6. Duke (15-1)
They haven’t exactly been blowing the doors off their opposition in recent weeks, but the Blue Devils have done more than enough to put themselves in an extremely enviable position. Despite some close calls here at the beginning of league play, this team appears to be the class of the ACC and Cameron Boozer himself could lead Duke on quite a postseason run before his inevitable leap to the NBA.
He and this strong lineup played clutch on Tuesday, battling back from a halftime deficit for an 84-73 win at Louisville. Boozer had 27 points and 8 rebounds while Isaiah Evans added 23 points against the ranked Cardinals. Another ranked win came Saturday with Duke hitting just enough shots to win 82-75 over SMU. Evans led with 21 points while Boozer added 18 points to limit the Mustangs.
It’s hard to get an exact read on these Blue Devils even two months into the season. Outside of that bad ending against Texas Tech, this is a team that does enough and finds ways to win games even when things aren’t pretty or the defense isn’t at its best. Boozer and company are 5-0 in the league and look to keep building that lead on the west coast, as they’ll head to California and Stanford in the coming days.