College Basketball Power 10: Duke Rises, North Carolina Falls

4. Duke (10-1)

There might not be another team in the nation that could lose three key players, have the Wooden Award favorite in Grayson Allen banged up to the start the season and still be 10-1 with a healthy roster quickly starting to form.

Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden both played in the last three games and Duke expects Harry Giles to return before Christmas.

Tatum and Bolden both still have clear signs of rust, but Bolden recording seven points and five rebounds in his debut and Tatum recording 22 points against a ranked Florida team in his second career game is why there is so much excitement around them.

Right now, Duke is only showing small flashes of the team many expected them to be. Leading Florida by 10 at halftime and winning 84-74, while only letting Florida get within six once in the second half, is not even close to the expectations this Duke team has when fully healthy.

The Blue Devils never fully closed the door on the Gators in the second half and left room for a comeback. It’s a game that never seemed out of their control in the second half, however a couple of threes by Florida could have made it very interesting.

Grayson Allen had the potential dunk of the year against UNLV last week, though, on his way to a career-high 34 points.

On a Duke team that is having two impact freshmen return and Luke Kennard emerging as a Wooden Award contender, having Allen score 34 points is just another positive involving Duke’s health issues.

Duke still isn’t full strength and they’re not playing their best basketball, yet. Although, right now they’re playing like a top five team and they’re only going to get better.

Duke hosts Tennessee State this week.