Duke Will Be In The 2027 Hall of Fame Series
Along with two other Blue Bloods and Indiana, which used to be one - and could be again.
Well this should be interesting: Duke, Arizona, Indiana and Kansas will be in the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas in 2027.
Duke and Arizona will play in one game, while Indiana and Kansas will be in the other. This will be in the Allegiant Stadium, where the 2028 Final Four will be held.
There is of course no telling what things will look like in 2027. NIL money and the reformed transfer rules have already created a semi-free market and the NCAA is being sued for multiple things. There’s no guarantee it will even be involved in college sports in 2027.
That said, Duke, Kansas and Arizona are in good hands and the programs are all likely to be in good shape in 2027. Indiana is less certain with some thinking that Mike Woodson is on the hot seat this season. He’s also 66 and most coaches are getting ready to hang with the grandkids at that point. We’re about to see a wave of retirements from guys who just don’t want to deal with the changes in the game, as we have already seen with Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright and Tony Bennett.
That said, Indiana is a huge platform and if Woodson can’t live up to expectations, there are plenty of people who would love to have that job. Think Cincinnati’s Wes Miller for one, or conceivably Brad Stevens if he ever wanted to return to college coaching (don’t hold your breath, but reviving IU might appeal to him). We would certainly consider Darian Devries and of course Ben McCollum, who had such a brilliant turn at D-II Northwest Missouri State before taking the Drake job this past spring.
He’s a native of Iowa, Iowa City no less, and might want the Hawkeyes job whenever Iowa gets tired of losing in the first round of the tournament and fires Fran McCaffrey.
Or Indiana might hold a special appeal. It’s a great job and if he continues to excel at Drake, D-I schools will line up to hire him.
Whether it’s Woodson or someone else, Indiana is a program with a legacy matched by few. Kansas is one school that can, which makes that, like Duke and Arizona, potentially a great game.