The women's basketball team (31-1) received its third consecutive No. 1 seed Sunday an hour before the men's team (25-4) received a three seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Although both teams won their conference tournaments, the women carried a No. 2 ranking and were rewarded with the top seed in the Midwest region. The 12th-ranked men take the three seed in the West region, where they will face Colorado State (18-12).
The women watched the ESPN selection show from Morgan's in the Durham Hilton, where they were filmed for the telecast. The Blue Devils remained calm throughout the filming and needed constant encouragement from the ESPN cameraman to make noise and celebrate their selection.
"There wasn't a whole lot of hoopla because we knew that we were going to be a No. 1 seed," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We felt fairly certain that we would be playing over in Reynolds [Coliseum in Raleigh for the first and second round]. So, the only surprises were who we were going to play, and it really didn't matter to us who we were going to play. We just wanted to really be close to home."
They found they would have an opening round matchup in Raleigh Sunday with Georgia State (20-10), the Atlantic Sun Conference champions. With a victory they would face the winner of Utah (23-6) and DePaul (22-9) next Tuesday.
If the Blue Devils emerge from their subregional, they will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the regional semifinals and finals. The more natural East region No. 1 seed was taken by Connecticut, despite the Huskies' loss in the Big East Conference Tournament to Villanova.
"It would have been a little more advantageous for us to go to [East regional site] Dayton [Ohio] because we would have had more fan support," Sheana Mosch said.
Duke also faces the possibility of a regional finals matchup with No. 6 seed New Mexico on its home court at the highest elevation of any metropolitan area in the country (5,280 feet).
"We've been to New Mexico and we've seen them play out there," Goestenkors said. "We played in their tournament [two seasons ago] and didn't have to play them, but I remember thinking, 'I'm glad we don't have to play them,' because they were in such better shape than everyone else--everyone else was struggling because of the altitude."
In addition to the thin air and Lobos, some combination of No. 2 seed Texas Tech (26-5), No. 3 Mississippi State (23-7), No. 4 Rutgers (20-7) and No. 5 Georgia (19-9) likely lie in wait for the Blue Devils in Albuquerque.
If the Blue Devils overcome the obstacles in the high desert, they will return to their second consecutive Final Four--this time April 6 and 8 in Atlanta, Ga.
"Last year [the Final Four] was a bit overwhelming for the entire team," said junior All-American Alana Beard, who said her team was also overwhelmed by the moment in the first half of a January loss to Connecticut. "Being that we were there last year, we know how to handle it now."
Meanwhile, the men's team joins a stacked West region that features seven teams currently ranked in the top 25, including No. 1 seed Arizona (25-3), No. 2 Kansas (25-7), No. 4 Illinois (24-6) and No. 5 Notre Dame (22-10). If Duke gets past Colorado State, it faces the winner of No. 6 Creighton (29-4) and No. 11 Central Michigan (24-6).
With another victory, the Blue Devils would travel to Anaheim for the regional semis and finals. The Final Four will be played April 5 and 7 in New Orleans, La.
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