They also have considerably less lottery picks

For the players Duke gets, they do not get results indicative of those type of players. There isn't any twisting needing to be done with that.

There are 2 programs who consistently get the best players, Duke and Kentucky, Calipari is widely seen as a good recruiter but not a great coach. But somehow K gets a pass with a similar track record with the nation's top players.

The point being, many coaches do more with less.