The Blue Devils fell out of the top 25 for the first time since 1999 in February, ending a 312-week streak with an appearance in the AP Poll.
After 12 weeks on the outside looking in, Duke returned to the top 25 Monday.
The Blue Devils (9-1) moved up to No. 21 in this week's rankings after their 74-63 upset of then-No. 3 South Carolina Sunday afternoon. The Gamecocks had previously earned top-15 wins against Louisville, Ohio State and Texas, but could not solve Duke's matchup zone or find an answer for Rebecca Greenwell, who had 29 points.
Duke's return to the AP Poll comes after one of the toughest stretches in program history—after falling out of the top 25, the Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994, lost star players Azurá Stevens and Angela Salvadores and dealt with an internal investigation. Duke is hoping it can build on the momentum in the rest of its nonconference schedule.
The Blue Devils host Elon Thursday before taking on Villanova Dec. 21 and No. 15 Kentucky Dec. 29. Duke fell at Vanderbilt mid-November but has a chance to earn a second resume-building nonconference win against the Wildcats before opening conference play against No. 8 Louisville Jan. 2.
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