When ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi released his first projections for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, he listed Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils as the top overall seed.
In almost every successive update since, Duke has dropped a little lower.
After dropping them from the top spot in May, Lunardi slid the Blue Devils down to a No. 2 seed in June. Now, in another update on Tuesday, the ESPN analyst thinks North Carolina might be on Duke’s same footing in the ACC thanks to two big transfers and a few incoming freshmen.
“It might be that North Carolina is the favorite when the ACC conducts its preseason poll in October,” Lunardi wrote.
In his latest full-field projection, both the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels finished on the 2-seed line. Lunardi paired Duke with No. 1 Alabama in the East Region, and UNC paired with No. 1 Kansas (the top overall seed in the tournament) in the Midwest Region.
Men's Bracketology: 2025 NCAA Tournament https://t.co/146SOUuyXo. 🏀🏀 Cooper Flagg and Duke have grabbed all the offseason attention, but it might be that North Carolina is the favorite when the ACC conducts its preseason poll in October. The Tar Heels have risen to a No. 2 seed…
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) July 30, 2024
Four other ACC teams made the bracket in Lunardi’s way-too-early Bracketology; Clemson (No. 8, South), Wake Forest (No. 9, Midwest), and Miami (No. 10, West). Pittsburgh finished in the First Four, battling Maryland for the No. 11 seed in the East.