Momentum may be lacking for the Duke Blue Devils. Motivation is not.
The Blue Devils, who won NCAA titles in 1991, 1992 and 2001, received a No. 1 seed in the Atlanta regional. The Blue Devils have earned top seeds six times in seven years. They will play their first- and–assuming they beat 16th-seeded Alabama State–and second-round games in nearby Raleigh, N.C.
But like many of the top teams in this regional, the Blue Devils (27-5) are coming off a conference-tournament loss.
The same goes for No. 2 seed Mississippi State, No. 3 Texas, No. 5 Illinois and No. 6 North Carolina.
The Blue Devils lost the ACC title game in overtime to Maryland on Sunday. Illinois lost to Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. Mississippi State didn’t make it out of the Southeastern Conference quarterfinals.
North Carolina dropped two straight to end the season, and Texas lost to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game.
Fourth-seeded Cincinnati, however, won its fourth Conference USA tournament championship in the league’s nine-year history by beating DePaul on Saturday. Like Duke, the Bearcats will be playing close to home in Columbus, Ohio.
The games in Denver feature all sorts of subplots. Sixth-seeded North Carolina goes a mile high to face Air Force, and that winner takes on the Texas-Princeton survivor. Former Tar Heels coach Dean Smith started his coaching career at Air Force, whose selection is one of the more controversial. The Falcons have the lowest RPI (70) and schedule strength (183) of any at-large team.
Air Force runs the Princeton offense, and if the lower seeds win their openers, they will face off in the second round.
Who’s hot: Xavier. The seventh-seeded Musketeers routed St. Joseph’s by 20 points in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament and beat Dayton for the title.
Who’s not: North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 4-4 in their last eight games.
Long shot: North Carolina. The Tar Heels could advance to the regional final and upset Duke under coach Roy Williams.
Prediction: Duke over Texas.
