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Bracketology 2020: Duke/Syracuse, Saint Mary’s/BYU among week’s best matchups

By Tristan Freeman

SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 20: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts to a made three-point basket as teammate Buddy Boeheim #35 gestures against the Louisville Cardinals during the first half at the Carrier Dome on February 20, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 20: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts to a made three-point basket as teammate Buddy Boeheim #35 gestures against the Louisville Cardinals during the first half at the Carrier Dome on February 20, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /
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LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 27: TJ Haws #30 of the BYU Cougars gets five from teammate Alex Barcello (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 27: TJ Haws #30 of the BYU Cougars gets five from teammate Alex Barcello (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

2. Duke (16-3, 7-2) at Syracuse (13-7, 6-3) – Saturday, Feb 1

It’s been a nice run of late for the Orange, winners of five straight ACC games and have seen their NET ranking rise over 20 points back into bubble range. But with the only win of note during the stretch was Virginia Tech, who is far from safely into the field. With only one game left against this year’s Big 3 in the ACC, they have to get at least one, if not two of those games to have a true shot at an at-large bid.

As for the Blue Devils, they need to avoid more mishaps like the one against Clemson awhile ago. Compared to both Florida State and Louisville, Duke has the better overall resume and the inside track at a No. 1 seed if the ACC ends up getting one. But with bad losses also on their resume, they have to be careful navigating the rest of the schedule. Considering how many desperate “bubble” ACC teams there are and limited opportunities, it’ll be interesting to see which of the top teams can avoid the upset this week and beyond.

1. Saint Mary’s (18-4, 5-2) at BYU (15-7, 4-3) – Saturday, Feb 1

Right now, both BYU and Saint Mary’s are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament. But neither are safe and are another bad loss away from being on the wrong side of the bubble. And being in the WCC, the only opportunities of a big win for these two are either against No. 2 ranked Gonzaga or against each other. So barring a massive upset over the Bulldogs, this is the last chance for either team to get a win in the regular season.

When these two teams saw each other earlier this month, the Gaels needed overtime to beat the Cougars at home. But that was without Yoeli Childs, who was battling a finger injury. He’ll be back for the return trip to Provo this week, looking for another resume builder to go along with a nice set of metrics. Saint Mary’s numbers aren’t as good, so they could use this road victory over a fully healthy BYU squad to at least put themselves ahead of their WCC rivals in the eyes of the Selection Committee.

Bracketology Winners from past week. dark. Next

Whoever loses this matchup, may have to rely on a future upset over Gonzaga to get into the NCAA Tournament. That puts more pressure on the home team, who would get swept by Saint Mary’s and have little chance of the coveted No. 2 spot in the WCC for the conference tournament. Other teams in this piece have multiple chances for big wins even if they do lose this game. But for both BYU and Saint Mary’s, this may represent their last realistic shot at a quality win.

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