Crazy stat

[nmduke2001]

Wojo just tweeted that the senior class has never been out of the top 10. Wow.

[Frobisher]

Wojo just tweeted that the senior class has never been out of the top 10. Wow.

When was the last time this happened?

Us in late 80s early 90s??

I feel like the UM, Florida, and other runs of upper tier dominance were only 2-3 years long...I dunno.

[nmduke2001]

Maybe Duke 1997-2001? I would guess 2002 didn't fall out either. So a five year run? I should know this.

[vick]

When was the last time this happened?

Us in late 80s early 90s??

I feel like the UM, Florida, and other runs of upper tier dominance were only 2-3 years long...I dunno.

I thought the last time we were out of the top 10 was November 20, 2007, so it would be...Miles Plumlee? The last time before that, I do not know.

[Blue KevIL]

As I mentioned the other day, I have had some time to do some AP Poll research.
This fits in with Coach Wojo's tweet referenced above...

Duke has now been ranked in the Top 10 for the past 111 AP Polls (Nov-26-2007 through current):

• #1 - 17 weeks
• #2 - 8 weeks
• #3 - 9 weeks
• #4 - 10 weeks
• #5 - 14 weeks
• #6 - 14 weeks
• #7 - 18 weeks
• #8 - 9 weeks
• #9 - 8 weeks
• #10 - 4 weeks

Prior to that the Blue Devils spent the first three polls of the 2007-08 season ranked #13.

If you look at the Top 15, Duke has been ranked #14 or better for 311 of the past 319 AP Polls (Pre-Season Poll 1996-97 until Current).

Three of those eight weeks outside of the Top 15 occurred in 1999:
The Blue Devils were ranked #10 in the Preseason and lost the first two games of the year to #13 Stanford (79-80) & #1 UConn (66-71) in MSG and were then #18, #16, #17 in consecutive weeks. Duke then re-entered the Top 14 after 5 straight wins and ended the 1999-2000 season ranked #1.

The other five weeks outside of the Top 15 took place in 2007:
The Blue Devils dropped from #8 to #16 after two consecutive losses to unranked Virginia-Away (66-68) & unranked Florida State-Home (67-68) and then from #16 to Unranked after another two consecutive losses to #5 UNC-Home (73-79) & unranked Maryland-Away (60-72).
Duke re-entered the AP Poll a week later at #18 (Week #15 Feb-19-2007) after two wins and moved up to #14 two weeks later (Week #16 Feb-26-2007) after two more wins.
Those two wins, however, would be the last of the 2006-07 season -- the Blue Devils lost to #24 Maryland at home (77-85) and to #8 UNC away (72-86) and dropped from #14 to #21; Duke then lost to unranked NC State (80-85) in the ACC Tourney and dropped from #21 to Unranked. The 2006-07 season ended with a loss to unranked VCU (77-79) in the NCAA Tourney.

55 polls -- ranked AP #14 or better: Preseason 1996-97 until Wk #1 1999-2000
3 polls -- ranked #18, #16, #17: Wk #2 until Wk #5 1999-2000
141 polls -- ranked AP #14 or better: Wk #6 1999-2000 until Wk #13 2006-07
3 polls -- ranked #16, UR, #18: Wk #14 until Wk #16 2006-07
1 poll -- ranked #14: Wk #17 2006-07
2 polls -- ranked #21 & UR: Wk #18 & #19 2006-07
114 polls -- ranked #14 or better: Preseason 2007-08 until Current

So, from AP Poll Preseason of the 1996-97 season until Current, Duke has been ranked for 317 of the past 319 polls.
A run of 200 weeks ranked followed by one week unranked, three weeks ranked, one week unranked and then the last 114 weeks ranked.

Mighty, mighty impressive.

[sagegrouse]

Lots of years where Duke never left the top ten in the AP poll, but the current string is the longest under Coach K. Here are the 16 seasons where Duke was ranked from beginning to end in the top ten:

1985
1986

1992
1993
1994

1998
1999

2001
2002

2004

2006

2009
2010
2011
2012
2013 so far

The current top ten string began roughly on November 25, 2007 and continues to this day. OTOH the record that is yet to be surpassed was set by the Bubas-era teams, who were ranked in the top ten from Dec 15, 1960 through Dec. 10, 1966. I expect that Duke will surpass this mark this coming December, but you haven't done it until you've done it.

sagegrouse

[Blue KevIL]

OTOH the record that is yet to be surpassed was set by the Bubas-era teams, who were ranked in the top ten from Dec 15, 1960 through Dec. 10, 1966.

