Duke’s latest one-and-done dice roll of a team is going pretty well so far; the Blue Devils are obviously the class of the ACC, and they have wins over both Kentucky and Gonzaga in the non-conference, which signals rather clearly that they are a national-title contender.
It’s not an interesting team; there’s nothing especially compelling about it. But that seems to define college basketball at large this season.
Anyway, let’s get to the latest guys rotating through the carwash at Duke. They’re very good.
The Duke team that finished an underwhelming 9-9 in league play last year and missed the NCAAs is now a distant memory—that Duke team was ruined by its inability to play defense, but this year’s group has been excellent in that regard, and therein lies the difference from praying for an at-large bid to expecting a top-level seed.