NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top 25 power rankings for 2023-24 season

3. Duke Blue Devils

2022-23 season record: 27-9 (14-6 ACC)

Expected losses: Jacob Grandison, Dariq Whitehead

There’s an expectation that the teams will be moving around throughout the offseason of these power rankings. Yet no program will have a bigger variance than Duke, which still has several decisions to be made. Per the rules, I have to assume that all of them will be coming back since none of them are projected first-round picks.

The only one that is projected is Whitehead, who has already announced his departure. He battled with injuries and averaged 8.3 ppg but the team will be fine without him. The good news is that they have two freshmen starters back in Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell, both of whom could be breakout stars in 2023-24.

Three others can come back, including center Dereck Lively and leading scorer/rebounder, Kyle Filipowski. His return would make the Blue Devils an instant national title contender and he’d be the rare freshman star that actually returns for the ACC program.

Don’t forget that Duke has a top-2 incoming recruiting class as well, featuring five five-star prospects. Two of them are Caleb Foster and Jared McClain, along with top-5 wing, Mackenzie Mgbako. There’s too much talent on this roster for there not to be a couple of departures somewhere but depending on who they are, this team could be the one to beat next season.