Despite 30-point victory over Miami, Duke basketball drops in AP Poll

The Duke basketball team dropped to No. 9 in the latest Associated Press Top-25 Poll despite a 30-point victory in its lone game last week.

Sometimes things just do not make sense and the Associated Press Top-25 Poll is one of those things.

Last Monday, the Duke Blue Devils dropped from No. 3 to No. 8 after losing two games (at. Clemson and vs. Louisville). The drop in the rankings was well deserved and some believed that Duke should have been lower.

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Regardless of your opinion on how low the Blue Devils should have dropped, Duke responded to its losses with a resounding 30-point victory over the Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

Miami was the only opponent on the schedule for Duke last week yet the Blue Devils were jumped by the Villanova Wildcats.

Duke fell from No. 8 to No. 9 while Villanova rose from No. 9 to No. 8.

The Wildcats defeated the then No. 13 Butler Bulldogs at home and won on the road over the Providence Friars last week.

The Top-7 teams did not change from a week ago as Baylor, Gonzaga, Kansas, San Diego State, Florida State, Louisville, and Dayton all remained in their respective spots in the poll.

Duke will be back in the swing of things this week, hosting the Pittsburgh Panthers on Tuesday night at 9:00pm EST and then traveling to face the Syracuse Orange on Saturday night at 8:00pm EST. Both games can be seen on ESPN.

Pittsburgh is 13-7 on the season and 4-5 in ACC play, having lost its last game on the road to Syracuse while the Orange are 13-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play and are winners of five straight games.

Duke will look to continue its winning ways this week after suffering a normal mid-January setback, although reports seem unlikely that Wendell Moore will play this week as he is still recovering from his broken hand.