NCAA Basketball: Ranking the Elite 8 teams in 2022 NCAA Tournament

2. Duke Blue Devils

When the Blue Devils lost to both North Carolina and Virginia Tech in a one-week span, serious questions were raised regarding their ability to win six games in the NCAA Tournament, especially due to the inability to defend on the perimeter. After beating Cal State Fullerton to start things out, Duke had two very tough opponents in Texas Tech and Michigan State.

The matchup with Michigan State was more about the coaches, as Tom Izzo defeated Coach K and Duke in 2019. And it nearly happened again, as the Blue Devils were trailing by five points with just a few minutes left. The same scenario occurred with Texas Tech on Thursday as well.

In the end, the Blue Devils decided literally not to miss a single field goal attempt in the final minutes of both matchups to win the games to get to the Elite 8. The biggest reason has been sophomore guard Jeremy Roach, who came through clutch in both games at the very end.

After coming off the bench in the last month of the regular season, Roach not only became the starter again but has been in double figures in all three NCAA Tournament games. His emergence as a go-to guy only raises the ceiling for a Duke squad already getting great production from Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams inside.

No team has as much pressure to win the national champion as the Blue Devils, now with several one seeds out of the picture now. But they’ve shown that they won’t crack and they’ll have to continue that mindset against Arkansas, a quality defensive unit that has a lethal scorer in JD Notae. But after what we’ve seen from this team, it’s hard to see them not making a Final Four.