Purdue, Baylor lie in wait

Anyone selling glass slippers this March must be quite happy.

In one of the more unpredictable NCAA Tournaments in recent memory, Cinderellas abound in the Sweet 16. Three double-digit seeds—No. 10 Saint Mary’s, No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Cornell—have all survived to the Tournament’s second weekend. Meanwhile, in a stunning upset, No. 9 Northern Iowa defeated the Tournament’s overall No. 1 seed, Kansas, to also advance to the regional semifinals.

And all this should put a smile on the faces of Blue Devil fans everywhere.

In reaching the Sweet 16, Saint Mary’s had to go through the No. 2 seed in the South, Villanova, a team which many prognosticators felt would beat Duke to reach the Final Four. Now, Blue Devil fans can put the nightmares of last season’s loss to the Wildcats safely to bed.

What’s more, Duke was the benefactor of a somewhat unconventional upset when No. 4 Purdue defeated fifth seed Texas A&M in overtime Sunday night. While the Boilermakers were seeded higher than Aggies, most felt that the Purdue would be quickly sent home in this Tournament without star forward Robbie Hummel.

But with the Boilermakers advancing, Duke will avoid facing Texas A&M in front of what could have been a hostile crowd in Houston. Instead, the Blue Devils will face a team that is now, without Hummel, likely worse than the squad the Blue Devils pummeled on Purdue’s home court in 2008.

If Duke can advance to the Elite 8, though, a much tougher matchup might await in the form of Baylor, another Texas school that will be playing mere hours from campus. In guard LaceDarius Dunn, forward Quincy Acy and center Ekpe Udoh, the Bears feature what many Blue Devil fans fear most—a highly athletic core.

Still, Baylor is probably a better matchup for Duke than Villanova, and the Wildcats’ plethora of hyper-athletic guards, might have been.