No. 1 Duke looks to complete regular-season roll by adding ACC Tournament title

Kon Knueppel and Duke had just beaten rival North Carolina to clinch the outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title, holding off Louisville and Clemson.

“It's great not to share it with anybody, either,” the freshman said. “And we want two more.”

The Blue Devils — who climbed to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 on Monday for the first time in the Jon Scheyer era — have been a Final Four favorite all year. Now they're headed into the madness of March, starting as the top seed in this week's ACC Tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The tournament opens Tuesday, with the Blue Devils, 10th-ranked Tigers and 13th-ranked Cardinals opening play Thursday as the headliners with a double-round bye to the quarterfinals.

Duke (28-3) closed out UNC down the stretch on Saturday night to complete the first 19-1 league season since the ACC went to a 20-game slate for the 2019-20 season. That completed a dominant run through the league by averaging a nearly 22-point margin of victory, though the Blue Devils blew a 15-point first-half lead and had to rally from seven down early in the second half to turn back the Tar Heels.

After a schedule full of blowouts, it was a perfectly timed test for Scheyer, who told his team at halftime that it was “incredible to go through.”

“It's not smooth sailing going forward," Scheyer said.

And had the Blue Devils lost, they would’ve ended up in a three-way tie for the regular-season crown with Louisville and Clemson — then slid all the way to the 3-seed. That despite being the nation's only team in the top five of KenPom's adjusted efficiency both offensively (129.1 points per 100 possessions) and defensively (89.4).

Rapid rise

Louisville (25-6) is the 2-seed, a remarkably fast rise from despair since the hiring of Pat Kelsey.

The Cardinals hadn't reached 20 wins since the COVID-19 pandemic, winning just 12 games over the past two seasons under Kenny Payne while losing 35 of 40 league regular-season games. But Kelsey's arrival and a retooled roster changed that trajectory.

Wisconsin transfer Chucky Hepburn (16.3 points) has been at the forefront of a season that has seen Louisville lose just once since mid-December. That included beating the Tigers, earning a head-to-head tiebreaker among teams that went 18-2 in league play.

Steady winners

Clemson (26-5) is the 3-seed, the latest strong season in Brad Brownell's sustained success coming after last year's trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.

This is Clemson's third straight season with at least 23 wins, including Duke's lone league loss in this year's list. The Tigers have lost just once since falling at Louisville on Jan. 7, a triple-overtime home loss to Georgia Tech.

“To be consistent in your performance is challenging,” coach Brad Brownell said after Saturday's win against Virginia Tech. “It takes a mature group. We have that.”

Bubble watch

North Carolina is the top name to watch in terms of bubble teams entering the week.

The Tar Heels (20-12, No. 40 NET) played their way back into contention for a bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning six straight with more confidence and cohesion before the weekend loss to Duke. That was the last assured chance for a resume-boosting win for a team that is just 1-11 in Quadrant 1 games.

Fifth-seeded UNC will face the Pittsburgh-Notre Dame winner in Wednesday's second round. A win there would earn a matchup with another team trying to play its way in with fourth-seeded Wake Forest (21-10, 69th NET) — with the Blue Devils waiting in that half of the bracket.

Rookies

Westward expansion brought three new teams into the fold this year and this will be their debut in the tournament. SMU is the 6-seed, while Stanford is the 7-seed and both have a bye into the second round.

California is the 15-seed, facing 10th-seeded Virginia Tech in Tuesday's second first-round game.

The schedule

It’s a 15-team bracket for the expanded 18-team league in a departure from the days of full-participation formats.

Reigning champion N.C. State didn't make the cut, a remarkable crashout after last year's improbable run that included winning five games in five days to claim its first ACC title since 1987, followed by the program reaching its first Final four since 1983. And that collapse ultimately cost coach Kevin Keatts his job.

Boston College and Miami were the other teams to miss the tournament.

The winners of Tuesday's three first-round games play again Wednesday in a round that includes a matchup between eighth-seeded Georgia Tech and ninth-seeded Virginia.

The semifinals are Friday night, followed by the championship on Saturday night — less than 24 hours before the NCAA selection committee announces the 68-team field for March Madness.

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AP freelance writer Pete Iacobelli contributed to this report.

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