New consecutive wins at the ACC Tournament over Boston College and Louisville, Duke’s run in the conference post-season brace came to an end after the Blue Devils program had a positive COVID-19 test on Thursday before his defeat against the Florida State, the conference announced on Thursday. The positive test involves a player who did not play on Wednesday against Louisville in the second round of the ACC tournament, a source said Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
The development forces Duke to withdraw from the ACC Tournament and can effectively end his season.
Duke (13-11, 9-9 ACC) was outside looking for the NCAA Tournament key in Jerry Palm’s last Bracketology before the news. He probably needed to win the league’s postseason tournament to get a ticket to Big Dance, or at least he needed a win over the Seminoles to make his bubble case more interesting.
The Blue Devils had several pandemic-related disruptions to their schedule this season – and made headlines by canceling part of their list of non-conferences – but none were as important. Adding insult to injury, it is the first reported positive COVID test of the program among Level 1 personnel throughout the season.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski openly questioned why he played the season last fall amid an escalating pandemic, which came well before Duke’s tournament hopes died.
“We are just looking at this,” he said via ESPN.com, noting the increase in cases at the time in December.
“People are saying that the next six weeks will be the worst,” he added. “It is already very bad for me. On the other side, there are these vaccines that are coming out. By the end of the month, 20 million vaccines will be given. By the end of January or February, another 100 million. Shouldn’t we reevaluate that? See just what would be best? “
With Duke being forced out of the ACC tournament and hopes for his NCAA tournament now dashed, his streak of 24 consecutive appearances in March Madness will soon formally end. It will be the second longest streak of college basketball and the third longest streak in the history of college hoops.