NCAA Basketball: UConn, Iowa State, Auburn rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
14. Duke (24-8)
It’s already the second season since Mike Krzyewski retired, though Jon Scheyer still has the Blue Devils humming along nicely. It’s been a nice year at Duke, albeit not quite a dominant season like this program has seen in years past. They did great work for the most part against a weaker ACC, with a 15-5 record in conference play. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils were swept by rival North Carolina and their struggles continued in the ACC Tournament.
Claiming the 2-seed in the event, Duke was seen as a potential favorite but instead were shocked in the quarterfinals by NC State. The Blue Devils fell 74-69 to the 10-seed less than two weeks after beating them on the road by 15 points. Kyle Filipowski had 28 points and 14 rebounds while Mark Mitchell added 18 points and 8 reboudns, but the Blue Devils were just outworked and fell short in a wild upset.
Where exactly does this leave the Blue Devils? Scheyer’s squad didn’t get out of the opening weekend last season and didn’t play like a team that can be expected to do that. However, Duke has a plethora of talent, even beyond Filipowski, and could easily catch fire, especially with how their offense played down the stretch in ACC play. Anything could happen with Duke, who’ll hope to quickly shake off Friday’s disappointment.