Duke Blue Devils women's basketball is gearing up for a deep March Madness run after earning the 2-seed in the East region. Duke finished the season winning its last six games heading into the NCAA Tournament, capping the stretch off with a 76-62 ACC Tournament championship victory over North Carolina State.
As the 2-seed, the Lady Blue Devils are looked at to make it far in the tournament, yet will likely eventually have to deal with the Goliath that is South Carolina, the 1-seed in the Lady Blue Devils' region.
But here's a team that Duke would love to see get upset early before Duke would face it in the second weekend: the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Now obviously, the team Duke would most want to see get knocked out in shocking fashion is South Carolina, but that's so unlikely it doesn't even seem fair to say that's the best-case scenario. The 30-3 Lady Gamecocks have won their last seven games and are coming off of an undefeated season where they won the national championship in 2024.
Although Duke would love to avoid South Carolina, the Lady Blue Devils wouldn't even play them until the Elite Eight. But, Duke would face North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen.
Duke is 1-1 against UNC this season, losing the first matchup 53-46 in Chapel Hill then winning 68-53 later at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
North Carolina had a rocky end to the regular season, losing three of its last five games ending with an ACC Tournament semifinals loss to NC State. But in a rivalry that's even on the season, anything can happen.
The Lady Tar Heels are the 3-seed in the East Region, meaning the two programs would meet in the Sweet Sixteen if both advanced to the second weekend of the big dance. If Duke could avoid playing UNC and instead match up against West Virginia or the winner of Columbia/Washington, that's a type of game that would play much more to Duke's strengths.
Although it would be a dream scenario for South Carolina to get bounced before Duke would see it in the Elite Eight, North Carolina feels like a much more realistic upset that would benefit Duke.
Catch Duke's Round of 64 game against 15-seed Lehigh on Friday at 8:00pm ET on ESPNU.