The Duke Blue Devils won their eighth straight game on Saturday in their most impressive effort yet, a 27-point road victory over the previously 11-2 SMU Mustangs, and [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his teammates moved slightly closer to the No. 1 spot in the ESPN Basketball Power Index because of it.
Flagg scored 24 points, giving him at least 20 in five of Duke’s last seven games, and the Blue Devils held SMU to just 62 points after the Mustangs averaged an ACC-best 87.2 to start the year. Oh, and they did all of that with head coach Jon Scheyer absent from the bench with an illness.
As of Sunday, Duke sits second in the BPI rankings with a 22.6 index, narrowly behind the Auburn Tigers at 23.1. The Houston Cougars (No. 3 at 22.4) and undefeated Tennessee Volunteers (No. 4 at 21.0) are the only other teams above 19.0 in the metric.
ESPN has considered the Blue Devils the most well-rounded team in the nation all season, and that still holds true through Saturday’s games. Duke has surrendered fewer than 60.0 points per game amid a difficult opening schedule, and the Blue Devils have put at least 82 points on the board in each of their last three efforts.
It all adds up to a team that ranks second in the offensive power index and third in the defensive power index, making Duke the only team within the top five on both ends.
The Pittsburgh Panthers, Duke’s next opponent, sit at No. 31 after a 12-2 start to the campaign.