More often than not, Duke has been the hunted. Now, it has to play hunter.
With the release of the Week 11 AP Poll Monday afternoon, the Blue Devils, previously ranked 24th, fell out of the national top 25 following a couple of difficult weeks. A 24-point hammering at the hands of N.C. State led Duke head coach Jon Scheyer's team to slip from No. 16 a week ago, and Saturday evening's defeat at Clemson condemned the group to its first unranked position since a turbulent 2020-21 campaign. That season, then-head coach Mike Krzyzewski's team missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995.
Duke received 24 points in Monday's poll, checking in at 33rd nationwide.
A narrow loss to then-No. 6 Kansas and close wins against then-No. 25 Ohio State—currently ranked 16th in KenPom—and current No. 8 Xavier indicated that the Blue Devils (13-5, 4-3 in the ACC) possessed the talent to hang with college basketball's elite bunch, but a dip in form at the tail end of 2022 and to start 2023 has evidently removed a bit of confidence for voters.
Duke's tumble from the rankings comes as ACC rivals Virginia, Miami and Clemson find positions inside the top 25. The Blue Devils were one victim of an off-brand weekend in which 11 ranked teams faltered, and will have to work from the outside looking in as they look to reestablish themselves. That task begins with the 17th-ranked Hurricanes Saturday at 12 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Complete rankings:
1. Houston
2. Kansas
3. Purdue
4. Alabama
5. UCLA
6. Gonzaga
7. Texas
8. Xavier
9. Tennessee
10. Virginia
11. Arizona
12. Iowa State
13. Kansas State
14. TCU
15. UConn
16. Auburn
17. Miami
18. Charleston
19. Clemson
20. Marquette
21. Baylor
22. Providence
23. Rutgers
24. Florida Atlantic
25. Arkansas
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Andrew Long is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.