There is no doubt that the Duke basketball team is one of the best in the country and now they control its destiny to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 3 Blue Devils (21-3, 13-1 ACC) were revealed as a No. 1 seed in the East Region during the reveal of the NCAA Tournament Top-16 seeds on Saturday afternoon, coming in as the No. 3 overall seed trailing Auburn and Alabama, respectively.
Florida was the fourth No. 1 seed.
The path for Duke is now simple, win its remaining games and it will be a No. 1 seed on Selecton Sunday.
However, there was a discussion among the CBS panel and Bubba Cunningham, the executive chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee and North Carolina athletic director, that the Blue Devils could be passed on the seed line due to the lack of Quad 1 opportunities in the ACC compared to the SEC.
The Blue Devils and Gators are both currently 5-3 in Quad 1 games.
Tennessee, Arizona, and St. John’s were the other Top-4 seeds placed in the East Region.
Duke could have been higher in the Top-16 reveal if it was able to close out its victory last week on the road against Clemson before faltering in the final minute and losing 77-71.
Jon Scheyer watched his team respond with a resounding victory against California on Wednesday night and will host Stanford (16-9, 8-6 ACC) on Saturday afternoon (4:00 p.m. ET, ABC) before a road matchup against Virginia (12-12, 5-8 ACC) on Monday night (8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The Blue Devils will have the unique opportunity to play a non-conference game on Saturday night (8:00 p.m. ET, FOX) inside Madison Square Garden against Illinois (17-8, 9-6 Big Ten) and pick up another Quad 1 victory.