Joe Lunardi shares his top 16 teams before Saturday’s games

Prior this weekend’s games, the ESPN bracket expert shared his thoughts on all the teams he currently has as a top four seed.

With this weekend’s games on the horizon, ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi shared his top 16 overall teams in a brief social media post on Friday.

His updated Bracketology had Duke as the 12th overall team in the nation and the No. 3 seed in the South region behind Houston and Tennessee.

Lunardi had kept Duke as one of his No. 4 seeds for a long stretch, but the Blue Devils finally jumped after wins in 14 of their last 16 games combined with recent slides from teams like Auburn and Wisconsin.

Purdue, Arizona, and defending national champion Connecticut are the other top seeds in Lunardi’s mock-up.

North Carolina, after three losses in its last five games, slipped down to the seventh-ranked overall team and the No. 2 seed in the East region. Despite the recent slide, the Tar Heels still hold a half-game lead in the ACC and remain Lunardi’s highest-ranked team from the conference.

Clemson (No. 5 seed) and Virginia (No. 9 seed) round out the rest of the ACC teams included in Lunardi’s latest projections, with Wake Forest still the first team on the outside looking in.