Zion Williamson and Duke are headed to D. C. after they were awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils sit atop the East Region, and their road to Minneapolis could include matchups with ACC rival Virginia Tech and Big Ten champion Michigan State.
Zion’s path to the Final Four goes through the nation’s capital.
Zion Williamson and Duke are headed to D. C. after they were awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils sit atop the East Region, and their road to Minneapolis could include matchups with ACC rival Virginia Tech — which beat Duke without Zion — and Big Ten champion Michigan State.
But with Williamson and fellow freshman R. J. Barrett on their games, it’s worth wondering who will be able to keep up with the ACC Tournament champions.
“It’s tough to determine what our potential is,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said Saturday. “I just want to have us play as good as we possibly can play right now.… I hope we’re in this tournament for a long time — that will make us even better.”
Fifth-ranked Duke’s top competition in the East comes from second-seeded Michigan State — which lost forward Kyle Ahrens to a left leg injury in the Big Ten title game Sunday — third-seeded LSU and fourth-seeded Virginia Tech. The Hokies beat Duke 77-72 on Feb. 26 after Williamson’s foot injury against North Carolina.
The Blue Devils (29-5) haven’t lost since Williamson returned, rolling through the ACC tourney by beating Syracuse, North Carolina and Florida State.
Krzyzewski hopes center Marques Bolden returns at some point in the tournament, which would give his team even more post depth to handle the likes of Michigan State if it came to that in the Elite Eight.
