NCAA Basketball top 25 power rankings: Texas Tech rises, Baylor and Providence fall
By Joey Loose
9. Duke (23-4)
Unlike some pretty fantastic years of the past, the ACC isn’t exactly shining this season, and the Blue Devils remain the only place among the rankings. It feels like it’s been an eternity since we’ve seen high level play from someone else in this conference, though Duke just keeps humming along, heading towards a likely conference title.
They certainly secured that road this past week, winning games over two of the better teams in the conference. On Tuesday, they held on late for a 76-74 home win over Wake Forest, getting 16 points each from Mark Williams and Wendell Moore Jr. Their other game was a bit more comfortable, pulling away for an 88-70 win against Florida State, with Moore’s 16 points again standing out.
The Blue Devils sit 13-3 in the ACC, with each of those three losses in wild endings by two points or less. It’s fair to say this team could easily be perfect in conference play, but no team is perfect in this version of the ACC. Duke is lining themselves up well for a good seed in the NCAA Tournament, though there’s still four intriguing games left in the regular season, beginning with next week’s road games at Virginia and Syracuse.