Duke Basketball Moves in NCAA Tournament Bracket Forecast

Duke basketball needs a dominant run through ACC play to earn a No. 1 seed.

Duke basketball / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest NCAA Tournament projections on Tuesday has Jon Scheyer's third Duke basketball team as the No. 1 seed in the West Region. And Lunardi's "Bracket Watch" blurb centers on the recent surge by the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils (10-2, 2-0 ACC).

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"The Duke Blue Devils entered this season with the highest of expectations," Lunardi wrote, noting that the Blue Devils have looked like a Final Four team in recent weeks while reeling off six straight wins. "That tends to happen when you're Duke and you bring in the most highly touted newcomer in years...

"Other than spotty 3-point shooting, Cooper Flagg has delivered as expected, and the Blue Devils are very much in the national championship conversation. Their return to the top line of our latest bracket also puts them on a path to a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2019."

Duke, the only ACC representative in the AP Top 25 Poll this week, is one of five teams from the conference in Lunardi's current bracketology.

He pegs the SMU Mustangs (10-2, 2-0 ACC) as a No. 11 seed, the UNC Tar Heels (7-5, 1-0 ACC) as a No. 10 seed, the Clemson Tigers (10-3, 2-0 ACC) as a No. 8 seed, and Duke basketball alum Jeff Capel's Pitt Panthers (10-2, 1-0 ACC) as a No. 6 seed.

Next up for Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils is a home game against the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-7, 0-1 ACC) at 4:30 p.m. ET Tuesday (ACC Network).

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