Duke ended the regular season sitting right where the 13th-ranked Blue Devils were expected to be in the Atlantic Coast Conference: atop the standings.
The journey there was hardly direct, down to those final steps heading into this week’s ACC Tournament as the reigning champion and No. 1 seed.
Coming off a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight, the Blue Devils started 3-6 against a wicked nonconference schedule as the headliner in the league’s bumpy overall start. They regrouped to win 17 straight and take control of the ACC race despite an injury-shortened rotation — only to lose two of their last three and ultimately back into the outright regular-season crown when No. 12 Louisville lost its finale against Notre Dame.
Last year’s ACC title marked the first for Duke since 2013. The Blue Devils (21-8, 16-2) chase another against a field that includes the Cardinals and No. 16 North Carolina as play begins Wednesday in Duluth, Georgia.
“I don’t want an extra brownie from you guys for it,” coach Kara Lawson told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the rival Tar Heels. ”But what I’m saying is: I’m proud of my team how — on the fly to lose three players to season-ending stuff, with seven players —we were able to navigate the 18-game schedule and win the league.
“We always tell the truth to them,” Lawson added. “Hey, ‘Here’s where we broke down.’ But hey, ‘Here’s what you’ve done well. And here’s what we need you to carry over into the postseason.’”
Duke’s loss at UNC gave the second-seeded Cardinals (25-6, 15-3) a chance to claim a share of the regular-season crown. And like Duke, Louisville has lost two of three.
First they rallied from 13 down before losing on a late 3-pointer at home to Virginia on Feb. 22. They squandered a 60-56 lead with 4:59 left and failed to hit another basket in Sunday’s home loss to the Fighting Irish.
“You’ve got to be able to finish it off,” coach Jeff Walz said.
Ascending Tar Heels
The third-seeded Tar Heels (25-6, 14-4) have won 12 of 13 games since mid-January. The lone loss was at Duke.
The starting point was regrouping from a 23-point loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 11, a performance in which coach Courtney Banghart said her team “never even got off the plane.”
“This is a team that we’d lose, we would be so obsessed on every statistical category: we’ve got to outrebound, we’ve got take more shots, we got to turn it over less, we gotta get more steals,” Banghart said. “It’s like, ‘No, you don’t, actually.’ Just win as many statistical categories as you can and we’ll see how it all plays out.”
UNC hit a program-record 16 3-pointers at Virginia then eight more against Duke to close the regular season, while point guard Elina Aarnisalo has posted new career highs in each (20 points against Virginia, 22 against Duke).
Star watch
Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo is the tournament’s top star as a two-time Associated Press first-team All-American. Two years ago, she was the fearless freshman who led Notre Dame to the ACC Tournament title and claimed MVP honors.
She enters the week as the nation’s No. 3 scorer (25.2) and steals leader (5.59) for the fifth-seeded Irish. She’s coming off a huge showing (30 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and five steals) against Louisville.
Postseason prospects
The league has nine teams in Tuesday’s ESPN Bracketology projected NCAA Tournament field, headlined by Duke and Louisville as regional 3-seeds. UNC is a 5-seed but has a chance to move into a top-16 overall seed and host opening-week March Madness games.
There are also two notable bubble situations to monitor in Clemson and Virginia, with both currently projected in by ESPN. The Cavaliers are chasing their first bid since 2018, which is their lone bid since 2010. The Tigers are chasing only their second bid since 2002, the other coming in 2019.
The schedule
Wednesday’s first round begins with 12th-seeded Miami facing 13th-seeded Stanford in the first of three games. Thursday’s second round is headlined by the Irish, followed by 6-seed Virginia Tech and 7-seed Syracuse.
Duke, Louisville, UNC and fourth-seeded N.C. State open play in Friday’s quarterfinals, with the semifinals Saturday and the title game Sunday.
Tournament notes
This is the second time the ACC Tournament won’t have an AP Top-10 team since 1985. The other came in 2000, when No. 12 Duke was the highest-ranked team. … Boston College, Pittsburgh and SMU didn’t qualify for the 15-team event. … This is the 49th annual tournament as the nation’s oldest Division I women’s tournament, the first coming in 1978. … This is the first year the tournament will be held outside the Carolinas. Greensboro, North Carolina, has been its longtime home by hosting every year but once dating to 2000.
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AP freelance writer Steve Bittenbender in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.
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