Duke Blue Devils' Tough NCAA Tournament Path

0:00On March 18, Duke Blue Devils entered the NCAA tournament as the number one overall seed and number one in the East Region, chasing their sixth national title. They tip off Thursday against 16 seed Sienna at 2.50pm Eastern time. Despite the hype, many see their path as the toughest among the top seeds. The East Region packs heavy hitters like two seed Yukon, three seed Michigan State, four seed Kansas, five seed St. John's and six seed Louisville. Still, Duke has dominated all season, sitting atop the AP pole NCAA net rankings and Kim Palm metrics. Fans are all in on the Blue Devils, making them the top pick in brackets. Out of nearly 20 million entries on ESPN, 24% have Duke winning at all, ahead of Arizona at 20.3% and Michigan at 14.2%. A trendy upset pick has St. John's knocking out Duke in the sweet 16, thanks to their strong defense and Big E's titles. But their early struggles and lack of quality non-coference wins raised doubts, even after a late turnaround to 28 and 6.

1:07As the round of 64 gets underway, Duke's elite play positions them well to handle the gauntlet and prove the doubters wrong. Made in AI.