The 2024-25 college basketball season is more than halfway complete and conference play is in full swing heading into the back stretch of January.

In that time, some programs have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. To ESPN’s Jay Bilas, he believes that Auburn, when healthy, is the best team in the country. That changes with the recent injury to Johni Broome, and by the end of the season Bilas believes the Duke Blue Devils will be the team to beat in the postseason.

”I think Duke’s upward trajectory is going to put them in a really good position as they head toward the NCAA tournament,” Bilas said on SportsCenter ahead of Saturday’s slate. “They’re not paying playing the same kind of gauntlet schedule, but Auburn without Johni Broome, has shown that other guys can step up. I mean, Chaney Johnson had 17 points, eight rebounds, four blocks in that blowout win they had against Mississippi State.

“I think the offensive output for Auburn is a little bit better than Duke. I think they shoot it better at multiple positions, but Duke is better defensively. And I think if Duke can get to the point where they can start forcing more turnovers, they don’t force as many turnovers as you would think for a defense that could they protect the rim really well.”

To help Duke’s case, the Blue Devils have rattled off 11-straight victories and won nine those 11 games by double-digits. The only time this wasn’t the case was last weekend’s eight-point win over Notre Dame, and the 84-78 win over a then-undefeated Auburn team inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The latter serves as one of the most impressive victories so far during the 2024-25 college basketball season, and the head-to-head victory may give the Blue Devils the edge in Bilas’ arguement.

Even before the late November loss to Kansas, which was the last time Duke tasted defeat, the Blue Devils won its first four games by an average of 35.5 points, which includes a 14-point win over a ranked Arizona squad.

Before Bilas left, he honored ESPN’s BPI (Basketball Power Index) which says the Houston Cougars are the best team in the country. At 13-3 overall, they’re No. 10 in the AP Top 25 poll, but rank ahead of Duke (2) and Auburn (3) in the current rankings.

“They’ve lost a couple games and that sort of puts them out of the conversation, but their No. 1 in the BPI,” Bilas said. “I think at the end of the year, we’re going to hear from Houston again.”