The Duke Blue Devils were the team to follow this season, with ost of the attention focused on Cooper Flagg, the freshman and prospective No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. While Flagg received most of the attention, it's hard to look over that the Blue Devils roster was stacked with talent and were easily one of the top teams in the country.
Duke proved just that in the ACC Tournament. On Saturday, Duke defeated the Louisville Cardinals 73-62 to win the ACC Tournament Championship. Kon Knueppel, Tyrese Proctor, and Sion James each notched double-digit points in the victory. This is now the 23rd time that the Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament.
Now, it's onto the NCAA Tournament, where Duke will be one of the favorites to win the Division I National Championship. They will be a No. 1 seed in March Madness, but they have shown they deserve to be the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance over Auburn, which has already clinched it. Why's that? Because they won the ACC Tournament without Flagg for most of the way.
Duke deserves No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament over Auburn
Yes, Auburn has had an incredible season, going 27-4 on the year before the SEC Tournament. In conference play, Auburn was 15-3, and if college basketball fans know anything this year, it's that the SEC is stacked.
But on Saturday, Auburn was eliminated in the SEC Tournament semifinals after a 70-65 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. Not only did Auburn lose out on the chance to be the outright SEC champions, but they now enter the NCAA Tournament having lost three of their last four games. That's not exactly ideal, even if they lost to Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas A&M.
As for Duke, they had to win the ACC Tournament without Flagg. In their first game of the ACC Tournament against Georgia Tech, Duke watched Flagg depart with what would be determined to be an ankle sprain. While there was hope that Flagg would return for the ACC Tournament finals, the star was ruled out until the NCAA Tournament.
With Flagg out, Duke defeated Georgia Tech 78-70 in the quarterfinals, overcame a comeback attempt by the North Carolina Tar Heels to win 74-71 in the semifinals, and the finals win over Louisville.
Even with their end to the season, Auburn is likely to get the top overall seed in the tournament. Duke has shown they are deserving of it, but the odds of them actually getting it aren't great. Even so, they should be considered the favorites in the NCAA Tournament, especially with Flagg returning.