NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday: Latest on Duke, NC State, others as 5 ACC teams make field
In coach Jon Scheyer’s first NCAA Tournament as Duke’s coach, the Blue Devils will begin their quest for an NCAA title in a dreaded 5-12 matchup. The Blue Devils will play Oral Roberts and, if they advance, they’ll see the winner of Tennessee and Louisiana.
The NCAA Tournament bracket, announced Sunday, has the Blue Devils as the No. 5 seed in the East Region. Duke begins play Thursday at 7:10 p.m. in Orlando, against Oral Roberts.
A potential trip to the Sweet 16 would land the Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Duke (26-8) won the ACC tournament championship to run its streak of wins to nine ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
N.C. State (23-10), which bowed out of the ACC tournament in the quarterfinal round, had to sweat things out a bit more Sunday. Most bracket projections had the Wolfpack in, but also teetering on the edge of consideration as one of the “last four in.”
The Pack will start its 2023 NCAA Tournament journey — its first appearance in the tournament since 2018 — as a No. 11 seed, facing No. 6 Creighton in Denver. N.C. State’s first game will be on Friday at 4 p.m.
Virginia, Miami and Pitt also made the tourney field from the ACC, which for the second consecutive year earned only five bids. Last year, of course, the league made the most of those bids, with three teams advancing to the Elite 8, and Duke and UNC squaring off in the Final Four in New Orleans.
Virginia (25-7) earned the No. 4 seed in the South region and will face No. 13 Furman in Orlando on Thursday at 12:40 p.m.
Miami (25-7) drew a No. 5 seed in the Midwest region, and will face No. 12 Drake in Albany, N.Y., on Friday at 7:25 p.m.
Pittsburgh (22-11) drew a No. 11 seed and will play in the First Four at Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. against Mississippi State of the SEC.
Speaking of UNC, the Tar Heels made some dubious history of their own Sunday: They are the first team to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll to miss the subsequent NCAA Tournament since the 1985 expansion of the field to 64 teams.
The Heels had been sitting in a precarious position for weeks, but a two-game skid to end the regular season, followed by a tough ouster in the ACC tournament quarterfinals sealed their fate. They decided against playing in the National Invitation Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament begins with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first full day of 16 games is Thursday.
This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 6:36 PM.