FanHouse Lance Thomas

Clemson wasn't scared of Duke tonight. Not one bit. They said it before the game, and man, oh man did they prove it for 40 minutes Wednesday night, absolutely thrashing the Blue Devils 74-47 in Littlejohn Coliseum.

This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted JD King of Duke Basketball Report to break down the Duke Blue Devils.

There has been a perception the last couple of years that Duke is off. If so, that's over. This Duke team is going to be very good.

The only player not back on last year's size-challenged team is DeMarcus Nelson. And Duke has added freshmen Miles Plumlee (6'11) and Olek Czyz (6'8) to returnees Brian Zoubek (7'1") and Lance Thomas (6'8") to the inside rotation. Zoubek is healthier than he has been in some time and Taylor is markedly improved and much stronger than he was last year.

Czyz will play less than the other three, but no matter how you cut it, this frees up 6'8" Kyle Singler to play anywhere he's useful on the court.

North Carolina has been the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Needless to say, they were named by media members as the prohibitive favorite to win the ACC regular season title.

Well, one person doesn't see that happening. Caulton Tudor of the News & Observer doesn't think the Tar Heels will even win the ACC.

It's supposed to be North Carolina's year. Maybe so, but don't forget about Duke. On this list, the Blue Devils are No. 1. Mike Krzyzewski's team is just too big and physical to ignore. If Ish Smith is healthy, it will be worth watching Wake Forest, too. None of this is to say UNC will fall short. The Heels just might go all the way to the NCAA Tournament final -- against the Blue Devils.

Let me say this: just because everyone else thinks the Heels are the favorite doesn't mean they will win the whole thing. Remember that this Heels team needed a win at Duke on the final day of the season just to win the ACC title last year. That UNC team was also ranked preseason No. 1 and was the heavy favorite in the ACC.