What do Duke and Mississippi Valley State have in common? On the surface, there isn’t much aside from the fact that they both have the word “Devils” in their nicknames. The Blue Devils have won five national championships since 1991. The Delta Devils have never even won an NCAA Tournament game.
Duke is 14-4 and ranked No. 18 in the NET while Mississippi Valley State is 0-19 and ranked No. 362 in the NET. But as divergent as their seasons and histories have been, the devilish pair share an identical record in Quad 2 games.
Following Saturday’s home loss to Pitt, Duke is 0-3 in Quad 2, just the same as the worst team in college basketball. Of the 40 teams with an 0-3 mark in Quad 2 opportunities, Duke is the only one ranked in the top 115 of the NET. Further illustrating the peculiarity of Duke’s résumé is the fact that the Blue Devils are the only major conference team in the NET’s top 35 with a losing record in Quad 2.
This team owns a 3-1 record in Quad 1 with neutral-site wins over Michigan State and Baylor serving to show its high potential. But the Blue Devils also possess a troubling trait of playing down to their competition. It’s why they are down eight spots in this week’s power rankings and why they are already struggling to keep pace with North Carolina in the ACC race.
With that, here are the latest CBS Sports power rankings.
College basketball power rankings
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