
NCAA basketball is heating up as February will show who’s ready to dominate conference play and flex their muscles as a national title contender. Here’s a look at five early national title contenders.
Duke Blue Devils (17-3)
Backcourt
Wendell Moore Jr. has proven he’s more than capable of handling the lead guard duties with 4.5 apg and Jeremy Roach and Trevor Keels are right behind him with 3.8 apg and 3.2 apg, respectively. They know their bread and butter is getting the ball to Paolo Banchero and they’ve prioritized that. Scoring-wise, Keels has struggled a bit shooting on the perimeter but A.J. Griffin has helped when needed.
Frontcourt
Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams, and Theo John are a tough frontcourt to go up against. Banchero is a matchup nightmare that’s posting 17.8 ppg and Williams is improving by the game with 10.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 2.0 bpg. As long as they can stay out of foul trouble, they’re hard to score against, especially on the interior.
X-Factor: A.J. Griffin, 6’6 Wing/Forward, Freshman
A.J. Griffin is a player that’s upped his game in ACC basketball action over the past month. He’s produced 12.3 ppg and 4.7 rpg while shooting 52.5 percent from behind the arc for Duke basketball. He exploded for a career-high 22 points on 5-of-6 shooting from behind the arc and 8-of-11 shooting from the field in a conference victory over Wake Forest. If his playmakers can continue to find him in his spots to succeed, they’ll be a Final Four favorite in no time.