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An undefeated season in Cameron usually means good things ahead

Decades of precedent tell a persuasive story.

Any way you look at it, going undefeated at home for an entire men’s basketball season, as Duke did in 2024-25, is an admirable feat, a testament not only to talent, teamwork, and coaching but to uncommon concentration. Those traits have served the Blue Devils well, resulting in Final Four appearances nearly half the time (9 of 20 years) they went through a season at Cameron Indoor Stadium without a loss.

And let’s not minimize the strong connection with fans at Cameron, as their energy can lift a squad when it falters or seeks an extra burst of determination. Spectators will long recall Duke’s longtime maestro, Mike Krzyzewski, turning to the fans behind the bench, raising and waving his arms in exhortation of the home crowd, eager to fire them with the competitive zeal that likewise sparked his teams. That energy travels wherever the Blue Devils go.

Coach K had undefeated teams at Cameron in forty percent (12) of the 30 seasons between 1986, his program’s breakout year, and 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, the Devils were virtually unstoppable at home, posting unblemished records at Cameron four times in five seasons, a run interrupted only by losses to Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina in 2012.

Overall Duke squads have been undefeated at home twenty times in 85 tries (23.5 percent), nearly one year in four since Cameron opened as Duke Indoor Stadium during the 1940-41 season and 19 times as an ACC member. This year they were 17-0, part of a 28-3 regular season record entering postseason play.

Jon Scheyer’s clubs have continued the tradition after an eight-year lull, reaffirming Cameron’s difficulties for visitors with two undefeated seasons in three tries — 2023 and 2025. In 2024, a year they dropped a few ACC games at home, Scheyer’s charges won the ACC Tournament.

A few other items to note:

Vic Bubas’ teams in the 1960s first gave the building its reputation for inhospitality. In 1963, 1964, and again in 1966, they parlayed the energy generated by unblemished homestands into Final Four appearances, including an unsuccessful visit to the ’64 title game against John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins. (In those days a consolation game matched the two NCAA semifinal losers; the Blue Devils were consoled with wins against Oregon State in 1963 and in 1966 against Utah.)

Home-hardy Duke teams are of course exceptional outside Cameron, too. Since 1984 the Devils notched 14 unbeaten home records, 13 in the 30 most recent years. This counts the 2025 season because, come on, these Blue Devils unquestionably have earned a shot at a national title whatever happens in the ACC Tournament.

For comparison, consider that North Carolina, a quite-formidable program, has enjoyed five unbeaten marks at home in the 40 seasons since the Smith Center opened in 1986, one since 2011. (Don’t be surprises if the intimacy often lacking in the Dean Dome, and encountered most recently on Feb. 19 for a snowy home rout of NC State at which the student-stoked crowd seemed more energized than usual, will affect current deliberations on replacing UNC’s arena.)

Three of Duke’s five NCAA championships came after going undefeated at home, the exceptions coming in 2001 and 2015. Six other perfect home teams got to the Final Four. So that’s nearly half (9 of 20, 45 percent).

So far, Blue Devil units undefeated at home have almost always advanced to an ACC Tournament title or title game (except 1958 and 2013). Another exception came in 1942, when Eddie Cameron’s team competed in the Southern Conference a dozen seasons ahead of the ACC’s creation.