It's been well documented that the Selection Committee didn't do Duke any favors with its draw in the East Region.
Not only are there some of the best coaches in college basketball history littered throughout the region, but there are also some absolutely terrifying players capable of taking over games and sending Duke home early.
If the Blue Devils want to make it to Indianapolis or the Final Four, Jon Scheyer's team is going to have to earn it. There are no easy outs after they get through 16-seeded Siena. Everyone else is battle-tested and capable of pushing Duke to its absolute limit.
Duke will obviously not back down from a challenge, but their best path to the Final Four would be avoiding these three players.
3 players Duke most wants to avoid in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament
3. Alex Karaban, F, UConn
Duke will see better players during its NCAA Tournament run than UConn senior forward Alex Karaban, but they won't face a player with more March Madness experience - or pedigree - than him.
And that edge in experience could be a huge difference-maker for the Huskies. Karaban was part of back-to-back national championship-winning UConn teams during his freshman and sophomore seasons. He knows what it takes to win in March.
Against a young Duke team in a potential Elite Eight matchup, the 2-seeded Huskies would have a significant edge in experience.
Karaban is also a super-talented player, averaging 12.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while connecting on 38% of his three-point attempts.
2. Jeremy Fears, G, Michigan State
The other potential Elite Eight matchup for Duke - barring a significant upset - would be Michigan State. The Spartans' best player is Jeremy Fears, who is one of the most feared guards in college basketball.
Duke defeated Michigan State on the road during the regular season, 66-60, and a big part of the reason for that was an off night from Fears, who scored just six points and went 0-of-10 from the floor. Caleb Foster's defense of Fears was a major contributing factor, but with Foster out, that assignment would likely fall to freshman Cayden Boozer.
Fears averaged 15.7 points per game during the regular season, and he enters the NCAA Tournament on a heater, scoring 20+ points in each of Michigan State's last four games.
1. Darryn Peterson, G, Kansas
You've seen it countless times in March: elite guards putting their teams on their backs and leading to unexpected runs.
There might not be a more dynamic - or feared - guard in the country when healthy than Kansas's Darryn Peterson, who is widely expected to be a Top 3 pick in this summer's NBA Draft alongside Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa.
Duke could see Peterson and Kansas in the Sweet 16 if the Jayhawks can get past Rick Pitino's St. John's. The Blue Devils defeated the Jayhawks 78-66 in the regular season on a neutral floor, but Peterson was unable to play.
The entire country would tune in to see Peterson vs. Boozer, and the Kansas guard's size (6-foot-6) would mitigate Duke's typical advantage on the perimeter with bigger players like Isaiah Evans and Dame Sarr.
Duke is the better team than Kansas, but Peterson is a generational talent capable of getting hot and ruining a whole lot of brackets.