It's no secret that Duke basketball (27-3, 18-1 ACC) has been running through the rest of the conference as of late. Since the Blue Devils' lone in-conference loss at Clemson on February 8th, the program has been on possibly the most dominant winning streak in college basketball this season.
Since the 77-71 loss at Clemson, the Blue Devils have won seven games in a row, with a ridiculous average margin of victory of 31.8 points per game. Duke has won five of the seven games by 30 points or more and handed Illinois its largest loss in program history in Madison Square Garden on February 22nd, when Duke dismantled the Fighting Illini by a score of 110-67.
Only one squad has come within 20 points of beating Duke over this stretch when the Blue Devils beat Virginia in Charlottesville 80-62 on February 17th.
Now on the season, Duke has established a record-setting point differential, and it links this year's Blue Devils squad to a past Duke team, potentially foreshadowing a national title game appearance for Duke.
Duke has a +672 point differential this season, the largest point differential by a major conference team since the 1998-99 season. The team that previously held this record was Duke in that 1998-99 season, a team that featured Blue Devil stars such as Shane Battier, Trajan Langdon, and Elton Brand.
And in that season, Duke finished with a 37-2 record and went all the way to the national title game, where the Blue Devils fell to UConn 77-74.
Current Duke basketball assistant Chris Carrawell was also a member's of that year's club.
Most around college basketball view Duke and Auburn as the two top national title contenders, with a huge gap between the Blue Devils and Tigers and the rest of the field.
Duke is currently the odds-on favorite to win the national championship with +330 odds per ESPNBET, followed by Auburn at +350. There's a fair drop after the two programs, as the team with the next highest odds to win it all is Florida at +750.
The Blue Devils cap off their regular season in Chapel Hill on March 8th (6:30pm ET, ESPN) against rival North Carolina (20-11, 13-6 ACC).