It’s finally here. We’ve finally made it to March.
With the sun rising on college basketball’s most famous month and the titular NCAA Tournament just weeks away, here’s a glance at where Duke sits in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin.
The Blue Devils are currently eighth in the national rankings as of March 1. They’re once again the highest-ranked team in the ACC with a narrow lead over rival North Carolina, who sits ninth.
The high ranking should reassure those in Durham, as a grand majority of the past dozen national champions ended the regular season as one of the site’s top 10 teams.
Duke has boasted a top-10 offense for much of the season, and KenPom currently measures the Blue Devils with 1.224 adjusted points per possession, the eighth-best mark in the country.
The Duke defense has come along as well, with the Blue Devils now up to 25th in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Houston holds a dominant lead on the top overall spot, with Purdue, Connecticut, Arizona, and Tennessee rounding out the rest of the top five.
Duke’s Saturday opponent, a feisty Virginia squad right on the tournament bubble, is 63rd in the national rankings but boasts the 10th-best defense.