Remember in 2018 when the ACC was largely down in football and Clemson was an incredible national championship-caliber team? They went on to win it all in dominant fashion. In fairness, Syracuse finished 15th in the country and NC State won 9 games. They were pretty good, but you get the idea.
This year ACC basketball was a total mess. The league struggled to get the 4 bids they did get, and 3 of the teams were eliminated before the end of Friday. Louisville was overwhelmed in a virtual home game with Creighton. UNC did their usual 2024 act, falling behind big, comeback, and then lose to a quality team when they got beat by Ole Miss. This was after a solid performance against San Diego State in the play-in-game, but still, they didn’t last long in the NCAAs. Clemson oh Clemson had the worst half anyone played in the tournament scoring 13 points in the 1st half against McNeese St and eventually losing in the 5/12 game.
Like Clemson in 2018, Duke is nothing like their ACC brethren. Duke rolled into Sweet 16 like a freight train.
Beating Mt. Saint Marys 93-49 in the opener was impressive, but more or less expected. Then Duke played a rugged Baylor in round 2. The other number 1 seeds Auburn, Houston, and Florida had already been in tests this weekend.
Duke took a nice initial punch from Baylor. With 8 minutes left in the 1st half Baylor led 24-23, and then Duke went into another gear and never looked back. Duke led 47-30 at the half and Baylor never got closer than 13 the rest of the game in a 89-66 blowout.
Cooper Flagg is healthy, they play lockdown defense, and Tyrese Proctor is currently channeling his inner Stephen Curry from the perimeter. Jon Scheyer has the country’s most talented team peaking the last 6 weeks.
Houston is very good, but I don’t have them at the same level as the other number seeds.
Against the SEC Monster of a league, Duke is the one team capable of beating the best from that league.
So far it’s just like Clemson in 2018.
Can they close the deal as that team did? I’m not betting against them.
