Maybe I underestimated these Blue Devils.

Or maybe I overestimated those Boilermakers.

Purdue, after all, was one of the biggest surprises last season, contending with Wisconsin and Michigan State for the Big Ten title the whole way before the Badgers claimed the crown.

But in a matter of five days, Matt Painter's team has been exposed on both ends of the floor by what appears to be two better teams - at least at this point in time.

Oklahoma, for one, could very well win the Big 12 championship this season with Blake Griffin standing as a favorite to capture Player of the Year honors, though last year's honoree Tyler Hansbrough won't make it easy for him. Therefore, it should be no surprise that the Sooners were able to pull out an overtime victory against Purdue last Friday in the NIT Season Tip-Off final at Madison Square Garden.

And secondly, Duke, which went into Mackey Arena Tuesday night and dominated the Boilermakers from start to finish for a 76-60 victory, for that matter, may be no joke either.

Sure, things could change over the course of the season, but for now, Duke has done everything it has been asked to do in the first three weeks of the season, staring at an 8-0 record with another road test Saturday in Ann Arbor against an improving Michigan squad.

So if nothing else, Mike Krzyzewski certainly has to be proud of his kids for what they've accomplished to this point.

Because it's well known that the Blue Devils don't play too many true non-conference road games, and for that reason alone, Tuesday night's game in West Lafayette, Ind., was a rare and rather unusual occurrence that just so happened to be set up by the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

With that in mind, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer showed a national television audience that these Blue Devils may not be as soft as some might have expected after last year's second-round loss in the NCAA tournament and 2007's first-round exit against VCU.

"For us, we knew coming on the road, it's huge to get off to huge starts, and that's something we were really focused on," said Scheyer, who scored 20 points while connecting on 3-of-6 from three-point land.

The Blue Devils never trailed. And to be quite honest, it never was really close. Duke beat the Boilermakers in every facet of the game.

Maybe it just wasn't Purdue's night.

Or maybe Duke really is that good.

Of course, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Purdue is a good team, but thinking that Duke could actually win the ACC championship over North Carolina would be plain stupid, if not nearly insane.

Coach K's team should finish second in the ACC, and with the Tar Heels built the way they are this year, that's still a rather impressive accomplishment should the Blue Devils actually do so.

But if K really believes that Purdue will be a national title contender like he said in the post-game press conference ("We think at the end of the season, Purdue will be one of those teams that has a chance."), then there's no doubt that this win will be one of those that the NCAA tournament committee would eye closely.

You never know, though.

Krzyzewski just might be overestimating the Boilermakers like I did, and yet, maybe we're also overestimating these Blue Devils.

Because it's seeming more and more like this college basketball season, unlike others, is one where anyone - except for maybe the Tar Heels - can lose on any given night against almost any team in America.

Yes, the parity is that strong this season, and it continues to get stronger and stronger year after year.

You don't have to look much further than at a team like Duke, which hasn't held the No. 1 ranking in almost three years and hasn't been past the Sweet 16 in the past four seasons.

Yet if the Blue Devils keep this up and Coach K's words about Purdue happen to come true, that streak just may end this March.

To check out my latest power rankings, click here.