Duke basketball rises in poll, UNC falls out again
Duke basketball jumped one spot to No. 16 in this week's AP Top 25 poll on Monday, now only nine notches lower than where the Blue Devils (11-3, 2-1 ACC) sat in the preseason. The team's only outing since the last edition was Saturday's 86-67 home win over the unranked Florida State Seminoles (4-11, 2-2 ACC).
Every AP Top 25 poll since the beginning of last season has included Duke.
Meanwhile, eight miles down Tobacco road, the rival UNC Tar Heels (9-5, 1-2 ACC), who began the season at No. 1 before falling out altogether a few weeks later and returning at No. 25 last week, saw their ranking disappear once again following a 76-74 road loss to the unranked Pitt Panthers (10-4, 3-0 ACC) on Friday.
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The ACC now boasts only three ranked teams: Duke, the Virginia Cavaliers (10-2, 2-1 ACC) at No. 11, and the Miami Hurricanes (13-1, 4-0 ACC) at No. 12.
At 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, the Duke basketball squad, which has won five of its past six games under first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, will be at the PNC Arena in Raleigh to face the NC State Wolfpack (11-4, 1-3 ACC). NC State hopes to bounce back from its 78-64 road loss against the Clemson Tigers (11-3, 3-0) on Friday.
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Then the Blue Devils play the Boston College Eagles (7-7, 1-2 ACC) at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Saturday before hosting Pitt in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 11.
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