Blue Devils draw Georgia State in NCAAs

Duke gathered Monday afternoon to view the selection show revealing the 48 teams that will compete in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Although the Blue Devils (10-7-3) had to wait until the second half of the bracket to hear their name called, their patience was rewarded with an at-large bid and a home matchup, hosting Georgia State (13-7-1) this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.

The tournament is formatted with 16 seeded teams receiving first-round byes, and 32 unseeded teams squaring off on Thursday. The ACC is well-represented in the field with the second-most number of teams of any conference with six. The Big East has seven teams in the field, but the ACC has the highest overall conference RPI.

North Carolina is the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament while Boston College and Maryland are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.

“It’s a great conference. The fact that we have two teams in the top four speaks volumes,” Terrapins head coach Sasho Cirovski said via telephone during the telecast.

Duke, Wake Forest and Virginia are all unseeded, and no other ACC team is in the same quadrant as the Blue Devils. Even though many teams have better records than Duke in the tournament, the team is counting on its experience playing in the nation’s best conference to guide it through postseason play.

“ACC teams have been playing good games throughout the whole year so they’re ready for big-time games,” senior midfielder Chris Tweed-Kent said. “Other teams which haven’t been playing as difficult teams, but have better records, will have a harder time.”

One of the teams that falls into that category is 10th-seeded New Mexico, which awaits the winner of the Blue Devil-Panther first-round matchup. The Lobos finished the season undefeated and No. 1 in the NSCAA coach’s poll, but played an easy schedule in the Mountain West Conference.