Duke Basketball: New AP No. 1 is unnecessary if Blue Devils beat Virginia

Despite a home loss to unranked Syracuse on Monday, Duke basketball fans can still have hope to see the Blue Devils atop the AP Top 25 come Monday.

Other than their ability to spark debates on Twitter, rankings seem silly and pointless. AP voter/reputation-killer Graham Couch added further proof of that this season by refusing to put the Duke basketball team on his ballot until after the Blue Devils played their first true road game.

Another piece of evidence of the voters’ tomfoolery is UNC’s ranking this week. The Tar Heels fell only one spot to No. 13 after suffering their worst home loss of the Roy Williams era (83-62 to unranked Louisville on Saturday).

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Oops, almost forgot this nugget: Mike Krzyzewski has never garnered enough votes from AP voters to receive the honor of AP Coach of the Year.

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However, since so many fans seem to enjoy the banter that each week’s poll spurs, Ball Durham decided to weigh in:

It will require a Zionous effort without the services of Tre Jones — the sensational freshman point guard is out indefinitely after suffering a right-shoulder AC joint separation six minutes into Duke’s 95-91 home overtime loss to Syracuse on Monday — but all the 14-2 Blue Devils should have to do is beat No. 4 Virginia at home on Saturday in order to still be No. 1 when the next AP Top 25 Poll is released on Monday.

Of the four teams who received first-place votes in this week’s poll — No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Virginia — only two have more than two wins on the season against teams that are currently ranked: Duke (five) and Michigan (three).

Yes, the Wolverines are undefeated, but they don’t have a single win over a team in the current top 15 (for the reason pointed out above, they shouldn’t be allowed to count their win over UNC). The Blue Devils, if they beat the Cavaliers, will have five such wins.

Also — close your eyes, Graham Couch — of the top four teams, only Duke has won a true road game over an opponent currently ranked in the top 15 (80-78 at No. 11 Florida State on Saturday).

And if the Blue Devils do manage to win their next game, they will be the only one of the four teams with multiple wins against opponents currently ranked in the top 10 (what would be the Virginia win and a 69-58 win over now-No. 8 Texas Tech on Dec. 20).

As for the strength of schedules to date — according to Sports Reference — of the AP’s top four teams, the rankings among all 353 Division I teams only further support the reasoning for Duke to stay at No. 1 if it wins Saturday:

Duke: 12th
Tennessee: 19th
Michigan: 48th
Virginia: 63rd

As for the simple rating system (SRS), which takes into account a team’s strength of schedule and average point differential, the Blue Devils can likely only strengthen their current standing among all teams by beating UVA:

Duke: 1st
Virginia: 4th
Tennessee: 5th
Michigan: 7th

As for the eye test, just take a look at Zion Williamson — whose jersey number happens to match the ranking Dukies desire — and then look to see if Michigan, Tennessee, or Virginia has anyone who compares.

ALSO READ: Zion Williamson is best PG option until Tre Jones returns

Didn’t think so. Enough said.

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Duke and Virginia tip off at 6 p.m. Saturday (on ESPN). College Gameday will broadcast live from inside Cameron Indoor Stadium — the ninth time the show has been in Durham — starting at 11 a.m.

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