A Solid Duke Habit

Even if Duke somehow isn’t ranked atop the Associated Press poll in the 2017-18 preseason, it will be among the top five. For the fifth straight year.

This status has become so routine, it’s a bit of an upset when the Blue Devils aren’t picked among the nation’s top 10 teams in preseason. Since 2000, the Devils failed only three times to start a year ranked 10^th or better – 2005, 2007 and 2008. That last season was a decade ago.

This should be the fifth time in this century Duke is No. 1 in preseason. Interestingly, the school that was tops at the start four times was North Carolina. Looked at another way, the neighbors combined for the premier preseason poll position virtually every other season – 9 of 19 times – in what might be called the modern era.

Media voters also picked Arizona, UConn, Kansas and Kentucky at No. 1 twice each over those 19 years. Otherwise only Florida (2007) and Indiana (2013) joined the exclusive top starters since 2000. Familiarity apparently breeds more than contempt when AP voters cast their ballots.

Come season’s end, Duke finished in the AP top 20 in 17 of the last 18 seasons, with 2007 the sole exception. Other than a No. 19 finish in 2016, the Blue Devils were a top 10 team each year since 2000 as the AP voting concluded at the dawn of the NCAA tournament.