ACC Basketball: Duke, FSU leads early power rankings for 2021-22 season

2020-21 season record: 13-11 (9-9)

We already knew that the upcoming season for Duke Basketball was going to be impactful, coming off missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. But now it’s bigger than imagined, with Hall of Fame and all-time great head coach Mike Krzyzewski announcing that this will be his final season.

He has a nice roster to work with, despite losing a ton of production from this past season. All-ACC forward and leading scorer Matthew Hurt is gone, along with DJ Steward and Jalen Johnson. And the depth was impacted as well, with Henry Coleman, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Jordan Goldwire all transferring out.

The good news for the Blue Devils is that they have a star-studded recruiting class, led by No. 2 overall prospect Paolo Banchero. The 6’9 forward is an elite two-way player that can score in many ways and likely is the leading scorer for the team next season. 6’7 wing AJ Griffin is a top-10 prospect as well and a future 1st round NBA Draft pick, while guards Trevor Keels and Jaylen Blakes adds shooting and depth in the backcourt.

Sophomore Jeremy Roach will have the keys to the offense and will have to prove that he can be a true point guard. Junior Wendell Moore is the veteran of the team and is a double-digit contributor but also can be erratic on offense. Center Mark Williams was on the brink of a breakout towards the end of last season and will look to pick things up.

There’s not much depth in the frontcourt after the transfers but Duke did bring in Marquette forward Theo John, a 6’9 veteran forward with four years and 89 starts on his resume. He doesn’t provide much offense but is a good defender and at bare minimum, can give 20 minutes of relief to the starting bigs.

This roster has the highest ceiling of any ACC Basketball team but the floor may be a bit lower than previous Blue Devil teams. Not as low as last year’s disaster but if Banchero and Griffin aren’t All-ACC players, they won’t be good enough to win the regular-season title, something that hasn’t been done by this program since 2010.

But in Coach K’s last year, expect an inspired performance from the team, which has all the pieces available to make a run in the ACC. The conference should bounce back from back-to-back underwhelming seasons but there isn’t a clear-cut top-5 team. Duke should be able to take advantage of that to make this a memorable campaign.