Jon Scheyer has once again built one of the best rosters in college basketball for Duke next season. We should expect nothing less from him while he's in charge in Durham.
With the No. 1 recruiting class in tow, key roster retention of Patrick Ngongba, Dame Sarr, Caleb Foster, and Cayden Boozer, along with some key portal additions highlighted by star Wisconsin guard John Blackwell, Duke will be in the conversation with Florida as the potential preseason No. 1 team in college basketball.
That would obviously mean that Duke is seen as the runaway favorite to win the ACC Championship for a third consecutive season.
But the ACC will be tougher next season. Louisville has loaded up in the Transfer Portal, Jai Lucas has Miami on the rise, and Virginia was Duke's biggest competition last season, and the Hoos will likely be better in Ryan Odom's second season in charge.
Teams like North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and NC State could surprise and be in the mix, but the top four in the league feel pretty certain.
And yet, there still feels like a big gap from tier one to tier two. It's still Duke and everybody else.
CBS' Isaac Trotter believes Duke is the lone national title contender in the ACC
Isaac Trotter released his way-too-early ACC power rankings for the 2026-27 college basketball season on Wednesday, and, unsurprisingly, he had Duke on top. But despite the portal work for both Louisville and Miami, and Virginia's likely growth, he doesn't believe any of the other ACC contenders belong in the same tier as Duke.
Trotter breaks the tiers up into five categories: title contenders, Top 25 caliber clubs, tournament teams, the bubble, and the basement.
Duke stands alone in the title contender category, with Louisville, Virginia, Miami, and North Carolina making up tier two. Virginia Tech is the lone tier three team, with NC State, Clemson, Florida State, SMU, and Syracuse making up the bubble.
So while the ACC is undoubtedly deeper and more talented heading into next season, it still would be a major upset if Duke isn't the team cutting down the nets as conference champions when the dust settles in early March.
This will be the deepest team of the Scheyer era, one with a bench that is capable of going toe-to-toe with the starting fives of other teams in the conference.
The ACC didn't do Duke any favors with its scheduling decisions, but the Blue Devils should have some margin for error in league play next season. Other teams have gotten better and taken a step forward in an attempt to run Duke down, but Scheyer followed suit and still has the Blue Devils setting the pace by a strong margin.
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