The NCAA baseball community sounded a little surprised when the Blue Devils weren’t one of the 16 regional hosts revealed on Sunday night.
Duke seemed out of the running after losing seven of its final 13 regular-season games, but the Blue Devils came alive in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils scored 43 runs in four games, including 16 runs in the title game as they clocked Florida State by a dozen runs. The performance, particularly in one of the deepest conferences in the country, seemed like a statement, but the selection committee didn’t think it outweighed Duke’s form from the end of the regular season.
What’s even worse? Five other ACC teams got the chance to host, including the Seminoles and NC State, whom Duke combined to beat by 19 combined runs over the last four days.
Here are some of the most notable reactions to Duke’s snub.