Hello friends, and welcome to the regular season finale edition of Bracketology at ClutchPoints! A handful of conference tournaments are already under way, but for most of the country, this weekend represents the final days of the 2024-25 regular season, and let me tell ya, a whole bunch of teams still have a whole lot to play for in the ten days leading up to Selection Sunday. But we’ll get into all of that in a quick minute.
For now, I want to shift focus to the 264th all-time meeting between the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels. On the surface, if you just look at the resumes of these two teams, this shouldn’t be the marquee game of the weekend. The Blue Devils are arguably the best team in the nation, led by National Player of the Year front-runner Cooper Flagg, and they’ll likely enter the NCAA Tournament as the ACC Champions and the odds-on-favorite to cut down the nets in San Antonio.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels’ involvement in the 2025 NCAA Tournament is by no means settled. My latest projections have Carolina as the First Team Out of the tournament field, and in an ACC Conference that may only get three teams in the tournament, there aren’t many guaranteed chances left for the Tar Heels to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. This game against Duke is the last one, though the ACC Tournament could provide that much-needed opportunity.
So sure, it’s not difficult to make the case that each of these two teams have a lot to play for in what looks to be a somewhat lopsided matchup, but more importantly than the respective stakes attached to this game for each team or the quality of the two teams is the history they share. It’s memories of Eric Montross and Tyler Hansbrough dripping blood on the floor. It’s Duke holding off a furious Carolina rally to beat the Tar Heels at the Dean Dome in 2000. It’s Marvin Williams’ game-winning put-back or Austin Rivers’ buzzer-beating triple. It’s Carolina spoiling Coach K’s final home game AND final NCAA Tournament game.
It’s the history. And it’s the madness, regardless of if they’re playing in February, March, or April.
Bracketology Bracket
Bracketology Breakdown
Top Seeds: Auburn Tigers (South Region), Duke Blue Devils (East Region), Houston Cougars (Midwest Region), Florida Gators (West Region)
Multi-Bid Leagues: ACC (3), Big 12 (8), Big East (4), Big Ten (10), Mountain West (3), SEC (14), WCC (2)
Bracketology Bubble Watch
Last Four Byes: Georgia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio State
Last Four In: Oklahoma, San Diego State, Indiana, Texas
First Four Out: North Carolina, Xavier, Nebraska, Boise State
Next Four Out: Villanova, Colorado State, Wake Forest, SMU
Ten Most Intriguing Games on Saturday
Saturday March 8th (FOX, Noon ET) – St. John’s at Marquette
-What they’re playing for: St. John’s has the Big East regular season wrapped up, but there’s a world where the Johnnies could play themselves into a 2-seed in the Big Dance. A 3rd place Big East finish is still in the cards for Marquette, assuming the Golden Eagles score an upset win over St. John’s on Saturday and that Seton Hall improbably defeats UConn for the second time this season.
Saturday March 8th (ESPN, Noon ET) – Kentucky at Missouri
-What they’re playing for: Slightly better seeding in the SEC Tournament, and not a whole lot else.
Saturday March 8th (SEC Network, Noon ET) – Mississippi State at Arkansas
-What they’re playing for: Mississippi State is playing for some semblance of momentum going into the SEC Tournament — they’re just 6-9 in their last 15 games — and Arkansas (Last Four Byes in today’s Bracketology update) is playing to strengthen a resume that thus far might be just good enough to keep them out of the First Four.
Saturday March 8th (ESPNU, Noon ET) – Vanderbilt at Georgia
-What they’re playing for: One more resume-building win ahead of the SEC Tournament, which is something that both Vanderbilt and Georgia (Last Four Byes) need in order to feel more comfortable heading into Selection Sunday.
Saturday March 8th (ESPN, 2:30 PM ET) – Alabama at Auburn
-What they’re playing for: Auburn is playing for a season sweep of the Iron Bowl series and potentially the last win they’ll need to hold off Duke as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama is trying to keep their #1 seed hopes alive.
Saturday March 8th (CBS, 3:45 PM ET) – Ohio State at Indiana
-What they’re playing for: A potential NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Ohio State (Last Four Byes) already survived one of the biggest bubble matchups of the year earlier this week in a double-OT thriller against Nebraska. Now they need to hold off the Hoosiers (Last Four In) in Mike Woodson’s game in Bloomington.
Saturday March 8th (ESPN, 4:30 PM ET) – Arizona at Kansas
-What they’re playing for: Arizona is playing to hang on to the 2nd seed in the Big 12 Tournament. If Kansas loses, it will be the Jayhawks’ first season without a winning record in conference play since the 1988-89 season, when they were still in the Big 8 Conference.
Saturday March 8th (SEC Network, 6 PM ET) – Ole Miss at Florida
-What they’re playing for: Ole Miss is playing for a 3rd win over a team ranked in the Top 5 this season, while the Gators are playing to hold on to the final 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket.
Saturday March 8th (ESPN, 6:30 PM ET) – Duke at North Carolina
-What they’re playing for: Bragging rights in college basketball’s greatest rivalry. For Duke, they’d march one step closer to the overall top seed, while Carolina (First Four Out) is playing to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. A win over Duke would do wonders for a Tar Heels resume that’s lacking Quad 1 wins.
Saturday March 8th (ESPN2, 9 PM ET) – Ohio Valley Conference Championship
-What they’re playing for: A guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament, and there’s no bigger prize this weekend than that.
Next Update: Sunday March 9th
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