N ° 8 Caroline du Nord, n ° 9 NC State, n ° 16 DUKE in the running to give reception sites of region 3 of region 3 of the state NCAA

Kara Lawson focuses on the immediate challenge, the task of preparing her 16th -row Duke team to welcome the northern Caroline classified as eighth. However, a victory would reach the simple fact of taking a backyard piece with the rival near the Blue Devils.

These days, this is true for each match of the Atlantic coast conference in the 919 region code, by the way.

The Blue Devils, Tar Heels and the N ° 9 NC State – all located 30 minutes by car from each other in the region of the “Triangle” of North Carolina – made their original state the only one in the country with three different programs that made the top 10 of the top 25 of the AP this season. This has all at hand to be classified enough in the NCAA tournament to organize opening weekly games together for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

“I think that is exactly what makes this area unlike any place in the country,” said Lawson. “You are thinking of power four schools less than 30 minutes from the radius of each other and how much this area likes basketball – the environments of each of these places alongside men and women are great. University basketball is not like that elsewhere. It’s just not.

They all cut when the committee which selects the NCAA domain published its top-16 standard heads on February 16. The committee updates this list, shortly before the Blue Devils and Tar Heels brought to Durham.

The three schools organized the same year only once since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1994. It came in 1998, when the Wolfpack made the Final Four under the end of the Kay Yow renown temple, while the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils each reached a regional final.

This could reproduce according to the way things fall in the last week of the regular season and next week at the Tournament of the Atlantic Coast Conference in Greensboro. In the previous revelation of the Committee, NC State was a regional series with 2 seeds, while Duke and UNC were both 3 seeds.

The Tar Heels are the only undefeated team in the country on the road at 9-0. The Blue Devils are the highest classified in the trio (ninth) in the net ranking used by the Committee, because he sorts the auction candidates. Then there is the Wolfpack with six quadrant 1 victories which exceed a curriculum vitae from the playoffs; Only Texas n ° 1 (11), N ° 2 of the UCLA (10), the N ° 4 of the USC (new) and the South Carolina n ° 6 (11) have more.

NC State (22-5, 14-2 ACC) won a victory against then-no. 1 Notre-Dame in a classic double extension, a game with 21 head changes, an elite childcare game and some reflections to double for the moment of the window for all the sport.

He also came in front of a crowded Reynolds Colosseum, where fans aligned themselves for hours to enter – which prompted the Wolfpack team to bring them donuts – with the “College Gameday” broadcast on site.

“If we can play here at home in the first and second round, we have a very nice advantage at home,” said Wolfpack coach Wes Moore.

However, only a week earlier, the booming Wolfpack has lost only for the second time since November. This came to Chapel Hill in Tar Heels (25-4, 13-3), which survived the loss of the fifth year, Alyssa Uytby early in injury and won two clutch throws by Grace Townsend in front of a closed window.

It was not long after this victory, which pushed the UNC in the top 10 a day later, that the sixth year coach Courtney Banghart underlined this buzz in the building to weigh on the issue of accommodation.

The UNC – which is still waiting for the return of Ustby – has not hosted NCAA games since 2015, while NC State (four) and Duke (twice) have done so several times since.

“It’s a place where basketball is loved,” said Banghart. “I don’t care that we are all so close. If the teams are good enough to host, they should host. If we all try to save money, ESPN can just send a crew and they can make all the games. »»

Now it’s Duke’s turn to make his own statement.

The Blue Devils (21-7, 12-4) had two separate stays in the top 10 of this year. They lost two of the three going up a loss of road at the time. 1 Irish fighter before a home loss against Louisville, and they lost the two meetings on the road against their neighbors of the triangle.

This is the only time that one of these teams visits Cameron Indoor Stadium, and Duke fights to stay in the mixture for a seeded among the first four in the ACC tournament and the double -turn Bye that goes with it.

Do this, and Duke could also be in good shape.

“You want to go as high in the ranking as possible,” said Lawson. “You want to go as high in the classification of the NCAA tournament committee as possible. And that puts you in a good position to have at home.

“If they will give it to 16 teams, why not be one of the teams trying to attack it?”