Duke basketball dropped from #4 to #5 in this week's Associated Press Poll, but it doesn't really make any sense. The Blue Devils did nothing to warrant dropping a slot as they won both of their games over the last week and a half handily.
Here's this week's top 5
1. Tennesse
2. Auburn
3. Iowa State
4. Kentucky
5. Duke
Kentucky jumps ahead of Duke? That doesn't make much sense. Across the last week, both of the programs won all of their respective games against inferior opponents. It seems odd that the Wildcats jumped the Blue Devils for really no reason.
Duke had a lower-scale week in terms of their competition than the program has had for most of the season. The team took down Louisville last Sunday 76-65 and then only faced Incarnate Word throughout this week, winning 72-46.
The Blue Devils played a great second half to take down the Cardinals on the road after getting out to an early deficit when Louisville hit 8 threes in the first half. Despite the Cardinals sitting at just 6-5 and being riddled with injuries, it was still an impressive comeback win on the road against one of the better teams in the ACC.
What's interesting about Kentucky jumping Duke is that the Wildcats had a very similar last week or so. The team beat Colgate 78-67 then played Louisville and won 93-85. Albeit Kentucky vs. Louisville is one of the greatest rivalries college basketball has to offer, but it's pretty clear Kentucky is the much better team.
The AP Poll has received a ton of ridicule over the season with its rankings being completely wrong. After the poll kept UConn in at #25 after losing three straight games to unranked teams in Maui, the internet blew up.
Not that the AP Poll in and of itself means that much, but it's a head-scratching move why the Wildcats jumped the Blue Devils now.
Sure, Kentucky beat Duke on a neutral floor earlier in the season, suggesting to some they are the better team. But that was in early November. If Duke was ahead of Kentucky last week, there was nothing to show over the course of the last twelve or so days that prove Kentucky is in fact a better team.
It makes you wonder whether the Blue Devils got punished for playing a weak schedule over a week, which wouldn't make sense given the gauntlet of a non-con schedule Jon Scheyer has put his guys through, or was it a mistake the pollers then fixed?
""They were fifth last week, and with no one ahead of them losing, the thought was that they would remain at fifth. That wasn't the case, they jumped the Duke Blue Devils who only played one game last week against Incarnate Word. While they won that game, they were punished for it. Or could it be that the AP voters were fixing a mistake they made last week in the rankings?"wildcatbluenation.com
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The Blue Devils have another quiet week on the schedule as they will host George Mason tomorrow night (7:00pm ET, ACC Network) then head on the road to take on Georgia Tech (12:00pm, ACC Network) for the second conference game of Duke's season.
Is it absolutely soul-crushing that the Blue Devils fell from #4 to #5 in this week's poll? No. But does it make a lot of sense? I still think no.