Bracketology 2022: Duke, Gonzaga, UCLA among early big winners
By Joey Loose
Duke
Last season, Duke went just 13-11 and missed the NCAA Tournament; a disappointing season certainly affected by the national pandemic. This season, Mike Krzyzewski’s swan song begins, with his 42nd and final season presenting another chance for these Blue Devils to achieve national glory. Duke is by no means the favorite to win the national championship, starting the year 9th in the AP rankings, but they certainly made a good first impression this week.
At the Champions Classic, the Blue Devils took care of #10 Kentucky, winning an exciting 79-71 matchup to open the season. Any time you can get a Top 10 win this early in the season sets your team up for success. Later in the week, Duke had a couple of less challenging matchups, starting with a solid 82-56 home win over Army on Friday night. In their third game of the week, the Blue Devils took care of Campbell, winning an 11-point game that was close for much of the second half.
The Blue Devils held on and depart opening week at 3-0, a great start in Coach K’s final campaign. Clearly, this Duke team looks like an NCAA Tournament team already, and one capable of making a very deep run. That early win over Kentucky is great currency for later in the season, especially in terms of seeding.
At this point, the Blue Devils have almost certainly put themselves into the conversation for a 2-seed, though a game against Gonzaga in two weeks may make or break a potential climb to the 1-line.