But the big story here is the expected return of Blue Devils star freshman point guard Kyrie Irving from a toe injury. Irving was tremendous to start this season as Duke began 8-0 and looked near invincible. But then the freshman suffered a toe injury in a win over Butler and hasn’t played since – Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had said all year he wasn’t expecting Irving to make it back. The school didn’t want to jeopardize his playing future – he is a lock NBA Top 5 pick if he comes out this year. Irving was the team’s leading scorer at 17.4 ppg and 5.1 apg when he went down and the Blue Devils were playing at much faster pace with him distributing the ball.

It’s possible that Duke (30-4) holds Irving out of this game because clearly the outcome isn’t in doubt and it would allow Irving a few more days to get back into rhythm and game shape. And Coach K has said that even if Irving does return, he will do so off the bench and obviously in limited minutes, although his totals could climb each game. In his absence, senior guard Nolan Smith moved over to point guard for the Blue Devils and won ACC Player of the Year honors in leading the Blue Devils to the conference tournament crown.

As for Hampton (24-8), it won the MEAC Tournament after finishing tied for second during the regular season. That earned the Pirates their first NCAA bid since 2006. Hampton led the conference in holding its opponents to 62.2 points a game. In their conference tournament, the Pirates held the opposing teams to 55, 61 and 55 points. The Pirates’ offense is based heavily on the 3-point shot. They have and are 1-14 all-time against teams from the ACC. For what it’s worth, Hampton did pull one of the NCAA Tournament stunners of all time, when as a No. 15 seed it beat No. 2 Iowa State in 2001.

Madness would be not betting on the Big Dance at Bodog!