Duke Blue Devils News: Caleb Love 'ready' for Sweet Sixteen, women's basketball gets rival, football holds pro day

It's a busy week across Duke Blue Devils sports, with both basketball programs making it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, and the football program getting its players ready for the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.

Let's take a look at all the big news across Duke sports.

Caleb Love is "ready" to take on Duke basketball one more time

The 1-seed Duke men's basketball program will face 4-seed Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen this Thursday, and on that squad is a senior guard who broke the program's hearts in the 2022 Final Four, Caleb Love. When 2-seed Duke faced 8-seed North Carolina, Love, who played at UNC for three seasons before transferring to Arizona, hit a dagger three over Mark Williams to send the Heels to the NCAA Tournament Championship and end Coach K's career. Now, the Blue Devils have a chance to avenge the legendary coach and end Love's career in the Sweet Sixteen.

Love is coming off of a 29-point performance against Oregon in Arizona's 87-83 Round of 32 win, and had some words to say before his final date with Duke.

"We'll be ready for them when it's time," Love said.

The Blue Devils have already faced Arizona once this season, beating the Wildcats 69-55 at McKale Center and limiting Love to eight points on 3-of-13 shooting. Duke is now in a position to get the last laugh against Duke fans' most hated player.

Women's basketball draws arch rival in Sweet Sixteen

2-seed Duke women's basketball survived an upset scare from 10-seed Oregon in the Round of 32 behind an elite performance from junior Ashlon Jackson, who dropped 20 points all in the second half, propelling the Blue Devils to a 59-53 victory over the Ducks to advance the Blue Devils to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight season. Now, the Blue Devils will face arch rival North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen after the 3-seed Tar Heels took down 6-seed West Virginia 58-47 in the Round of 32. The Blue Devils are 1-1 against UNC this season, falling 53-46 in Chapel Hill and winning 68-53 at Cameron Indoor later in the season. The Blue Devils are looking to avenge their Sweet Sixteen loss to 3-seed UConn last season, where the 7-seed Blue Devils fell to the Huskies 53-45. ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier did not play against Oregon after she "wasn't feeling well" and was not cleared by team doctors to play. Duke has a chance to advance to the Elite Eight in the best way possible, taking down its arch rival.

Duke football holds 2025 Pro Day

The Duke football program held its 2025 pro day on Monday, March 24th. 15 former Blue Devil football players participated in the Pro Day, hoping to boost their draft stocks before this spring's draft. Former Duke players who participated include: wide receiver Eli Pancol, wide receiver Jordan Moore, wide receiver Jontavis Robertson, tight end Nicky Dalmolin, quarterback Cole Kennon, linebacker Cameron Bergeron, safety Jaylen Stinson, linebacker Clayton Burton, linebacker Alex Howard, linebacker Ozzie Nicholas, defensive tackle Kendy Charles, defensive end Ryan Smith, cornerback Joshua Pickett, cornerback Tre'Shon Devones, and offensive lineman Caleb Krings. The 2025 NFL Draft takes place from April 24th-26th at Lambeau Field.