Jay Bilas says Duke got a 'good draw' as a five-seed
On Selection Sunday, some Duke fans may have been displeased with the seeding of their Blue Devils. Duke finished the regular season 23-8 with a 14-6 in ACC play, capped off by a clean sweep of the conference tournament to become the ACC Champions. The Blue Devils received the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, and college basketball analyst and former Duke player Jay Bilas felt that it should have been slightly higher.
“I thought the three line was appropriate for Duke,” Bilas said. “Not just because of how they’re playing, but the fact that when they have a full complement of players, they’re 17-1. That speaks really well.”
Duke has won their last nine straight games, most recently defeating ranked Miami and Virginia on their way to an ACC title. Recently at full health, it’s hard to deny that the Blue Devils aren’t one of the best teams in the country, but their seeding may be more favorable than the seeding may say according to Bilas.
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“If you’re going to take injuries into account, you have to account — because the teams they’re going against are the ones that are getting jobbed there. Duke’s not getting jobbed. It’s the ones that have to play a better team than they’re seeded. They got a good draw, I believe,” Bilas said.
Duke will be facing Oral Roberts in their first round matchup, and if they escape an upset will face the winner of Tennessee versus Louisiana. Many anticipate the Volunteers winning that matchup, and if they do will have to face a Duke team without one of their best players Zakai Ziegler, who recently tore his ACL. Zeigler was the Volunteers and the SEC’s assist leader. There’s no doubt that Tennessee is a different team, and especially offense, without him, as they’ve gone 1-2 since his injury.
Duke’s main focus will definitely be on Oral Roberts, but an undermanned Tennessee team may be their key to a deep tournament run in head coach Jon Scheyer’s first season at the helm.
WATCH: Jon Scheyer finishes cutting down the nets after Duke wins ACC Championship
The Duke Blue Devils cut down the nets on Saturday after beating the Virginia Cavaliers and winning the ACC Championship. Duke won by a final score of 59-49 in a low-scoring championship game, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After celebrating the win, coach Jon Scheyer finished the ceremonial cutting of the net by taking the last piece down.
The game became an intense one down the final stretch, while Duke star Kyle Filipowski continued his ACC Tournament dominance with a pair of huge plays with under ten minutes remaining in the game. After finding an open shooter for a three-point make out of a tough double team, he stole the ball and dunked in transition to make it 17 points on the night.
Filipowski finished with 20 points and ten rebounds, while Jeremy Roach added 23 points of his own.