Just like that, the Duke Blue Devils are the back-to-back champions of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. Well, it was almost that simple.
The top-seeded Blue Devils faced the No. 2-seed Louisville Cardinals, and the championship matchup went into overtime before Duke could finally seal the deal and defend its conference tournament title.
Doubling the number of points that the Cardinals could put up in OT, the Blue Devils are headed to the NCAA Tournament with a 70-65 win over Louisville in their back pockets.
With ACC title, Duke should be 2-seed in Big Dance
Led by Delaney Thomas, Toby Fournier, Taina Mair, and the rest of the squad, the Blue Devils are flying toward the Big Dance as one of the teams to cement their place with a conference championship win.
Including their wins in the ACC Tournament, Duke is sitting with a 24-8 overall record (16-2 ACC), and was ranked No. 13 in the country heading into the postseason.
Before the ACC Tournament, Duke was a projected three-seed in the NCAA Tournament. With the win, the Blue Devils could easily see themselves slide up to a two-seed in the bracket, making their path through the tournament significantly easier
YOUR BLUE DEVILS ARE ACC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS 💙😈
— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) March 8, 2026
Louisville was ranked one spot ahead of Duke in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, landing at No. 12, despite the fact that the then-No. 17 Blue Devils defeated the then-No. 6 Cardinals in their only regular-season meeting.
Now, with yet another victory over the conference foe, the Blue Devils have to slide in ahead of Louisville and should rightfully claim a top-2 or top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Selection Sunday, for both men's and women's tournaments, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 15, with the men's bracket reveal starting at 6 p.m. ET on CBS and the women's bracket reveal starting at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.