Duke basketball (28-3, 19-1 ACC) has reached the #1 spot in this week's Associated Press Poll, reaching the top spot for the first time this season. This is the program's first appearance as the #1 team in the land since the 2021-22 season. Duke has also become the program with the most weeks ranked as the #1 team in the country all-time, as the Blue Devils have now been ranked at the top of the poll in 146 different weeks.
The Blue Devils went on an absolute tear to end the regular season following the program's lone ACC loss to Clemson on February 8th. Following the 77-71 loss at Littlejohn Coliseum, Duke went on to win its final eight games of the regular season by a ridiculous average margin of victory of 29.2 points.
Five of those wins came by 30 points or more and the closest game Duke has had through that stretch was its most recent win to cap off the regular season in Chapel Hill against North Carolina, where the Blue Devils won 82-69.
Duke is almost guaranteed to earn a 1-seed in this year's NCAA Tournament and will likely be the tournament's #1 overall seed if it can win the ACC Tournament, which it is heavy favorites to do.
The Duke basketball program has been one of the most dominant programs college basketball has seen in a long time this season. The Blue Devils boast a +685 point differential this season, this largest point differential by a power conference team since Duke in the 199-99 season.
With the season-closing win over UNC, the Blue Devils earned the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament held at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Earning the double-bye into the quarterfinals, the first game for Duke will be against the winner of the 8-seed and 9-seed game between Georgia Tech and Virginia, respectively. Duke's quarterfinal matchup will be played on March 13th at 12:00pm ET on ESPN2.
Clemson and Louisville both climbed in the polls as well this week as the other two ranked squads out of the ACC. Clemson rose from #11 to #10 and Louisville went from #14 to #13. The Cardinals earned the #2 seed in the ACC Tournament and the Tigers will be the #3 seed.
Duke continues to surge as the season progresses, and it seems Jon Scheyer's club is peaking at the perfect time right before the postseason.