College Basketball Preview: Will Duke Run Away With the ACC?

Team to Beat: Duke Blue Devils

Duke has become no stranger to expectations or living in the limelight, so starting the season as the AP number-one team is old-hat for coach Mike Krzyzewski, but for a team loaded with freshmen, expectations may be daunting.

The Blue Devils started last season as the number-one team in the country, according to the AP, but finished the ACC tied for fifth due to injuries and underachieving play. Now, after losing seven of their top eight scorers from last year, it will be up to the lone returning starter, Grayson Allen, and a cast of tremendous freshmen to get Duke back into the Final Four conversation.

Duke added four top-10 recruits and the number-42 prospect, according to ESPN's Top 100 for 2017. Those likely to be in the starting lineup are top recruit Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter, Trevon Duval, and Gary Trent Jr. This cast of freshmen will join Allen, Duke's most polarizing player in some time, for his senior season.

Allen has had his ups and downs in his career at Duke. He burst onto the national scene by scoring 16 points as a freshman off the bench in the 2015 National Championship game. Since then, he has battled high expectations and question marks about tripping opposing players. Allen's points per game dropped from 21.6 to 14.5 from his sophomore to junior season, and he will be looking to improve upon a solid but disappointing 2016-17 campaign.