Duke opens the season at No. 4 in the Preseason Associated Press Poll
The Duke Basketball team will open the season at No. 4 in the Associated Press Preseason Top-25 Poll with a daunting schedule ahead.
The college basketball season is right around the corner and the Associated Press released its Preseason Top-25 and the Duke Blue Devils will start the season at No. 4 in the polls.
Michigan State will open the season at No. 1, while Kentucky comes in at No. 2.
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Duke will open the season against the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks in the State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 5.
Being ranked in the Top-5 to start the season, the Blue Devils extended its streak of weeks being in the AP Top-5 to 21 weeks straight. Kentucky is second on that list with two straight weeks being in the Top-5 while there are three different schools tied at one week.
Duke will play five teams that are ranked in the Preseason AP Top-25 Poll this year, all ranked in the Top-12. The Blue Devils will go toe-to-toe with No. 1 Michigan State, No. 3 Kansas, No. 5 Louisville, No. 9 North Carolina, and No. 11 Virginia.
As always, Duke will play North Carolina twice but only meet up with other ACC foes Louisville and Virginia once.
Duke is also ranked inside the Top-10 for the twenty-fourth consecutive season, which is the most in the country with Kansas at fourteen straight seasons and Kentucky with eleven seasons.
This season the Blue Devils will rely on returning players such as Tre Jones, Javin DeLaurier, and Jack White while adding one of the top freshmen classes headlined by Vernon Carey Jr., Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore, and Cassius Stanley.
Mike Krzyzewski will also be depending on role players that are returning who need to step into a bigger role this season like Alex O’Connell, Jordan Goldwire, and Joey Baker.
The Duke Blue Devils will be looking to win its second straight ACC Tournament Championship this season and its third in the past four seasons, in addition to its sixth National Championship overall and its first since the 2014-15 season.