Duke suffered its first loss on Saturday against Texas Tech in Madison Square Garden as the Blue Devils let a 17-point lead disappear in the second half in an 82-81 defeat. While it put Jon Scheyer’s squad at 11-1 heading into Christmas break, it wasn’t enough for the Blue Devils to hold onto a No. 1 seed in Joe Lunardi’s last Bracketology for ESPN.
The college basketball pundit dropped Duke to a No. 2 seed in the East Regional, playing its first two rounds in Greenville, SC. While it is still a long way to go until the bracket is set for March Madness, as of this latest update, the Blue Devils would face 15-seed East Tennessee State in the First Round, with a matchup against No. 7 Auburn or No. 10 UCF in the Second Round. If it were a battle between Duke and Steven Pearl’s Tigers, it would be a matchup of two teams that made the Final Four as No. 1 seeds last season.
Arizona, Michigan, UConn and Iowa State were Lundardi’s four No. 1 seeds, with seven other ACC teams (North Carolina, Louisville, Clemson, Miami, NC State, Virginia and SMU) listed in the bracket.
