An updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket following the Duke Blue Devils getting upset the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday night
Once upon a time, the Duke Blue Devils were considered the National Championship favorites for the 2016-17 season. That was, of course, in the preseason as they touted the arrival of Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles to their program to join Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen. However, their regular season was inconsistent.
With head coach Mike Krzyzewski taking time off to have back surgery, Duke lost a number of games that they most certainly shouldn’t have. What’s more, the Grayson Allen saga continued as he kept tripping people and even got suspended.
Yet the Blue Devils turned it on at the right time. They got hot in the ACC Tournament, taking home the crown from Brooklyn. What’s more, the Fighting Coach Ks seemed to finally be working as a cohesive unit as they entered the NCAA Tournament. Once again, they were among the favorites to win the title.
RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket
That all came crashing down on Sunday night, however, in the Second Round. Squaring off against the No. 7-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks, Duke jumped out to an early lead and seemed to have the game in hand. However, a cold-streak shooting the ball in addition to big-time play from feisty South Carolina veterans erased the deficit. And then the Gamecocks kept going until they had the lead, one which the Blue Devils could not recover from. Subsequently, SC punched their first-ever ticket to the Sweet 16 with the massive upset of the Blue Devils.
With Duke now eliminated from March Madness and the Gamecocks moving on to the Sweet 16, here’s a look at the updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket:
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All that anyone could talk about after the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament was the lack of upsets, and rightfully so. However, the Second Round has undoubtedly made up the difference. Duke joins Villanova, Louisville and Florida State as top-three seeds that were upset in the Round of 32, with teams like North Carolina, Oregon and Kentucky narrowly escaping. March Madness was late arriving, but oh how sweet it is now that its here.