It appears from the Duke media guide that the 1961-62 squad was ranked for the entire season, but that squad did not play between Dec-18 & Dec-30 when the Blue Devils were not ranked in the Top 10. The AP Poll only ranked the Top 10 teams from January 1961 until the end of the 1967-68 season.

Duke was Unranked in the 1961-62 Week #2 AP Poll on 12/19/1961.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/...962-polls.html
http://www.collegepollarchive.com/mb...m?appollid=170
The Top 10 in 1961-62 Week #2 was:

1. Ohio State
2. Cincinnati
3. Providence
4. Kansas State
5. West Virginia
6. Southern California
7. Duquesne
8. Purdue
9. St. Bonaventure

10T. Arizona State
10T. Seattle

Not taking anything away from the Bubas-era Blue Devils, who were still impressively ranked in the Top 10 for 89 out of 90 weeks.
Their consecutive Top 10 run goes from 12/26/1961 until 12/06/1966 -- 75 weeks -- almost 5 calendar years (1807 days).

The current run is 111 weeks -- 11/26/2007 until 03/04/2013, over 5 calendar years (1926 days & counting).

Notable Duke Top 10 runs:
1961-1966 -- 75 weeks
1978-1979 -- 30 weeks
1984-1986 -- 34 weeks
1988-1989 -- 26 weeks
1991-1994 -- 69 weeks
1997-1999 -- 43 weeks
1999-2003 -- 67 weeks
2003-2004 -- 20 weeks
2004-2006 -- 36 weeks
2007-NOW -- 111 weeks

Also notable:
1960-1966 -- 89 out of 90 weeks
1987-1994 -- 117 out of 128 weeks
1996-2007 -- 180 out of 199 weeks (including a stretch from 1999-2006 -- 123 out of 126 weeks)
--AND--
1996-NOW -- 291 out of 319 weeks

[Blue KevIL]

When was the last time this happened?

Us in late 80s early 90s??

I feel like the UM, Florida, and other runs of upper tier dominance were only 2-3 years long...I dunno.

By UM, I'm guessing you mean Michigan's Fab 5 years.
The Wolverines were not ranked any higher than #11 in 1991-92.
They did spend the entire 1992-93 season in the Top 10 (18 weeks); this Top 10 streak continued for the first 7 polls of the 1993-94 season until Michigan dropped to #13 -- a run of 25 weeks. They did spend another 5 weeks in the Top 10 that year, but only 4 weeks were consecutive.
Michigan did not re-appear in the Top 10 until 1996-97 in the post-Fab 5-era, when they spent the first eight weeks of the season ranked between #4 & #9. As the Wolverines fell on hard times (ranked in Top 25 only 8 weeks out of 246 weeks from 1998-99 until 2010-11), they did not receive a Top 10 ranking until one week at the tail end of the 2011-12 season. They have been in the Top 10 for the entire 2012-13 season so far.

Florida spent 11 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 mid-year during their 2005-06 championship season, but ended the year at #11.
The Gators then spent their entire 2006-07 championship season in the Top 10 (19 weeks), but that streak ended with the preseason 2007-08 poll.
Florida was only ranked in two weeks in 2007-08: one at #25 and another two months later at #20.

[Blue KevIL]

Not sure if it's a DBR board faux pas to quote my own post... but here it goes.

It appears from the Duke media guide that the 1961-62 squad was ranked for the entire season, but that squad did not play between Dec-18 & Dec-30 when the Blue Devils were not ranked in the Top 10. The AP Poll only ranked the Top 10 teams from January 1961 until the end of the 1967-68 season.

Duke was Unranked in the 1961-62 Week #2 AP Poll on 12/19/1961.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/...962-polls.html
http://www.collegepollarchive.com/mb...m?appollid=170
The Top 10 in 1961-62 Week #2 was:

1. Ohio State
2. Cincinnati
3. Providence
4. Kansas State
5. West Virginia
6. Southern California
7. Duquesne
8. Purdue
9. St. Bonaventure

10T. Arizona State
10T. Seattle

A very interesting tid-bit about the 12/19/1961 Poll -- this is the ONLY AP Poll in which none of the "blue bloods" (Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, UCLA) appears.