Duke Tops Polls After Rout of Maryland

Coach K can finally rest easy, it appears his Duke Blue Devils are en route to getting some respect. At least that's what this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls say. The Dukies pulled 62 first-place AP votes (six went to Connecticut, three to Pittsburgh and one to Oklahoma) and 31 firsts in the Coach's poll (UConn earned the lone other vote.)

There shouldn't be any question about this either, really, although it's fairly surprising to see even a few voters stray from sliding their first-place votes to the Devils (especially after Wake Forest's stumble last week). Duke is 18-1 overall and undefeated in ACC play, including an obscene 41-point stomping of Maryland on Saturday.

Since losing to Michigan, they've more or less mowed down most of their competition, and one has to think that, providing they win this Wednesday at Wake Forest, there won't be any other teams pulling first-place votes until the Devils cough up their next loss.

Coach K is actually happy about this, and performing a lovely media-friendly half-pirouette:

"We've had a chance to drink from that cup of No. 1 a number of times," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said on the ACC coaches' teleconference. "It's a tremendous honor, and we don't take it lightly."

Elsewhere in do-not-take-lightly news, the ACC has now had three teams be No. 1 this year, only the fourth time that's ever happened: 2002-03 for the SEC, '89-90 for the Big Eight and '85-86 for the ACC. Sure, the bottom half of the conference might not be that spectacular, but it's a pretty good indication that league has moved past its miserable football season.