Duke University's 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The name comes from the French "les Diables Bleus" or "the Blue Devils," which was the nickname given during World War I to the Chasseurs Alpins, the French Alpine light infantry battalion.
Duke's varsity teams have won nine NCAA national championships. The women's golf team has won five times (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007), the men's basketball team has won three (1991, 1992, and 2001), and the men's soccer team has won one (1986). Duke's major historic rival, especially in basketball, has been the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (see "UNC-Duke rivalry").
In the past ten years, Duke has finished in the top 30 every year in the NACDA Director's Cup, an overall measure of an institution's athletic success. Most recently, Duke finished 11th in 2007, eighth in 2006 and fifth in 2005. pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/0506D1FinalStand" target="_blank">Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2006). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 29 June 2006. Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2005). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 2005. Duke has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of any institution that has been in the top 35 the past two years. Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2006). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 29 June 2006. Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2005). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 2005. Furthermore, Duke is the only school besides _Stanford that has finished in the top 11 in the past three years that has fewer than 15,000 undergraduates. pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/0506D1FinalStand" target="_blank">Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2006). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 29 June 2006. Sports Academy Directors' Cup (2005). National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 2005.
Duke teams that have been ranked in the top ten nationally in the 2000s include men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's _cross country, men's and women's lacrosse, women's field hockey, and men's and women's golf. Eight of these teams were ranked either first or second in the country during 2004-05. According to a 2006 evaluation conducted by the NCAA, Duke's student-athletes have the highest graduation rate of any institution in the nation at 91%. Excluding students who leave or transfer in good academic standing, the graduation rate of student-athletes is 97%. In 2005, 2006, and 2007, Duke ranked first among Division I schools in the National Collegiate Scouting Association Power Rankings—a combination of the institution's Director's Cup standing, its athletic graduation rate, and its academic rank in U.S. News & World Report.
