The Atlantic Coast Conference recently released the full men's basketball conference schedule for the 2025-26 season. Duke is coming into the campaign widely regarded as the best team in the conference, with Louisville right there as well, but there are several squads that have the potential to exceed expectations. Jon Scheyer has already scheduled potentially the toughest non-conference slate in the entire country for his team, but Duke's 3-game conference stretch to end the regular season could be the most important stretch of them all. With a few nail-biters to end the regular season, wins or losses in these games could have major seeding implications for the Blue Devils, both in the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.
Duke's 3-game stretch to end the season could be the difference between a 1-seed or much worse when NCAA Tournament seeding rolls around
Duke will end its regular season with these three contests: vs. Virginia on February 28th, at NC State on March 2nd, and vs. North Carolina on March 7th.
None of those schools are seen right now as true national title contenders, but all have the potential to exceed expectations and be real threats to Duke's ACC regular season and Tournament title hopes. Whether these three programs are better than originally anticipated or not, it could still have major effects on Duke's NCAA Tournament seeding.
Any of these three programs can compete to be top-five teams in the ACC. In a scenario where all three are competitive, the Blue Devils risk dropping one or two of those games, which could be the difference between an ACC regular season title and a second or third place finish. Seeding in the ACC Tournament is less significant, as the top four seeds in the event all earn a double-bye. However, winning all three games of this tough stretch may have an even bigger effect on Duke's potential NCAA Tournament seed.
Odds are, none of these schools will crack the top ten of the AP Poll. But, they're still feisty teams that could catch Duke slipping late. If the Blue Devils are fighting for a 1-seed, dropping one or two of these contests could be the difference between earning a top seed or dropping to a 2-seed or even worse.
Obviously, this also depends on how good UVA, NC State, and UNC actually end up being. However, ending the regular season with this grueling stretch could be an issue as Scheyer looks for his third ACC Tournament crown in four years as Duke's head coach.