The 2026-27 college basketball season is right around the corner as the Duke Blue Devils are set to host Army on November 2nd. When the two teams hit the court in Cameron Indoor Stadium, it will mark another year for head coach Jon Scheyer.
As Scheyer goes into his fifth season, the Blue Devils will once again be among the favorites to cut down the nets in April. After last season’s disappointing ending, the anticipation for Duke basketball is high as the hope is that Scheyer can get this team over the hump. But before they hit the court, the Blue Devils earned some more praise.
As part of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tipoff event last week in Charlotte, media members took a poll for how the teams will place this season. To no one’s surprise. Duke is projected to finish first in the conference. The Blue Devils earned 861 points and had 45 first-place votes.
Virginia was second, followed by Louisville and Miami who each had a first-pace vote as well. Below is the full preseason poll from the media:
1. Duke (45), 861
2. Virginia (1), 778
3. Louisville (1), 758
4. Miami (1), 753
5. North Carolina, 658
6. Clemson, 623
7. Florida State, 519
8. NC State, 502
9. Virginia Tech, 489
10. SMU, 443
11. Syracuse, 353
12. Pitt, 323
13. Stanford, 267
14. Wake Forest, 234
15. California, 225
16. Notre Dame, 153
17. Boston College, 150
18. Georgia Tech, 119
It’s really not surprising to see Duke on top of this preseason poll seeing the roster they currently have going into this campaign. They will also likely be near the top of both the coaches and AP top 25 polls when those are released in the next week or so.
Duke also headlined the All-ACC preseason teams as well. Guard John Blackwell and center Patrick Ngongba II were named to the All-ACC First Team, while freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje was named to the All-ACC Second Team.
Blackwell was second in the voting for the preseason Player of the Year, behind only Thijs De Ridder of Virginia. Boumtje Boumtje is the favorite to be the ACC Rookie of the Year, earning 34 votes in that category.
Duke’s roster is loaded this year and they should be a team that is right there again to make a run for a national title. With these expectations, anything short of that would be very disappointing.
