Blue Devils Headed West For NCAAs

After dropping 4 of their final 9 games, Duke was seeded as a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament's West Regional. The Blue Devils will open their tournament against Atlantic Sun Champion Belmont.

UCLA was awarded the top seed in the West Regional, followed by Duke and then Atlantic 10 club Xavier. Connecticut and Drake are the fourth and fifth seeds respectively.

On Thursday the Blue Devils (27-5) and Bruins (25-8) will meet as two teams heading in seemingly different directions. The Bruins enter the NCAA Tournament red hot - riding a 13 game win streak. Duke, meanwhile, enters the Big Dance banged up and looking to find their legs after dropping two of their last three and four of their previous nine.

Belmont has some experience with some of college basketball's power conferences this season, having defeated Alabama 85-83 in November. However the Bruins have also seen the negative side of big time opponents, losing to third seeded Xavier 90-49 on December 1.

The remainder of the bracket's roster was led by sixth seeded Purdue, followed by West Virginia, BYU, Texas A&M, Baylor, Western Kentucky, San Diego, Georgia, Belmont, and Mississippi Valley State as the sixteenth seed.

Duke's path to the Final Four will take them from the first two rounds in Washington D.C. through the regionals in Phoenix, Arizona.