The Duke Blue Devils won their sixth straight game on Saturday, an 82-56 road triumph over Georgia Tech, to move up to No. 4 in the latest AP Poll.
The Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers, and Iowa State Cyclones remained unmoved in the top three spots, but the biggest surprise stems from the lack of ACC competition in the top 25.
With the Clemson Tigers dropping two of their last three games and the North Carolina Tar Heels already sporting five losses, no other team in the conference cracked the ranking this week. None of them got particularly close, either, with the Pittsburgh Panthers in an unofficial 33rd with just 27 votes as the second-best ACC team.
The Blue Devils occupied that same fourth spot in the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll and in Andy Katz’s latest national power rankings, and it’s easy to see why with their recent form. Duke has held four of its past six opponents under 60 points, and the Blue Devils made 40% of their 3-pointers for the fifth time this season against the Yellow Jackets.
[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his teammates won’t play this week, and the next game on the Duke schedule comes on New Year’s Eve at home against Virginia Tech.