The often unpredictable NCAA Tournament can produce stunning upsets and incredible highlights. In a 40 minute contest featuring teenage athletes, there's a distinct randomness at the college level when two teams with similarly matched talents face off in high pressure situations.
With Duke, however, randomness can be thrown out of the equation entirely and replaced with inevitability.
Like Saturday, for instance. The Blue Devils came in having lost their last three matchups against NC State. But early on it was clear that, while the Wolfpack fought admirably from being blown out, Duke was the superior team. The eventual 94-78 outcome was never in question. It was expected that Duke was going to win, and indeed it did.
The same feeling fans got watching NC State and Duke battle it out on Saturday is the same you get measuring Duke's national title prospects. Twenty-five games into its season, Duke's deck is absurdly stacked. It has Zion Williamson, the NCAA's best player, who scored 32 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. It has RJ Barrett, a likely top-five NBA Draft pick who notched Duke's first triple-double since Shelden Williams in 2006. And oh, by the way, Duke also has the NCAA's best coach in Mike Krzyzewski, and -- oh! -- another projected top 5 pick in Cam Reddish.
All the more stunning is that the Blue Devils are among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the ACC; they missed 13 of their 16 attempts against NC State. And yet they still rolled by 16 against an NCAA Tournament quality club.
Inevitable seems pretty fitting a descriptor, no? Who is beating this team in March? Or April?
Now, Duke isn't totally indestructible. Gonzaga cracked the code in Maui, winning 89-87 in late-November. Syracuse did the same in mid-January (albeit with sturdy point guard Tre Jones out due to injury) in a 95-91 OT win. But thus far, there's no one that is in Duke's stratosphere. The Blue Devils are breathing their own pure, rarefied air. They're second in total scoring margin across the NCAA, second only to -- you guessed it -- Gonzaga; the Bulldogs also have the benefit of whooping up on everyone in the WCC, an enjoyment Duke cannot share in the ACC.
Tennessee, Gonzaga, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina can all win it all, to be clear. For as good as Duke is, there are bonafide contenders elsewhere -- and a single-elimination NCAA Tournament format provides opportunities for Duke to falter and other challengers to rise. But let's not kid ourselves here: Duke is the best team in the country. The creme de la creme. With its talent, momentum, coaching and construct, it would take a monumental upset to see it bow out early in March Madness.
