By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Duke is one of the blue blood programs in college basketball. The Blue Devils have won five national championships under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. This year’s team might be the best he has ever coached.

They signed the top 3 players in the 2019 recruiting class which is something that has never been done before. Those players are R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish. They also snagged point guard Tre Jones. He was ranked No. 10 overall and the top point guard.

So far, the star freshmen have lived up to the hype. They opened the season pummeling No. 5 Kentucky 118 – 84.

Williamson looks like a lock to be the top pick in the 2019 draft. He’s one of the most explosive players I’ve ever seen. It seems like every game he has an amazing dunk or blocked shot. He averages 22 ppg, 9 rpg, 2 steals per game and 2 blocks.

Barrett leads the team in scoring with 23 ppg. He also gets 7 rpg and 4 assists per game. Reddish adds 14 ppg.

They are currently ranked second in the nation behind Tennessee. Their two loses came against No. 3 Gonzaga and unranked Syracuse. The Blue Devils have one loss in conference play and are first in the ACC.

The schedule consists of wins against several top 15 opponents like Kentucky, Auburn, Texas Tech, Florida State and Virginia. They swept both meetings against the No. 3 Cavaliers, which are their only losses of the season. They beat them over the weekend 81 – 71 in Charlottesville. LeBron James was there to watch the talented freshmen.

“We were just in our zone and it’s great to see when our team is like that,” Barrett said.

“It’s any given night for all of us,” Reddish said after finishing 5 of 8 from beyond the arc, with three coming in a span of less than three minutes.

The next game is at No. 16 Louisville. The remaining schedule has two games against arch rival No. 8 North Carolina, NC State, Miami, Wake Forest, No. 22 Virginia Tech and a rematch at home against Syracuse.

The only game I think they could be in danger of losing is one of the match ups with Carolina. I think it will be difficult to sweep the Tar Heels.

I expect Duke to finish as the best team in the ACC after the regular season and they should also win the conference tournament. I think they will be the top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Once March Madness begins anything can happen. There are always upsets so the most talented teams can get sent home. With a team led by freshmen they could struggle against an experienced team.

For instance, I think the best team at Duke was the 98-99 team. That team had four players drafted within the first fourteen picks of the 1999 draft. They were undefeated in the ACC and only lost one game during the season. They lost the national championship game to UConn by three points.

They will be the favorite to win it all but it’s not a sure thing. If this team can stay focused and win the championship, they will be the best team in program history.