Return trips to the NCAA tournament for defending national champions may not be the birthright once assumed in these parts.
The script for this weekend's ACC men's basketball tournament, however, offered the familiar ending of a color-by-numbers sequel that never grows old in Durham. After blowing most of an 11-point lead in the second half, Duke held off Georgia Tech with a Jon Scheyer 3-point shot that pushed the Blue Devils to a 65-61 win in Sunday's ACC tournament final.
The shot clinched Duke's second consecutive ACC tournament title and its ninth in 12 years.
And while North Carolina lowered its sights to a trip to the NIT after a disappointing encore to its 2009 national championship season, the rival Blue Devils clinched the South region's No. 1 seed - third overall - in the NCAA men's basketball tournament tipping off later this week.
Duke represents the Atlantic Coast Conference's best hope for a return trip to the tournament's Final Four. Five other league teams - Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Florida State - also received tournament bids Sunday evening.
But the league that touts itself as the elite college basketball conference ranked behind two other heavyweight conferences in total bids, as the Big East led with eight teams and the Big 12 placed seven.
The tournament's other three top seeds are Kansas, the tournament's overall No. 1; Syracuse; and Kentucky.
For N.C. State and UNC fans caught on the outside as spectators this year, there's plenty of room left on the bandwagon for Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, a Raleigh native who has fueled the Wildcats' resurgence on the national stage.
