Duke vs St. John's: Battle for Sweet Sixteen

0:00On March 24th, the top-seated Duke Blue Devils take on the 5th-seated St. John's Red Storm in the East Regional Semifinals for a spot in the suite. 16. Duke Crews pass 9th-seated TCU-81-58, while St. John's pulled off a tight 67-65 upset over 4th-seated. Kansas. Duke has reached the 2nd weekend for the 3rd straight year, under Coach John Shire, and hopes to push toward a 3rd consecutive Elite 8. For St. John's, this marks their first appearance here since 1999. The Blue Devils got a boost with sophomore center Patrick Nongba, returning against TCU after missing time since early March, though Junior Guard. Caleb Foster remains sidelineed, with a foot fracture, and might sit this one out. Both squads bring a gritty style to the court, emphasizing tough defense and physical play in the half-court to wear down opponents. St. John's is heated up from beyond the arc lately, hitting 21 of 64-3s across their two tournament wins after rarely doing so, all season.

1:02Duke counters as one of the best at guarding the perimeter, holding foes to just 30.5% from deep, while dominating inside at 60, 0.3% on two pointers. The key matchup comes down to whether Duke can shut down those outside shots and own the paint like usual, setting up what should be a hard fought. Battle either way.