One drawback to competing against a relatively weak ACC this season is that Duke basketball cannot afford many setbacks if the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils (20-3, 12-1 ACC) are to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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While Duke hasn’t fumbled that projected status, Saturday night’s 77-71 road loss to the unranked Clemson Tigers (19-5, 11-2 ACC) could drop the Blue Devils near the edge of the top four when the next AP Top 25 Poll comes out on Monday afternoon.

Duke, No. 2 below Auburn for the past three weeks and still No. 2 in the NCAA NET Rankings as of Sunday’s update, will likely slide only one notch to No. 3, with Auburn or Alabama in the top spot.

No. 1 Auburn (21-2, 9-1 SEC) suffered a 90-81 home defeat at the hands of No. 6 Florida (20-3, 7-3 SEC) on Saturday but blew out Oklahoma earlier in the week. No. 3 Alabama (20-3, 9-1 SEC) added an 85-81 win at Arkansas to its work history.

Plus, fanbases of teams sitting No. 4-6 could argue that the Blue Devils should tumble a bit further.

After all, No. 4 Tennessee (20-4, 7-4 SEC) picked up an 85-81 home victory over No. 15 Missouri before winning at Oklahoma, 70-52, on Saturday. Meanwhile, No. 5 Houston (19-4, 11-1 Big 12) remained atop the Big 12 by coming out on top against Colorado and Oklahoma State last week.

And in addition to snapping Auburn’s 14-game winning streak, Florida posted a double-digit home win over Vanderbilt since the last update to the AP Top 25 Poll.

Jon Scheyer and his third Duke basketball squad look to begin a new winning streak when the Blue Devils, probably with a No. 3 by their name, welcome the unranked Cal Golden Bears (12-12, 5-8 ACC) to Cameron Indoor Stadium at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday (ACC Network).

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