For the 148th week, Duke is the top-ranked team in the nation. There are 21 AP polls in an average season, which means that the Blue Devil have been ranked at No. 1 for the equivalent of seven years.
The 148 weeks at No. 1 is a record. It’s as many as the next four ACC teams combined. With four polls left this season, the Blue Devils have a chance to reach 152 weeks atop the poll, which would match the number of times everyone else in the ACC has combined to do it.
At the end of this week, Duke will have played 294 games as the top-ranked team. Only one coach in the ACC—Brad Brownell—has coached that many games at his current school.
The reason that we’re focusing so much on history is that this year’s Duke team is looking more and more like it has a chance to make it. The Blue Devils took the top spot by overpowering and out-toughing the previous No. 1, Michigan in a titanic 1 vs. 3 showdown on Saturday.
“That was a game that didn’t feel like that it was played in February,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “That felt like a March or April game. … thought it was just a big-time game where our guys were ready to compete at a high level.”
In not quite four years as Duke’s head coach, Scheyer has won two ACC tournaments, made a Final Four and won 114 of 138 games. Despite all his success, however, the one area that Duke has been questioned under Scheyer has been in finishing games. Duke blew what looked like a comfortable lead against Houston in last year’s Final Four. That capped a season that started with top NBA draft pick Cooper Flagg failing to deliver in two late-game situations, leading to early season losses in marquee games against Kansas and Kentucky.
The year before, Duke led at the half against NC State in the Elite Eight. The year before that—Scheyer’s first as coach—the Blue Devils were out-toughed by Tennessee in the tournament
This year, the Blue Devils seemed to have that old specter come back to haunt them against UNC, when Duke led until the final 0.4 seconds, blowing a 13-point lead to lose on a buzzer beater.
Every coach is haunted by the whispers that he can’t win the big one, until he shows he can. No coach likes it. Scheyer is no different.
“I just have to say, for me, it’s amazing,” he said after Duke made the plays at the end to beat Michigan. “These guys have won a lot of close games too. They’ve won a lot of close games. Caleb Foster has won a lot in his time here, and this is no different from other games we’ve been in early in the year. Florida (a one-point win), Arkansas (a nine-point win). Undefeated in college basketball is tough. It is. These guys have been studs at the end of games. They have such toughness. And so, I think there’s a complete misperception. We’re not going to be perfect. We’re not going to win every game, but these guys have won close games, big games, they’ve gotten leads, they’ve kept leads and we’re going to keep growing and learning with that.”
As Duke continues to win, comparisons between this year’s Cameron Boozer-led squad and last year’s Cooper Flagg team will continue. The current edition of the Blue Devils may not have as much talent, top to bottom, but it might be tougher.
This year’s Duke team is 17th in the nation in offensive rebounding rate, 12th on the defensive boards. Last year’s team ranked in the 50s on both. Duke is No. 51 in blocked-shot rate, 135 spots higher than last year’s team.
“I think the thing I’m most proud of is there’s a tenacity, a toughness there,” Scheyer said. “And a ‘want to.’ And I think once you have that, then what you’re doing scheme-wise, I think will work really well.
“I just love the fact that these guys have chosen from day one, ‘We’re gonna be different.’ That’s a decision that they’ve made, the way they’ve answered each test. I go back to playing UCF and Tennessee in the preseason, and that’s when I learned a lot about our guys and what we are made of. And I think they’ve continued not just to answer each test as it’s come along, but to elevate what we’re doing. But they’re tough. You know, we take pride in the paint battle. That’s been a unique thing for this group, with how we play, and our guys have done a great job. We need to continue to stay humble and continue to understand what it takes to win.”
For the immediate future, they’ll be doing that while looking down at every other team in the sport.
