Duke went one and done in the ACC Tournament. And in the process, it lost a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils—who entered the ACC Tournament ranked No. 2 nationally—received a No. 2 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament's Midwest region with their first game against 15th-seeded Albany in Philadelphia.
The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight for the Midwest region will take place in Indianapolis.
Louisville received the top overall seed in the Tournament and is also in the Midwest region, with Kansas, Indiana and Gonzaga also getting No. 1 seeds. The Blue Devils beat the then-No. 2 Cardinals 76-71 in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in November.
"We thought we had six teams for those first four spots," said NCAA Selection Committee chair Mike Bobinski on CBS after the seedings were announced. "It was a constant source of conversation."
Miami, which received a No. 2 seed after winning the ACC regular season and Tournament titles, was the closest to getting on the top line.
"We put Gonzaga just ahead of them based on what we had seen and evaluated," he said.
Michigan State received the No. 3 seed in the region for a potential Sweet 16 showdown between two of the top coaches in college basketball, Mike Krzyzewski and the Spartans' Tom Izzo.
Duke (27-5, 14-4 in the ACC) lost 83-74 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals to Maryland, the Blue Devils’ second loss to the Terrapins this season. The loss marked Duke’s first of the season with Ryan Kelly healthy after the senior forward missed 12 games during conference play with a foot injury.
All of the Blue Devils’ losses came against ACC foes, though they thrived in non-conference play with three wins against top-five teams: then-No. 3 Kentucky, then-No. 2 Louisville and then-No. 4 Ohio State. Duke also beat then-No. 5 Miami at home, after losing to the Hurricanes on the road.
Four ACC teams made the tournament. The Hurricanes are the No. 2 seed in the East region, where N.C. State is the No. 8 seed. North Carolina received the No. 8 seed in the South region.
Virginia and Maryland, both of which beat Duke this year, were on the Tournament's bubble and did not receive berths.
Duke has the top Ratings Percentage Index, according to ESPN, one of the metrics used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Blue Devils also have the most difficult strength of schedule in the country.
In last year's NCAA Tournament, the second-seeded Blue Devils lost to 15th-seeded Lehigh in the Round of 64.
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