Seth Greenberg has seen plenty of great Duke basketball teams up close and personal. The ESPN college basketball analyst was the head coach at Virginia Tech for 9 years between 2003-2012.
He saw up close and personal what a national championship Duke team looks like in 2009-10.
And he knows, like so many are beginning to accept, that this Blue Devils team is absolutely good enough to win the whole thing and end the 11-year title drought in Durham.
In an appearance on First Take on Tuesday morning, Greenberg was effusive in his praise of Duke when he was asked how good this team is.
"They're Final Four, National Championship good," Greenberg said. "It starts on the defensive end. Their identity is on the defensive end. ...Dame Sarr, since he's been put in the starting lineup, he absolutely takes out the head of the snake. He guards your point guard to your small forward, and takes that person out. Defensively, the way they're connected, how hard they play on the defensive end, enables them to get out in transition.
"Offensively, when you have a guy like (Cameron) Boozer, who is so efficient, he rebounds it, he knocks down threes, he's a willing passer. He leads them in points, steals, rebounds,assists, he does a little bit of everything. ...When I look at this Duke team... National Championship is within their reach."
Seth Greenberg says Duke is 'National Championship good'
Greenberg isn't exactly stepping far out onto a limb to say all of that. Any lingering doubters left about this team's ability to win it all probably abandoned hope when Duke went to Washington, D.C., a week and a half ago and took down Michigan, the team everyone had assumed was the best team in the country coming in.
Duke hasn't missed a beat since then, either. It would have been natural to relax and let your hair down after an emotional victory, but the Blue Devils have responded with wins by 44 (Notre Dame), 26 (Virginia), and 29 (NC State), with two of those games (Notre Dame and NC State) being true road affairs.
The Blue Devils aren't just winning; they're dominating their opponents. They are imposing their will on the defensive end and erasing any and all doubt early.
Duke clinched the outright ACC regular season title with Monday's blowout of NC State. On Saturday, it will get the opportunity to right one of the only two wrongs of the season by getting revenge on North Carolina at Cameron Indoor.