Duke keeps rising in latest D1Baseball poll, moving up to No. 6 after they took a ranked road series against Virginia Tech.
Duke’s weekend in Blacksburg was full of excitement as Duke won a road series against Virginia Tech for the first time in six years. Both Duke wins came with late-inning dramatics, as the Blue Devils fought back and won the game late.
For their efforts against a top-25 team, the Blue Devils saw themselves rise one spot to No. 6 in the latest D1Baseball poll.
Duke’s win puts them two games behind UNC for the Coastal Division lead as the Blue Devils enter the home stretch of the regular season.
At the top of the newest D1Baseball poll, the Texas A&M Aggies remain the nation’s number one team. Arkansas is second while the Tennessee Volunteers are third. Kentucky and ACC foe Clemson are ranked ahead of Duke at fourth and fifth, respectively.
East Carolina, Wake Forest, and Oklahoma State follow in order before Duke’s next ACC opponent, Florida State, slots in at 10th.
The rest of the ACC continues to be well represented in the poll, with Virginia and North Carolina ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, while NC State ranked 21st.
Duke will remain on the road for a midweek game against a tough Campbell Camels team before returning home for a top-10 weekend series against the Florida State Seminoles.
Four ACC teams, including Duke, crack final AP poll of the 2023-2024 season.
While the season’s outcome was not what many expected when Duke took the floor to start the season, Jon Scheyer’s team was, in essence, just 12 minutes from a Final Four berth.
NC State made more plays down the stretch and ultimately ended Duke’s season before having their season ended by national runner-up Purdue. Connecticut was always the best team from beginning to end, and they proved it by doing what hadn’t been done since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators teams in 2006–07: winning a second consecutive national title.
It should come as no surprise that the Huskies end the season as the No. 1 team in the final AP poll for the 2023-2024 season. Purdue was second, while Houston, whom Duke beat in the Sweet 16, tied with Alabama for the third-place spot. Tennessee checked in at number five.
Illinois was next at No. 6, followed by North Carolina, Iowa State, and Duke. NC State rounds out the top 10 despite never joining the poll during the regular season. Clemson, one of four ACC schools to make at least the Sweet 16, finished at No. 14.
The ACC had the same number of teams in the final AP poll as the Big 12, with four each.
Looking at the 2025 NCAA basketball championship odds as the 2023-24 season just wrapped up.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3011″ ]
It’s never too soon to think about next season.
While the UConn Huskies were finishing off the Purdue Boilermakers Monday in Glendale, Ariz, other programs — and players — have already set their focus on what it will take to get to the 2025 National Championship Game in San Antonio’s Alamodome next April 7.
Numerous players have entered the transfer portal, from FAU G Johnell Davis to Arizona C Oumar Ballo. Davis reportedly will test the waters and enter the NBA Draft.
Florida G Walter Clayton Jr., LSU G Jalen Cook and even USC G Bronny James are among a group who have declared or reportedly will declare for the upcoming draft.
Coaches are on the move, too. Sources have John Calipari leaving Kentucky for SEC rival Arkansas. He would replace Eric Musselman, who is headed to USC … which lost Andy Enfield to SMU.
“We should be up by double digits,” legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said about the Blue Devils’ six-point halftime lead over NC State last Sunday.
When looking back at Duke’s Elite Eight loss to NC State last Sunday, the easy issues to find came in the second half. When talking about the game on Sirius XM earlier this week, legendary Blue Devils Mike Krzyzewski said the problem came earlier than that.
The five-time national champion said the Blue Devils, who took a 27-21 lead into halftime, should have been up by double-digits at the halfway point.
“I felt we should have been up more,” Krzyzewski said.
Coach K pointed out that, while Duke’s 30.8% shooting percentage in the first half reflected the Wolfpack’s defensive prowess, the Blue Devils were still a perfect nine-for-nine from the free-throw line.
“The thing I worried about was (NC State guard DJ) Horne,” he added. “He’s been a hot player and he didn’t hit anything…But then in the second half, they continued to play really good defense and their offense exploded.”
Sure enough, NC State outscored the Blue Devils 55-37 over the final 20 minutes.
Coach K reacts to Duke's season coming to an end after losing to NC State in the Elite 8.
The Blue Devils and the Wolfpack drew 15.1 million viewers, the most of any Elite Eight game in five years. In fact, it was the most-watched telecast on Easter Sunday in more than a decade.
The Blue Devils are clearly still the biggest draw in the sport because the previous most-watched Easter Sunday game was when Duke played Louisville in 2013.
Sunday’s game drew almost 19 million viewers at its peak.
Duke took a six-point lead into halftime, but the Wolfpack surged back for a dominant second half to make the Final Four for the first time in four decades.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports deliver the most-watched Elite Eight day since 2019, led by NC State-Duke with more than 15 million viewers pic.twitter.com/53ML8TSk2J
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) April 2, 2024
The Duke-NC State game averaged more than five million viewers more than the Purdue-Tennessee precursor, which came in around 10.4 million viewers.
Duke freshman Jared McCain scored 30 points in two of his four tournament games, and he was the only Blue Devil to make the all-region team.
Jared McCain was named to the South All-Region Team on Sunday evening after he scored 32 points against NC State in the Elite Eight.
McCain averaged 21.0 points per game in Duke’s four-game tournament run, including a 30-point game against James Madison in the second round when he made a program record eight 3-pointers in one NCAA Tournament game.
He also averaged 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and the freshman finished 50% from beyond the 3-point line.
No other Duke player finished with even a 20-point game, much less two 30-point performances over the course of March Madness. McCain’s 32-point performance against the Wolfpack is tied for the fourth-most in a single NCAA Tournament game in Duke history.
