The college basketball season got underway earlier this week and the Duke basketball team has already received a lot of attention. The Blue Devils are always one of the top teams in college basketball, and they are once again as they coming into this season with a lot of hype. When the preseason AP Poll came out, Duke came in at #2, only ranked below Kansas. However, when the new rankings come out on Monday, they're going to look a bit different, and the Blue Devils are going to be sliding down a few spots.

Duke basketball got their season started off on Monday at home against Dartmouth. The Blue Devils obviously came into that game as big favorites, and they took care of business easily as they cruised to a 92-54 victory. That set up a massive home game on Friday night against #12 Arizona. Duke came into this one as a slight 5.5-point favorite, and the game was back and forth the entire way, and it went right down to the wire. Duke took a 69-67 lead with just over a minute remaining, but the Wildcats closed the game on a 11-4 run to pick up a huge win on the road.

Obviously that was a game that Duke wanted to have, but it's early in the season, and there is still a lot of talent on this team. They are going to slide down the rankings a bit because of the loss, but there are plenty of opportunities to pick up big time wins, and the next one will be on Tuesday against #4 Michigan State. That should be a terrific game.

Last season was Jon Scheyer's first season as the head coach of Duke basketball, and the Blue Devils had a pretty solid year. Duke ended up winning the ACC tournament and getting into the big dance as a #4 seed. They ended up going down in the round of 32, which does not meet Duke standards, but it was still a solid year. The Blue Devils are looking to take another step and have a deeper run this season, and here are three predictions for the year.

Duke will win the ACC

It's obviously very early in the season and there is a lot of time for things to change, but it looks like this could be a bit of a down year for the ACC. In the preseason AP Poll, Duke came in at #2, Miami came in at #13 and North Carolina came in at #19. There will likely be some teams that will emerge that weren't expected to have great seasons, but at this point, it looks like it will be Duke's conference to lose. This team certainly has the talent to win the conference. Kyle Filipowski is one of the best players in the country, and he has Tyrese Proctor, Jeremy Roach and a lot of other highly-skilled players with him. This team is loaded with talent.

Duke will win the ACC

The logic here is pretty similar to the logic above. Roster wise, there aren't many teams that stack up with the Blue Devils. They are one of the most talented teams in the country, and they should be able to find a lot of success in the ACC. By the time the ACC tournament rolls around, this team should be finding their stride, and they should be going into that tournament as one of the top seeds. Don't be surprised at all if Duke gets the clean sweep of ACC trophies this season.

Duke will lose in the Elite 8

Duke basketball will have a deeper run in the tournament than they did last season, but they will fall just short of making the final four. College basketball is as unpredictable as it gets, and that becomes especially apparent in March. This Duke team definitely has the talent to go deeper than the Elite 8, they have the talent to win a national championship, no question about it. However, if last year taught us anything, the most talented rosters and the best teams from the regular season don't always make it to the Final Four. Duke is going to have a terrific season, but it might not end up being as good as Blue Devils fans are hoping for.