Duke is looking to punch its ticket to the Final Four for a second straight season, but to do so will have to get past a really good UConn team and a coach in Dan Hurley who has significant NCAA Tournament pedigree.
Hurley led the Huskies to back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024, and holds a ridiculous 16-1 record in March Madness in the last four tournaments. He knows what it takes to win these types of games, and Duke will have its hands full trying to take down UConn to get to Indianapolis.
While Jon Scheyer has yet to lead Duke to a National Championship, this is the third consecutive season he has the Blue Devils in the Elite Eight. It feels like a matter of when, not if, Scheyer breaks Duke's current 11-year title drought.
In breaking down the Elite 8 matchup on Sunday, ESPN experts Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello had wildly different predictions for how the game is going to go.
Jeff Borzello picks UConn to upset Duke in the Elite 8
Borzello is predicting the upset. He picked UConn to knock off Duke 71-70 in a thriller, sending the Huskies back to the Final Four for the third time in four seasons.
Borzello believes UConn's path to the Final Four includes outplaying Duke in the paint, which, good luck with that. Tarris Reed has been a monster in the tournament, but matching up with Cameron Boozer and Patrick Ngongba is going to be his biggest challenge yet. There aren't many bigs in the country who are better at forcing fouls than Boozer, and if Reed gets into foul trouble, it could be a long evening for Hurley's squad.
Borzello also worries about Duke's backcourt holding up to the UConn defensive pressure, with a less than 100% Caleb Foster and a freshman in Cayden Boozer having the bulk of ball-handling responsibilities.
Medcalf is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He's predicting a double-digit Duke win, projecting the Blue Devils to punch their ticket to the Final Four, 76-64.
Medcalf cites Duke's dominance in the paint, with the caveat that Reed could cause some problems, as the reason. While the Blue Devils have struggled from three-point range recently (30% since the beginning of the ACC Tournament), Medcalf notes Duke has hit 57% from two-point range and grabbed 45% of its own misses, so the cold shooting hasn't really mattered.
If Duke can get back to making threes consistently, it could lead to the double-digit win that Medcalf is projecting. Otherwise, the Blue Devils are likely in for another dogfight.