Duke is the #2 seed in the Midwest Region - SCACCHoops.com

Duke is the #2 seed in the Midwest Region

by Duke Hoop

Posted: 3/17/2013 7:43:35 PM


Their opening round opponent will be the Albany Great Danes. They ended the season as the #146 team in Kenpom rankings and the #128 team in the RPI. The game will be on Friday, March 22nd. Albany’s best win this season was over Washington on November 13th. The Great Danes made it to the NCAA Tournament by winning the America East Tournament over the Vermont Catamounts. Their official school basketball website is here.

Albany is a very good (50th-best in the nation) free throw shooting team at 73.4% and are the 68th-best team in the country at getting to the free throw line. Duke will have to play good defense without fouling and will need to attempt to force Albany to foul them. This should prove to be difficult as the Great Danes are the 19th-best team at putting their opponents on the line (only at a rate of 27.4%). I’ll have a more in-depth preview of Albany coming in the next few days.

TV listings and times have not been announced, but I will update this post when I get them.

The Blue Devils were shafted from a #1 seed after having the best non conference strength of schedule and finishing the season as the #1 team in the RPI, which is supposedly used in the selection process. Duke beat the tournament champions of the ACC (Miami), Big East (Louisville), Big Ten (Ohio State), Atlantic Sun (Florida Gulf Coast), and Southern (Davidson) conferences. They also had a 3-1 record over teams seeded either #1 (1-0 over Louisville) or #2 (1-1 vs Miami, 1-0 vs Ohio State).

The NCAA had the Blue Devils as the #6 overall seed, behind only Miami on the #2 seed line.

If Duke is able to get to the regional finals, they will have won two games in the Wells Fargo Center located in Philadelphia, a site that has been kind to the program in the NCAA Tournament over the years. Duke beat UCLA and USC in the arena en route to its third national title in 2001. Perhaps Duke’s most famous NCAA Tournament game, when Christian Laettner’s buzzer-beater gave them a win over Kentucky also took place in Philadelphia at The Spectrum.

Their next two potential games would take place in Indianapolis, where Duke won its first and last national championships. The first time around in 1991 took place in the Hoosier Dome, which is now the RCA Dome. In 2010, Duke beat West Virginia and Butler in Lucas Oil Stadium, where this year’s Midwest Regional takes place.

 

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