Fantasy Bracket Updates For Duke

Duke remains unbeaten in the ACC Greatest Player bracket. Thursday voting winners Zion Williamson and were joined by two more first-round winners in Friday voting.

2-seed Grant Hill beat Virginia Tech’s Ace Custis 93.2 percent to 6.8. He moves on to face 7-seed Antawn Jamison, who beat Kenny Anderson in the first round.

3-seed Shane Battier beat Louisville’s Russ Smith, 69.1 percent to 30.9. Battier moves on to face 6-seed Carmelo Anthony, who topped Dave Cowens in round one.

The NCAA.com March Madness bracket finished its first round, and two Duke upset losses moved on. Mercer’s 2014 upset of 3-seed Duke beat Northwestern winning a game in 2017 by a 71 percent to 29 margin. The Mercer game was a 13-seed and Northwestern a 4-seed.

Lehigh’s upset of 2-seed Duke in 2012 beat Bo Kimble’s left handed free throw in 1990 by a 62 percent to 38 margin. Lehigh’s win was the 12-seed and Kimble the 5.

The Lehigh game and Mercer game will now face off in the second round.

In the other brackets, Laettner’s shot against Kentucky (the top seed) faces 9-seed George Mason’s Final Four run in a round two game.

Gordon Hayward’s unsuccessful heave for Butler in the 2010 title game (a 9-seed) faces Texas Western’s 1966 title in a second-round game.

In the ESPN Greatest Ever bracket, the East Region first-round results included four games involving Blue Devils, which resulted in a 2-2 record for Duke.

7-seed Grant Hill beat Rebecca Lobo, 84 percent to 16 and moves on to face 2-seed Bill Russell, who beat Doug McDermott.

11-seed JJ Redick beat 6-seed Sheryl Swoopes, 73 percent to 27. He moves on to face 3-seed Larry Bird, who beat Dawn Staley.

8-seed Bobby Hurley lost to 9-seed Allen Iverson, 77 percent to 23, and 12-seed Shane Battier lost to 5-seed Len Bias, 53.5 percent to 46.5.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN is also conducting a simulated NCAA Tournament in real time. Duke should have played its tournament opener on Friday, and Lunardi had the Blue Devils in Greensboro as the 3-seed in the Midwest. Duke opened with Belmont.

The “game” tipped at 9:35 PM. Lunardi’s report on the game’s start said, “Duke and its fans have been sitting around Greensboro all day waiting to take on Belmont. There's an underlying feeling at the Coliseum that the Blue Devils are primed for a hot start to their NCAA run.”

The Blue Devils came out to a fast start. Lunardi’s halftime report was, “Duke's speed and ball pressure is too much for Belmont. Duke raced out to a 52-29 halftime lead over the Bruins. This looks like one of those games in which Coach K never takes his foot off the gas.”

At the end, Lunardi said, “Duke looks nothing like a No. 3 seed in blasting Belmont, 97-61, before a "home" crowd in Greensboro. Four Blue Devils reach double figures, led by (Tre) Jones with 20 points. Next up is ETSU, also in Greensboro, on Sunday.”

East Tennessee State is Lunardi’s 11 seed. It upset 6-seed Iowa, 92-89.

The 1-seed in Duke’s region is Kansas, and the 2 is Kentucky.