The Duke Blue Devils made their statement as one of the best teams in the country on Wednesday night, battling back from a bad start for an 84-78 victory over the undefeated Auburn Tigers.
Before the midweek battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke’s resume consisted of two losses to teams currently within the top 25. After the Auburn win, however, suddenly the Blue Devils have a top-5 victory and two other top-10 losses by eight combined points. That kind of resume stamps Duke as one of the nation’s best, and the ESPN Basketball Power Index sees them as such.
As of Thursday morning, ESPN Analytics considers the Blue Devils the second-best team in the country behind only the Tennessee Volunteers. They rank second in the offensive power index and fifth in the defensive power index, the only team inside both top fives.
According to ESPN’s projections, the Blue Devils are expected to finish with 26.1 wins in 31 regular-season games. BPI gives Duke an 88.8% chance to win the ACC, a number boosted by the North Carolina Tar Heels losing four of their first eight battles.