Durham, NC (Sports Network) - The Duke Blue Devils open up their basketball season as the ninth-ranked team in the land, as they welcome the UNC- Greensboro Spartans to Durham for a showdown at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils have won nine straight season-openers and have done so by an impressive scoring margin of +32.8. Duke won 30 games a year ago (30-7), but played second-fiddle in the ACC to eventual national champion North Carolina. The Blue Devils advanced to the Sweet 16, falling to Villanova.

The Spartans are coming off a horrendous 2008-09 season, one in which the team managed just five victories against 25 defeats. With 312 career victories however, veteran coach Mike Dement (23rd season) hopes to turn things around this year.

This is the eighth all-time meeting between these two programs, with Duke winning all seven previous matchups.

There is nowhere to go but up following last year's nightmare campaign. The good news is that UNCG returns just about everyone (over 70 percent of its scoring) including forward Ben Stywall. A dominant force in the paint for the Spartans, Stywall posted 11.7 ppg to go along with a team-high 8.4 rpg. Freshman forward Taylor Hoffer was supposed to help out in the frontcourt, but will redshirt this year after preseason leg surgery. Pete Brown will help out down low, as will Elhanan Bone, although the later is out for the season- opener with a sore foot. The team will get talented freshman Kyle Randall plenty of minutes. Randall is a nice addition and will support Mikko Koivisto, who led the team last year with 12.4 ppg. Kendall Toney will also see plenty of action this season after posting 8.0 ppg as a reserve.

Long known for its guard-play, times may be changing at Duke in 2009-10. The Blue Devils are loaded in the frontcourt with incumbents Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek. Further depth is found in a pair of McDonald's All- Americans in Mason Plumee (6-10, 230) and Ryan Kelly (6-10, 220), although Plumee is out indefinitely with a wrist injury suffered in practice this week. Singler, who averaged 16.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game a year ago, is the centerpiece of course and was recently named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Singler is a complete player, with great scoring potential and solid rebounding skills. Jon Scheyer (14.9 ppg) is a mainstay in the backcourt, while the hope is that Nolan Smith (8.4 ppg) will be more consistent. Freshman Andre Dawkins can make an immediate impact, as the 6-5 athletic guard has great scoring potential.