Duke basketball player: 'We have what it takes to win championship'

Like it or not, the hype surrounding the Duke basketball roster is growing.

Duke basketball hasn't been No. 1 in the Preseason AP Top 25 since doing so twice in a row in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Despite no shortage of top-shelf prospects in the past few years, the Blue Devils haven't even started a season among the top five since 2019-20.

But that latter streak seems almost sure to end come November. And judging by the program's current hype nationally, if the 2023-24 season started today, the Blue Devils would probably have a No. 1 by their name for the first time since a few weeks into Mike Krzyzewski's final season in 2021-22.

Mark Mitchell appears well aware of that possibility.

However, during his appearance on Wednesday's Field of 68 After Dark podcast, the returning do-anything Duke basketball forward sounded unfazed by the way-too-early lofty expectations that have magnified since he and fellow freshman starters Tyrese Proctor and Kyle Filipowski announced their plans to run it back together.

FIELD OF 68 AFTER DARK SPECIAL! Join @RobDauster and @GoodmanHoops as they give an update on some of the biggest offseason decisions! Plus, Duke's Mark Mitchell joins the show! | POWERED BY @BetRivers https://t.co/yCRNpimn1R

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) April 19, 2023

"Obviously, it's a little different than last year," Mitchell told Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman about his thoughts on potentially beginning the campaign with Duke in the top spot. "I think we were kind of underrated at times; we were preseason top 10, but I think when we went on that little run, we were kind of underrated.

"So just being in kind of the spotlight now, I mean, it's cool. I don't think we take too much weight on it. Having gone through the season once, we know the highs and lows and what can happen."

The 2022-23 Blue Devils began at No. 7 in the Preseason AP Top 25. Yet that's as high as they reached in Jon Scheyer's first season as head coach. They finished at No. 12 following their ACC Tournament title, entering the NCAA Tournament on a nine-game win streak before losing to Tennessee in Orlando in the Round of 32.

Only two returning scholarship players were on that Duke basketball squad: Jeremy Roach and Jaylen Blakes. It'll be a much different story this next go-round.

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Again, Mitchell, Proctor, and Filipowski headline the returning cast. Meanwhile, there's still a chance that Roach, who declared for the NBA Draft while keeping his eligibility intact, will join them and give Duke a rare-these-days second-year captain.

Then, assuming no outbound transfers or another decommitted recruit, add in graduate Ryan Young, two sophomores-to-be in Jaden Schutt and Christian Reeves, junior-to-be Blakes, and four incoming five-star rookies. That's not to mention the possibility of adding more talent via the transfer portal in the next month or two.

As Mark Mitchell explained to Dauster and Goodman, there's no denying the ingredients should be in place for the Duke basketball powerhouse to realistically make a run at a sixth national championship and first with Scheyer at the helm.

That said, the season is still more than six months away. So the offseason journey alone to prepare to live up to the hype remains in its infancy.

"We still gotta go in every day, put our work in, and do what we gotta do and show it on the court," Mitchell noted. "But obviously, we have what it takes to win a national championship, and we're definitely going to strive for that every day."

They'll be tested early, as Duke is slated to host a potentially ranked Arizona team on Nov. 10 before facing a fellow contender for preseason No. 1 in Michigan State as part of the Champions Classic in Chicago four days later.

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