Duke Basketball: Only Two ACC Teams in Latest Projected Top 25

The Duke basketball program hasn't started any season outside of the top 10 since now-head coach Jon Scheyer's sophomore campaign.

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer | Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

Across a significant chunk of the 2024-25 season, it was either just the Duke basketball team alone or the Blue Devils and one other program who represented the ACC in the AP Top 25 Poll. In fact, the once-premier conference in all the land has now strung together a few "down" years in the eyes of national analysts.

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And as things stand with lackluster ACC roster constructions, some experts are forecasting another subpar campaign for the league.

On Thursday night, John Fanta updated his projected top 25 for the 2025-26 season. He forecasts only two ACC squads to have a ranking by their name in Duke and Louisville:

Here’s my updated way too early Top 25. What do you guys think??? pic.twitter.com/Crf3y6T28M

— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) May 1, 2025

That said, Fanta places both inside his top 10, as the Cardinals check in at No. 7, two notches above the Blue Devils at No. 9.

If Duke basketball ranks No. 9 or better come the first week of November, it would mark the 18th year in a row that the Blue Devils have started a season with a single-digit ranking by their name. The streak began with a No. 8 preseason tag in 2008-09, the junior year of Jon Scheyer, who is now 37 years old and preparing for his fourth season as head coach in Durham.

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