NCAA Tournament: 2019 Final Four favorites from each seed line (8-1)

One Seed: Duke

The Duke Blue Devils are the obvious pick for the favorite out of the one seeds to reach a Final Four. They are the favorite to win the National Title for many reasons. This is a really good basketball team on both ends of the floor and a lot of that has to do with having the best player in college basketball, Zion Williamson.

Williamson has been the best player in the country and it isn’t even much of a debate, no matter how you personally feel about Duke, you can’t deny how skilled this team is. They have an elite freshman class with guys such as RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones to go with Williamson. They have taken the college basketball world by storm over the past few months as they have played at a very high level.

They are truly an elite team on both ends of the floor. People will sometimes question their defense but when you watch them play you see them make many game-changing plays on that end of the floor and the numbers back them up. They’re 4th in the nation in steals and they are 1st in blocked shots.

This is a very good Duke team but they do still have one major flaw that could keep them from reaching the Final Four. They shoot just 30% from three-point range which is 340th in the nation. Most teams that struggle from three-point range have at least one guy they can rely on but this team doesn’t have that. Reddish is known as a very good shooter but he is only making 33%. They will need him to knock down shots for this team to even reach the Final Four, let alone win a national championship.

They might have the easiest path to the Elite Eight out of all the one seeds. After what happened to Virginia last season you never want to completely count out a 16 seed but whoever wins the NC Central-North Dakota State matchup won’t have the firepower to compete with Duke for 40 minutes.

After that, they would face either VCU or UCF. VCU has had some incredible moments in the NCAA Tournament in the past but those team’s never had to play a team as good as Duke. You never want to completely rule out an opponent but I would be absolutely shocked if they lost in the first weekend.

The Sweet 16 is where they potentially could get upset, especially if they face off with the Virginia Tech Hokies. They already beat Duke once this season and while it was when Williamson was out, The Hokies were without Justin Robinson which is a huge loss for them. It would be a completely different game but this is a game that Duke will need to play well in if they want to advance.

After that, they would set up a potential Elite Eight matchup with Michigan State. The Spartans are a very good basketball team and with some of the issues at LSU, I think this very likely could be the Elite Eight matchup in the East region. You can debate whether Virginia or North Carolina has a better chance at a Final Four but Duke is the best team in the country so they have to be the pick here.