Duke basketball is rising as important ACC Tournament looms
The Duke basketball team is rising in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll as the very important ACC Tournament is looming for the Blue Devils.
The regular season is in the books, and after suffering a late-season two-game losing streak, the Duke Blue Devils responded with two straight wins to end the regular season.
Duke fell to Wake Forest (in double overtime) and Virginia before responding by downing North Carolina State and North Carolina at home.
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After its losses, Duke fell to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll but has since climbed to No. 10.
The Blue Devils peaked at No. 1 in the regular season while their No. 12 ranking last week was their lowest all season.
Duke also got the good news of Tre Jones winning ACC Player of the Year while Vernon Carey Jr. took home the Rookie of the Year Award in the conference.
Polls now become irrelevant, for the time being, as conference tournaments are tipping off all over the country, and Duke is the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament.
Currently sitting as a projected No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament by many bracketologists, Mike Krzyzewski‘s team can firmly cement itself on the 2-line with a strong showing in Greensboro this weekend.
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Florida State, Louisville, and Virginia round out the other top three seeds who also received a double-bye in the tournament.
Both the Cardinals and Cavaliers defeated Duke in their lone meeting this season while the Blue Devils took down the Seminoles in their only matchup.
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Duke will begin its postseason run on Thursday at approximately 2:30pm EST against the winner of Wednesday’s game between the North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Pittsburgh Panthers.
The Blue Devils split their two meetings with the Wolfpack this season and won their only game against former Associate Head Coach Jeff Capel and his Panthers.