The Duke Blue Devils (24-3, 15-1 ACC) jumped Florida to take the #2 spot in this week's Associated Press poll following an 80-62 road win over Virginia and a dominant 110-67 victory over Illinois at Madison Square Garden this past Saturday.
Although the poll means little in the grand scheme of things in terms of the committee determining seedings for the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils now stand alone in this way after certain teams dropped out or haven't been ranked in the poll for the majority of this season.
After Kansas dropped out of the poll this week for the first time 2021, Duke is the only team currently ranked in the AP Poll which was won a national championship over the last decade.
Virginia, Villanova, North Carolina, Baylor, Kansas, and UConn are the other clubs to win a national title over the last ten years, and none besides the Blue Devils are now nationally ranked.
Not much was expected out of the Cavaliers after Tony Bennett's sudden retirement, and Villanova wasn't considered a preseason contender out of the Big East. But many of the other past national championship winners have been some of the biggest disappointments in college basketball this season.
The Jayhawks were the preseason #1 ranked team and beat the Blue Devils on a neutral floor back in November, but fell out of the poll after dropping one at Utah before losing in blowout fashion at BYU 91-57, the largest margin of defeat for Kansas in the Bill Self era.
Baylor, the new home for former Duke guard Jeremy Roach, has been a big letdown out of the Big 12 and has now dropped three of the program's last four games. Joe Lunardi's Bracketology currently slots Baylor as a 9-seed, but the Bears are not a surefire NCAA Tournament team at the moment after being ranked preseason #8.
Danny Hurley and UConn's three-peat hopes seem to have simmered away as it's now clear this Huskies team is nowhere near as talented as the clubs across the last two seasons. At this point in the season, the Huskies 5-5 in Quad 1 and 4-3 in Quad 2, including a Quad 3 loss to Seton Hall on the resume.
It is unsure whether Hubert Davis will be the head coach of the Tar Heels after the end of the season as UNC is currently projected as one of the first four teams out after being ranked #9 in the preseason. This comes two seasons after the Heels became the first team since the tournament expanded to 68 teams to be ranked preseason #1 and miss March Madness entirely.
In a season full of disappointing teams, Duke has been one of the few clubs to live up to its preseason expectations. Jon Scheyer's squad is a projected 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament with true national title aspirations.
Next up for Duke is a road matchup against Miami (6-21, 2-14 ACC) on Tuesday night (7:00pm ET, ESPN).