Duke basketball likely to be #1 team in country on Monday after win versus UNC
The Duke Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1 ACC) swept the season series versus North Carolina (20-12, 13-7 ACC), beating the Heels 82-69 in Chapel Hill last night after winning 87-70 at Cameron Indoor earlier this season.
The win secured the Blue Devils as ACC regular season champions and has the program ending the season on an eight-game win streak.
Additionally, with Duke’s win last night, the Blue Devils will likely move into the #1 spot in the Associated Press Poll on Monday after #1 Auburn fell to #7 Alabama 93-91 in overtime behind a buzzer-beater by The Crimson Tide’s Mark Sears.
This would be the Blue Devils’ first week of the season ranked as the #1 team in the AP Poll and the first that the program would move into the #1 spot since the 2021-22 season. Duke has been ranked #2 for the past three weeks and had an opportunity to move into the #1 spot a few weeks ago.
#1 Auburn fell to Florida 90-81 on February 8th, giving the Blue Devils a chance to take over the top spot in the polls if Duke could handle Clemson on the road that night. But, Duke fell to the Tigers, Duke’s lone ACC loss this season, to keep it out of the #1 spot.
On top of that, Auburn has now dropped two straight games, on the road to Texas A&M and at home to Alabama, likely setting Duke up as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament projections. If the Blue Devils can win the ACC Tournament, it would likely be a very difficult argument to make to not give Duke the #1 overall seed in the big dance, despite Auburn’s dominance for the majority of the season.
Duke currently is the odds-on favorite to win the national championship at +320 odds followed by Auburn at +350 per ESPNBET.
The Blue Devils earned the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament after securing the regular season title, and will face the winner of 8-seed Georgia Tech and 9-seed Virginia on March 13th at 12:00pm ET on ESPN2.
The top three seeds in the ACC Tournament are Duke, Louisville, and Clemson in that order.
