The Duke Blue Devils, despite losses to the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks in their first six games, made the top five of the NCAA’s initial men’s basketball net rankings on Monday.
Thanks to a ranked win over the Arizona Wildcats in its only true road game, Duke started the season fourth in the net rankings behind only the Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers, and Gonzaga Bulldogs.
The Blue Devils have won all four of their home games by at least 22 points, holding Wofford and Seattle to 83 combined points in the last two contests at Cameron Indoor Stadium. However, Auburn comes to town on Wednesday after a Maui Invitational title that featured wins over the Iowa State Cyclones, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Memphis Tigers.
A win over Auburn would push Duke closer to the top of the net rankings and could very well provide a head-to-head tiebreaker for a No. 1 seed in the eventual NCAA Tournament bracket. Superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], who scored 50 points against Kansas and Kentucky, will likely need his third 20-point performance of the season.
The Pittsburgh Panthers, off to a 7-1 start, surprisingly came in fifth in the net rankings as the second-best ACC team. The Tar Heels, after three losses in seven games to start the year, failed to crack the top 25 at 26th.