season, with the Jayhawks replacing Duke as Joe Lunardi’s projected top seed in an early 2025 bracketology.
In talking to sources as of late, the working plan for Duke and KU in the years to come:
'24—Vegas
'25—Champions Classic (MSG, I think)
'26—@ Duke or KU
'27—@ KU or Duke
'28—Champions (if still a thing then!)Duke + Kansas working to play annually is a huge net benefit to CBB. https://t.co/88KKr7qLk5
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) May 23, 2024
The 2024 game will be played on November 26.