Duke basketball enters postseason riding good-omen win streak

Following Saturday's 62-57 road win over archrival UNC, Jon Scheyer's first Duke basketball squad has won six straight and will be the No. 4 seed (with a double-bye) in this week's ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils play at 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday in Greensboro against either No. 5 Pitt, No. 12 Florida State, or No. 13 Georgia Tech.

The six-game win streak is Duke's longest of the season. And it comes at the perfect time, proving that these Blue Devils, who will likely reenter the AP Top 25 on Monday after a seven-week absence there, can at least win as many games in a row as it would take to win a national championship.

Not only that, but the last time a group of Blue Devils ended a regular season on at least a six-game win streak was in 2015 (those Blue Devils won 11 in a row, though). Of course, that campaign ended with Duke cutting down the nets at the Final Four in Indianapolis, the program's most recent of five national championships.

Duke teams entering the postseason on 6+ game win streaks (in ACC era):

1954: 6 games

1963: 15 (ACCT Champ; Final Four)

1971: 8

1986: 13 (ACCT Champ; Final Four)

1998: 7 (Elite Eight)

1999: 24 (ACCT Champ; Final Four)

2015: 11 (NCAA Champ)

2023: 6#DukeMBBStats
— #DukeMBBStats (@DukeMBBStats) March 5, 2023

And before this go-round, 2015 was the only time this century that a Duke basketball team had won at least six in a row to cap off a regular season.

Furthermore, before Saturday night, the 2015 Blue Devils, featuring a freshmen-laden starting lineup like this year's bunch, were the last to complete a season sweep against the Tar Heels via a victory in Chapel Hill to spoil UNC's Senior Night.

Duke's regular-season sweeps of North Carolina (ACC era -- since 1953-54):

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1955
1958
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1963
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1966
1988
1991<
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2000
2002
2004
2010
2013<
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2020
2023<

> completed sweep in Chapel Hill#DukeMBBStats
— #DukeMBBStats (@DukeMBBStats) March 5, 2023

Speaking of that victory, Duke improved to 7-2 this season in games decided by five points or less. Indeed, one could view that as another good sign for its chances to prosper in March Madness.

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