1. Thanks to the return of star veterans like Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson, as well as the nation's No. 1 recruiting class, Duke received 58 out of the 65 first-place votes cast in the preseason Associated Press Top 25. That was more than enough to make the Blue Devils the preseason No. 1 team for an eighth time. That number ties them with UCLA for the second-most preseason nods for the top spot, and puts them one behind arch-nemesis North Carolina.
The bad news for Duke? The last seven preseason No. 1 teams have wound up falling short of their ultimate goal.