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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils deserve to be at No. 1 in AP Poll on Monday

By Kevin Connelly

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 09: Cam Reddish #2, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils hug in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on February 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 09: Cam Reddish #2, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils hug in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on February 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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After a wire to wire victory on the road against Virginia on Saturday evening, the Duke Basketball team should be ranked No. 1 in the latest edition of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Monday.

Prior to beating then No. 4 Virginia on January 19, the then No. 1 Duke Blue Devils fell to an unranked Syracuse team at home without Cam Reddish and Tre Jones leaving in the opening minutes due to a shoulder injury.

Jones was still not able to play against the Cavaliers and despite beating Virginia without one of its best players, the voters moved the Tennessee Volunteers to No. 1 in the AP Poll and dropped the Blue Devils to No. 2, while despite the loss to Duke, Virginia moved up to No. 3.

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Since that week, there has been no change in the top two spots, but that needs to change this Monday.

With a full team, the Duke Blue Devils went to Charlottesville, Virginia and dominated the No. 3 Cavaliers, winning wire to wire.

Duke is now 6-1 against the Top 15, with two victories over Virginia and wins over Kentucky, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Florida State, while Tennessee is 1-1 against the Top 25 with a loss to Kansas and a win over Gonzaga.

The NCAA Selection Committee took notice of the Blue Devils success even prior to the game on Saturday against Virginia, placing Duke as the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament, had Selection Sunday been yesterday.

The Associated Press ranks its best teams on who was the last team who lose and who has not lost for the longest period of time, not in terms of an actual resume and who is in fact the best team.

The Blue Devils dominated one of the best teams in the country twice, one time without one of its best players, and the only reason Duke is not No. 1 is due to the fact that the AP votes punished them for losing a game without two of its best four players.

Tennessee has beaten up on the lower tier SEC teams, having not yet played Kentucky, LSU, or Auburn yet, and of those three teams, the Volunteers only play Kentucky twice.

Despite all of that, the Associated Press voters have a chance to redeem themselves on Monday afternoon by jumping the Duke Blue Devils over the Tennessee Volunteers.

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