Hearing they'd been given the West Region's No. 2 seed and a matchup against No. 15 Belmont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament passed as great news for the Devils (27-5).

Duke begins its tournament at 7:10 p.m. on Thursday.

Duke is 20-5 in five NCAA appearances as a No. 2 seed. The Devils reached the Final Four in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1994 as a No. 2. They also won the 1991 NCAA title and reached the 1994 title game as a No. 2.

Though Duke did not reach the 2008 ACC Tournament title game, the Blue Devils earned the No. 2 seed -- and a 13th straight NCAA berth -- with 27 wins and four victories over Associated Press Top 25 teams.

Duke has to leave North Carolina but probably doesn't mind. The trip to Washington means the Devils avoid the sky-blue crush of fans at the RBC Center in Raleigh, where top-seed North Carolina will play its opening games.

Duke also avoids a repeat of 2005. That season, the No. 1-seeded Devils had to play in Charlotte with fellow No. 1 UNC, and Tar Heels fans gave the Devils all the venom they could handle in tense victories over Delaware State and Mississippi State.

The Devils won't be walking the flower-strewn path to the Final Four. The NCAA Tournament selection committee put West Virginia, Xavier and Purdue in Duke's path.

The seventh-seeded Mountaineers (24-10) play No. 10 Arizona (19-14) to see which team meets the Duke-Belmont winner in the second round.

No. 3 Xavier (27-6) has an opening-round game against No. 14 Georgia (17-16), which improbably won the Southeastern Conference Tournament with four wins in four days -- and two on the same day because of a tornado that hit Atlanta. No. 6 Purdue (24-8) must play No. 11 Baylor (21-10) in its opener.

Also, Duke's first-round opponent, Belmont (25-8), is one of the hottest teams out there. The Bruins earned their spot by winning their past 13 games and becoming the first Atlantic Sun team to win three straight conference titles.

"You know what, considering we've played UCLA and Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, Duke seems appropriate," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said.

Belmont lost to UCLA 78-44 in 2006 and to Georgetown 80-55 in 2007.

"If we make the next three tournaments, we might get Kentucky or Indiana or Kansas or North Carolina," Byrd said.

The Duke-Belmont game features a matchup between Hall of Fame coaches. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. Byrd was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2003.

Only eight Division I coaches, including Krzyzewski (28 seasons), have coached at one school longer than Byrd (23 seasons) at Belmont.

Belmont earned the NCAA berth while grabbing marquee wins over Cincinnati and Alabama on the road. Duke has beaten four Top 25 teams -- Marquette, Wisconsin, Clemson and UNC.

Byrd said Duke and Belmont operate the same way -- looking for solid athletes who are solid students for an academically challenging university.

Also, like Duke, Belmont wants to force turnovers, play fast and shoot 3s, often sporting a lineup with five shooters at once.

"That's hard to guard for anyone," Byrd said. "When you look at points per game and 3-pointers per game, it's kind of similar. The problem for us is that they got their numbers in the ACC, and we got ours in the A-Sun."

Byrd said he hadn't seen any film on Duke as of Sunday night but had watched Duke's victory over North Carolina on Feb. 6. as a fan -- reversing the DVR to see specific plays Duke had while getting open for 3-pointers.

Byrd and the Bruins are riding the high of making a third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

When Belmont finally earned full Division I membership 11 seasons ago, Byrd said he could only dream about putting together NCAA Tournament teams, something that is old hat for Krzyzewski.

"It's just a long hard climb," Byrd said. "It's not easy."