College basketball fans might have questioned whether the Duke basketball hype was warranted after a pair of early losses, but it seems like head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his roster might get the last laugh.
The Blue Devils handily defeated Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon, an 82-56 win powered by a return to form from behind the 3-point line. The victory, Duke’s sixth in a row, moved the team to 10-2 for the season and kept them No. 3 in the ESPN Basketball Power Index.
Cooper Flagg and his teammates only trail the Auburn Tigers and Houston Cougars in ESPN’s metrics through Sunday morning.
ESPN continues to consider the Blue Devils the most well-rounded team in the nation. None of Duke’s opponents have crossed the 80-point threshold this season, and the team from Durham has made 40% of its 3-pointers in five different games.
As a result, the Blue Devils are the only team with both an offensive and defensive rating above 10.0 in ESPN’s formula, slotting sixth on the offensive standings and third on defense.
The Blue Devils look like the class of the ACC with no other team within ESPN’s top 18, and Duke’s projected conference record continues to improve as a result. The popular analytics site thinks the Blue Devils will win 18.1 of their 20 ACC games this season, good enough for a projected 26.8 wins in 31 regular-season games.