It’s no surprise that Duke is a No. 1 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update for ESPN. That’s the consensus for Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils in the preseason despite losing a National Player of the Year to the NBA Draft for the second offseason in a row.
But Scheyer has done what he always does and reloaded Duke’s war chest with intriguing talent both from the high school ranks and the Transfer Portal. Duke landed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class again with a quartet of 5-star prospects and landed one of the top overall players in the Transfer Portal in Wisconsin’s John Blackwell.
Blackwell represented a major portal victory for Scheyer that solidified Duke as one of the top teams in college basketball heading into next season. And it’s Blackwell’s addition that makes for the most compelling aspect of the path Lunardi set up for Duke in his projected NCAA Tournament field.
Joe Lunardi projects a potential Duke vs. Wisconsin 2nd Round March Madness matchup
Lunardi has Florida as the No. 1 overall seed and, perhaps surprisingly, has Michigan as the No. 2 1-seed. Duke is third, projected as the top overall seed in the South Region with a path to the Final Four running through San Antonio…