Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer told Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports on Monday that he would be open to facing UConn in the future as part of a series.

As Rothstein noted, the two men's basketball programs have faced off nine times in history but never on one of the respective campuses.

An ongoing matchup between Duke and UConn would obviously be welcomed by fans. UConn has won six national championships, including two in a row, while Duke has claimed five. Under Mike Krzyzewski before his retirement in 2022, Duke became one of the prominent programs in the sport, while Dan Hurley has brought UConn back to the pinnacle of the men's game during his tenure.

Hurley also has some ties to Durham, given that his brother Bobby—now the head coach for the Arizona State men's basketball team—was a former star point guard under Krzyzewski at Duke.

There are a number of excellent non-conference rivalries in college basketball, though they are generally tied to geographical proximity or former conference ties.

Kentucky vs. Louisville or Cincinnati vs. Xavier are examples of the former, as are Big Five games in the Philadelphia region (which is actually comprised of six teams—Villanova, Temple, Drexel, La Salle, Penn and Saint Joseph's).

Games like UConn vs. Syracuse are examples of the latter, from the old Big East days.

It's rare, however, that rivalries persist between powerhouses. Indiana vs. Kentucky is an example of a rivalry that died out some over the years after the two schools stopped scheduling one another (though a four-year series between the programs will begin in 2025).

Could Duke and UConn foster the next great non-conference rivalry? You won't catch college basketball fans complaining if they do.