NCAA Softball chair Kurt McGuffin on excluding Duke from top 8 seed: 'They had two games in the top 25 in nonconference'

The field for the upcoming 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament was set on Sunday evening. And there were plenty of surprises and controversies when the bracket was released. One of the biggest surprises was the fact that the Duke Blue Devils were seeded as a No. 10 seed, even though they won the ACC Regular Season and ACC Tournament Championship. On Sunday evening on the Bracket Selection Show on ESPN2, ESPN’s Holly Rowe asked committee chair Kurt McGuffin if their seed was too low.

“We had them in the top 10 looking at eight seeds. But Duke was basically a nonconference strength of schedule where they didn’t play as many games in the top 25 as we’d like to see. They had two games in the top 25 in the nonconference. Then 58% of their games were in quad 3 and 4. We’d like to see more with a team like Duke in their first and second quads,” McGuffin noted.

Shortly after the bracket reveal, Blue Devils’ star pitcher Jala Wright spoke with Holly Rowe on a number of topics, including her reaction to how they were seeded in the field. She was candid in her response.

“It was tough. Very tough to watch. But, we were definitely hoping to be a higher seed, especially with the season that we’ve had. We won regular season. We just won ACC yesterday. You would think we would be a little higher but it’s okay. We’ve faced a lot of adversity this year. We’ve been successful. And this is just another test. We’re always gonna compete with whoever steps on the field with us,” Wright explained on Sunday evening.

Wright earned ACC Pitcher of the Year honors this season, showing her stuff as one of the most dominant pitchers in the country. She even set a new Duke record with 17 strikeouts in one game. Her overall record was nearly flawless, posting a 17-1 overall mark with a 1.20 ERA.

Duke has posted an overall record of 47-6 this season, including a 20-4 record in the ACC, dominating the competition in that conference. Their first game in the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament will be on Friday, May 17th. They’ll face off against the Morgan State Bears and game time for that one is set for 2:30 p.m. EST from Durham, North Carolina.