A team has to be pretty good if it is two thirds of the way through its season with only one loss and nobody is surprised.
And yes, Duke is indeed what you'd call a rather good basketball team.
With just nine games left until the ACC tournament and a perfect conference record in tow, the Blue Devils have left themselves little to prove until March, when the season will ultimately ride on a few contests.
That's not to say these last nine games do not matter. Duke is still young, with five sophomores and a freshman continually learning each day in practice. And as Duke learned last season, seeding and regional location can mean everything. A pair of losses to UNC knocked the Blue Devils out of the East Regional in Greensboro and set up Duke to play the best No. 2 seed, Kentucky, in St. Petersburg. North Carolina went on to the Final Four, while the Blue Devils fell victim to the Wildcats.
Now, the Blue Devils are battling with Connecticut and potentially Maryland, depending on what happens this Wednesday, for the right to the top spot in the East Regional, which for Duke would likely go through Charlotte and then East Rutherford, N.J.
The top-ranked Huskies currently have a leg up, though that all could change as they prepare to face St. John's and Stanford. Then again, everything could change Wednesday when the Terps visit Cameron.
Still, despite a pair of exhausting wins over the past five days, all signs point in the right direction for Duke. Up and down the roster, every player has improved. Corey Maggette has a hip pointer but the team is otherwise healthy, and an animated Mike Krzyzewski in Wednesday's game figures to be a good sign the coach can lead the way until his surgery after the season.
The number of questions the Blue Devils have already answered reads like a laundry list. Trajan Langdon has stepped up his game, both physically and emotionally as a vocal leader. Will Avery has learned to play under control and thus emerged as one of the country's five or 10 best point guards; Chris Carrawell is now more than a role player and often a difference-maker. Shane Battier has quietly asserted himself more on offense, Elton Brand is healthy and dominant, Nate James almost always gives quality minutes and the list goes on and on.
Duke is outscoring its opposition by around 26 points a game because the defensive effort, with the noted exception of the first half against Cincinnati, has been good most of the time and even picked up a notch against Maryland and Kentucky. Carrawell is seemingly the designated star-stopper, as Steve Francis and Terrell McIntyre rank among his victims.
Offensively, the Blue Devils have been able to run. Duke isn't as deep numbers-wise as it was last year, but a player like James has made the quality far more valuable than quantity.
What's left to prove? In a definite down year for the ACC, the Blue Devils can become the first team to ever finish 16-0 in conference play. It certainly won't be easy, and not every game can be a blowout. But realistically, Duke cannot afford many losses if it hopes to overtake Connecticut for supremacy in the East.
Only one preseason concern really remains, and with Avery and Langdon staying healthy and shining, backcourt depth hasn't been an issue so far. Carrawell, Maggette and James can fill in when needed, as they did against St. John's. But there's no question Duke isn't the same team, and wouldn't be the same team, if its duo that ranks as one of the nation's best was ever beset by injury.
Of course, when your biggest concern is a possible setback down the road, then maybe a 20-1 record really is no surprise at all.
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