NC State stars DJ Burns and DJ Horne led the five-man squad, and Marquette’s Tyler Kolek and Houston’s Jamal Shead also made the all-region team.
The best photos from Duke’s game against NC State on Sunday.
Duke let a first-half lead and a chance at the Final Four slip away on Easter Sunday.
After a low-scoring first 20 minutes, the Blue Devils took a 27-21 in the locker room behind 13 points from star freshman Jared McCain. In the second half, however, the control fell apart. NC State stars DJ Burns and DJ Horne combined to shoot 14/18 from the floor in the second half, putting up 49 points between the two of them.
The Blue Devils, on the other hand, managed to make just 11 of their 33 attempts in the second half. McCain finished with 32 points on 8/20 shooting, but his teammates combined to add 32 points on 39 shots.
Here are the best photos from Duke’s season-ending loss.
Duke pushes back into top 10 in latest D1Baseball Poll.
Duke baseball is back in the top 10.
After a little bit of a bump in the road, Chris Pollard’s team desperately needed a big week on the diamond to shift the momentum. They got just that with a 3-1 week that saw them take down ACC foe UVA for the Blue Devils’ second ACC series win of the season.
The week started with the Blue Devils hammering in-state opponent Campbell 11-1 on Tuesday. The Blue Devils got back after it on Thursday when they hosted a top-25 Virginia team. Ace pitcher Jonathan Santucci dazzled, working five innings of two-hit baseball to improve his record to 5-0, and Duke won 9-4.
On Friday, UVA bounced back with a 7-3 win to even the series at one game apiece. Another Duke comeback spearheaded Saturday’s rubber match. After the Blue Devils were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, they exploded for five runs in the seventh and pulled out a 7-4 win to take the series.
Joined by UNC and Clemson, Duke now gives the ACC three teams ranked in the top 10. Arkansas remains number one for another week, Clemson is number two, and Texas A&M rose from fourth to third.
The fourth spot belongs to Tennessee with the fifth going to Oregon State. Virginia Tech (11), Florida State (14), Virginia (15), NC State (19), and Wake Forest (21) make up the rest of the ACC teams on this week’s poll.
Duke was named the No. 9 team in the country by Baseball America and the No. 7 team by Perfect Game.
The Blue Devils will be back in action on Tuesday to take on Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., for a midweek game before returning home to host Miami for ACC play at Jack Coombs Field next weekend.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you spending a bit of time here with us today. Hope you had a fantastic weekend.
The NCAA had an opportunity to really put women’s sports on a pedestal it’d never been on before this season with the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The players are holding up their end of the bargain. The NCAA is not. That’s the only explanation for what happened in Portland this weekend.
NC State and Texas played an Elite 8 game where the 3-point lines on the court were different distances. That’s unfathomable to me. Could you imagine a Duke-UNC game on the men’s side like that? The answer is no. Because it’d simply never happen.
It was discovered only because NC State and Texas pointed it out just before their Elite 8 matchup. But, by then, it was too late. The teams had already warmed up and players were prepared to play ball, so they just continued as if it was business as usual. It essentially was because, well, that’s how the NCAA has always treated women’s sports.
The women’s basketball tournament is still looked at as secondary despite all the inroads women’s basketball has made. You’ve got stars galore in the game. College basketball’s most popular players play on the women’s side these days. Their NIL deals are crazy. One would think that, with that being the case, the NCAA would make sure these ladies get the best and only the best.
But no amount of NIL deals or Instagram followers matters here. Women’s basketball — and women’s sports overall — just don’t seem to be a priority at this point. And that’s so unfortunate because the game is so good. The stars are so bright and fun. They all deserve so much better. We’re all just waiting for the NCAA to give it to them finally.
Maybe they will someday. It’s just unfortunate that today does not seem to be that day.
Thank you so much, UVA, for giving us NC State in the Final Four
The answer is probably not. But here we are. UVA missed. NC State won. And, now, Gen-Z Bo is America’s favorite player. It’s incredible how things work out sometimes.
Things only get tougher from here. NC State is playing Purdue in the Final Four, and Burns will face Zach Edey, who’s been quite the problem himself. It’ll be a tough one.
Joel Embiid is nearing his return with the Philadelphia 76ers after tearing his meniscus, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is nearing a return and expected to play this week. The reigning MVP has been out since January 30 with a left meniscus injury. His status for Tuesday vs. OKC is expected later today. pic.twitter.com/Rn4mb6Qizv
He’s been out since January 30 but could play later on Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This is huge news. The 76ers are currently the 8th seed in the East and need every win they can get to get out of the play-in tournament. Embiid’s return should help with that.
Quick hits: More on those awful MLB jerseys … DJ Burns in the NFL? … and more
The final leg of March Madness begins with the men’s Final Four in Phoenix at State Farm Stadium.
The Final Four is officially set as the NC State Wolfpack and Purdue Boilermakers both punched their tickets to Phoenix, or Glendale where the games are being played.
The Wolfpack continued their hot streak knocking off the Duke Blue Devils for the second time since the regular season ended. The Purdue Boilermakers had to fend off a really good Tennessee Volunteers team led by Dalton Knecht. Nothing was going to stop the Purdue redemption tour on that day.
Those two teams joined the Final Four field that already included the Alabama Crimson Tide and UConn Huskies. The action will get going on Saturday from State Farm Stadium. The winners will face off on Monday night for the NCAA national championship. The favorite has to be the champions but history isn’t on their side. No one has repeated as the top dogs since the Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007.
Below you will find the tipoff and broadcast details for the game.
