NEWS RELEASE – Fresh off a victory in the ACC Tournament Championship game, the Duke men’s basketball team found out they would be awarded the No. 1 seed in the West Region for the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Duke will play its first round game in Charlotte against Hampton on Friday. It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. The Pirates are 24-8 and defeated Morgan State, 60-55, in the MEAC Championship game. The winner of that game would face the winner of the 8/9 game between Michigan (20-13) and Tennessee (19-14).
It is the 12th time in school history the Blue Devils have been a No. 1 seed and second straight season. All 12 times they have been a top seed have come under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Since 1998 Duke has been a No. 1 seed 10 times. Overall the Blue Devils have a 43-8 record as a No. 1 seed in the tournament with three of the school’s four national championships coming as the top seed in the region (1992, 2001 and 2010).
Duke will be making its 16th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 35th in school history. The Blue Devils have a 94-30 (.758) all-time record in the tournament with a NCAA-record 77 (77-22) of those wins coming under Krzyzewski.
When playing in the state of North Carolina during the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils boast a record of 30-4, including an 8-3 record in Charlotte. The last time Duke traveled to Charlotte for the NCAA Tournament was 2005 when they defeated Delaware State and Mississippi State as a No. 1 seed to advance to the Sweet 16.
This will be just the fourth season Duke has been placed in the West region. The Blue Devils are 2-3 all-time when playing in the West region. The last time was 2008 when Duke lost in the second round to West Virginia. The Blue Devils also were in the West Region in 2003 when they advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Kansas in Anaheim, Calif., the site where Duke would play if advancing to the Sweet 16 this season.
This season Duke is 30-4 overall, the third straight 30-win season for the program. The Blue Devils are just the sixth program in NCAA history to win 30 or more games in three straight seasons. On Sunday Duke defeated North Carolina, 75-58, to claim its third consecutive ACC Tournament Championship.