Duke Ranked 13th in Initial NET Ratings

Blue Devils out of top 10 in NCAA Evaluation Tool

The first NET rankings of the new college basketball season are out, and Duke is surprisingly low.

The Blue Devils, who moved up three spots to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, which was also released on Monday, are currently ranked No. 13 in NET.

The ratings replaced the RPI as the preferred analytics evaluation tool by the NCAA Tournament selection committee last season. It takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.

What are the NET Rankings?

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Duke, 9-1 on the season, trails Ohio State, Kansas, San Diego State, Butler, Baylor, Gonzaga, Auburn, Louisville, Stanford, Dayton, Maryland and West Virginia.

Duke’s average opponent has a 120 NET ranking, which is 33 toughest among all schools. Only three of the teams ahead of the Blue Devils—Kansas, West Virginia and Maryland—had a better quality of opponent. The same three teams are the only ones ahead of Duke with a better strength of schedule, which has the Blue Devils ranked 31.

Duke’s non-conference strength of schedule ranks 46. Six teams ahead of Duke are better—Kansas, Baylor, Auburn, Dayton, Maryland and West Virginia.

Duke’s 2-0 road record is also better than all but two of the teams ahead of it—Gonzagan and San Diego State, both 3-0.

The NET divides teams into four Quadrants, based on their quality. Duke is 4-0 against Quadrant I (the highest quality) teams, which is not only the best record but also the most games any team in the top 348 have played against Quadrant I teams. (Maryland Eastern Shore, No. 349 in NET, is 0-5 against them.)

Duke is 0-1 against Quadrant II, 3-0 against Quadrant III and 2-0 against Quadrant IV. Among teams ranked ahead of the Blue Devils, only West Virginia (also 2-0) has played as few games against the worst teams. No. 6 Gonzaga is 7-0 against Quadrant IV.

Duke ranks second in the ACC in NET, behind Louisville, third in opponent’s average NET, behind Wake Forest and Florida State, third in strength of schedule and non-conference strength of schedule, behind Florida State and Miami.