The Duke Blue Devils will face their third top-25 opponent of the season on Tuesday night, and their trip to Las Vegas will be their most challenging yet.
Duke will play No. 1 Kansas, still undefeated through five games, as part of the 2024 Vegas Showdown. However, despite the Jayhawks’ ranking and record, one popular college basketball analytics site thinks the wrong team will start the week as the favorite.
KenPom gives Duke a 64% chance to upset Kansas in Vegas, a triumph that would give the Blue Devils two ranked wins in five days. They beat the Arizona Wildcats, 69-55, in Tucson on Friday night after superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] scored 24 points.
Despite Duke’s early loss to the Kentucky Wildcats last week, KenPom still considers the Blue Devils the fourth-best team in the nation. Even with a home victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on their resume, the Jayhawks are just eighth in the site’s rankings.
The more fans look at the numbers, it becomes clear why the Blue Devils are favored when rankings get stripped away. Duke has scored 84.6 points per game and allowed just 57.4 while Kansas scored 83.6 and allowed 67.6. That disparity comes despite head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his team playing two ranked teams already, one at a neutral site and the other in a true road game. The Jayhawks’ home game against UNC is their only top-25 matchup thus far.