Duke got the No. 2 seed it was expecting, and will play in Pittsburgh, not Charlotte, during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
There was a slight possibility Duke would have played in Charlotte had the NCAA Selection Committee felt it had a better resume than rival North Carolina. But the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils 74-69 in the semifinals of the ACC tournament on Friday, and earned the rights to play in Charlotte.
Duke (26-7) does not mind though.
Its first round opponent is 15th seeded Iona, winners of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. Six players on Iona's team averages 10 or more points. As a team, the Gaels average 80 points per game. Rickey McGill, a 6-1, 175-pound junior point guard, leads the team in points per game (13.5) and assists (5.6).
Duke and Iona face off on Thursday at 2:45 p.m.
If Duke beats Iona, it will see the winner of Oklahoma (18-13), a No. 10 seed, and Rhode Island (25-7) a No. 7 seed. Oklahoma has the country's leading scorer and assist man in Trae Young. He averages 27.4 points per game and 8.8 assists.
Rhode Island, which received an At-Large bid, finished first Atlantic-10 conference, but lost in the conference tournament championship game by one point.
