Duke strengthens case for No. 1 seed with 88-70 win over Notre Dame

Duke strengthened its case to be one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament with an impressive 88-70 romp over Notre Dame Thursday night in the ACC tournament quarterfinals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Blue Devils, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, shot 55.4 percent from the field and got monster efforts from their two leading scorers.

Freshman big man Marvin Bagley, who was recently named both the ACC Rookie and Player of the Year, posted 33 points and 17 rebounds. It was the fourth time this season that Bagley has scored at lest 30 points and grabbed at least 15 rebounds in the same game. He is the only player in Division-I who can say that.

Grayson Allen also had himself a night. The senior connected on 5 of 6 three-point attempts on his way to a 23-point evening. It marked the fifth time in Duke’s last eight games that Allen has scored 20 or more points.

While Duke now sits two wins away from a potential top seed in the Big Dance, the story is dramatically different for the opponent they just disposed of.

Notre Dame must now sit around and wait with the hope that what they’ve accomplished over the past four months is enough to get their name called on Selection Sunday. The Fighting Irish went just 8-10 in ACC play and have an iffy current RPI of 65, but they also have hope that the selection committee will take the unusual circumstances surrounding that record into consideration.

Preseason All-American Bonzie Colson broke his left foot at the beginning of the new year, an injury which forced him to sit out nearly half the season. Notre Dame went 6-9 while Colson was sidelined, losing seven straight at one point. Point guard Matt Farrell, the team’s second-leading scorer, also missed five games with his own injury during that time. The team went just 1-4 without him.

While the committee will undoubtedly look at the effect injuries had on Notre Dame’s season, that altered lense may not be enough to get the Irish into the field of 68. Even before Colson was injured, Mike Brey’s team was beaten handily by Michigan State, dealt a neutral court loss by an average Indiana team, and beaten at home by Ball State. They did, however, win the Maui Invitational, scoring an impressive win over Wichita State in the title game.

This was the fourth straight year that Duke and Notre Dame have met in the ACC tournament. The Fighting Irish won the first of those meetings, but the Blue Devils exacted revenge with a 75-69 win in last season’s championship game.