Where Does Bracketology Have Duke And ACC Teams Currently?

Bracketology has become a sort of parlor game now and it starts the day after the tournament ends, too, which is kind of bizarre. But that’s the age we live in.

It’s February now so that means we’re heading towards prime time for Bracketology 101, and one of the best forecasters is Joe Lunardi.

In his most recent update, he has the ACC with seven teams, which is pretty good. It’s not as good as the Big Ten though, which has nine in his estimation, or the Big 12, which has eight.

Still, it’s good. So where is everyone?

Well first, he has Duke as the fifth seed in the South in a pod with Oral Roberts, Xavier and Saint Louis. We don’t know a lot about Oral Roberts obviously but they had a great run in the 2021 tournament. You don’t want to take them lightly, that’s for sure.

The other two might be tough as well. We’d probably take Miami over New Mexico but Pitt and Penn State could be really tight.

We’d fully expect Virginia to lock down Furman. A lot of people will pick FAU as an upset special no matter who they end up playing but Clemson is a smart and resourceful team. If they’re healthy, you have to go with them.

UNC would get Northwestern in this scenario which would have some great storylines. Obviously Duke grad Chris Collins would love a shot at UNC. How would Pete Nance react to playing his old team? How would they react to playing him? Great question.

We like NC State over Iowa as well. The Hawkeyes like to run but NC State likes to smash your face in. It’s hard to run with your face smashed in.

Of course, none of this is even close to locked in. Still, Lunardi is good enough at this stuff to have an excellent framework. There are usually one or two surprises, but generally speaking, he does very well at this kind of prognostication so it’s worth seeing what he’s thinking. When the tournament starts, you can hit DraftKings.com to find the odds on Duke and everyone else. You don’t have to wait for the tournament of course. They’ll be posting Duke-UNC pretty soon, which should be interesting.

South:

• Duke #5. Opponent: Oral Roberts.
• Miami: #7. Opponent: New Mexico.
• Pitt: #11 in the South play-in game. Opponent: #11 Penn State

East:

• Virginia #3. Opponent: Furman
• Clemson #8. Opponent: #9 Florida Atlantic

Midwest:

• UNC #8. Opponent: Northwestern #9.

West:

• NC State #8. Opponent: #9 Iowa