Duke Making a Mockery of ACC Basketball as Storm to March Madness Top Seed Continues

The Blue Devils are laughing at its conference competition with another blowout victory

Feb 28, 2026; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Dame Sarr (7) celebrates with center Patrick Ngongba II (21) after hitting a three-pointer during the first half against the Virginia Cavaliers at Cameron Indoor Stadium. / Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

What the Duke basketball team is doing feels unprecedented even for its lofty standards.

As the Blue Devils dominated the ACC last season, the overwhelming consensus was that the team was really good, but the conference was not as strong as it has been historically and that’s why no one could challenge Jon Scheyer’s team.

Now, the league has gotten much better and Duke is still rolling through its competition.

Saturday’s 77-51 dominant win over No. 11 Virginia was over from the opening tip and it’s not the first time the Blue Devils dominated an upper-echelon team in the ACC. It bludgeoned Louisville and Clemson within the last month in addition to its impressive non-conference win over then No. 1 Michigan.

Its lone conference loss against North Carolina could have easily been flipped to a win.

Despite its lofty record and lengthy win streak, it felt like Duke was flying under the radar compared to other elite teams around the country until its win over the Wolverines and that secret is officially out.

The Blue Devils are really good – National Championship good – and what Jon Scheyer has done this year after losing his entire starting five from a Final Four year a season ago to the NBA has him in the race to be the National Coach of the Year.

Its win on Saturday over the Cavaliers clinched at least a share of the ACC regular season title and the top seed in the ACC Tournament. Duke also added its 12th Quad 1 win of the season, which is tied for the most in the country and its 10th win over a ranked team this season, which is the most in the country.

Duke will still have two challenging games remaining in the regular season, traveling to N.C. State and hosting North Carolina, but it’s clear that nobody will want to see the Blue Devils on their side of the bracket this year.

Will this team get over the hump for the first time since 2015? Who knows, but Jon Scheyer took over a machine and somehow made it stronger.