Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale, Rece Davis say Duke basketball will make deep run in NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show started Sunday with CBS analyst Wally Szczerbiak saying he was keeping an eye on Duke, and after the brackets were revealed several other analysts joined in predicting big things for the Blue Devils in March Madness.

After Szczerbiak said he liked the way Duke (26-8) finished, as opposed to the way the season started when the young Blue Devils were plagued by injuries, came the announcement that Duke will be the No. 5 seed in the East Region and will play No. 12 Oral Roberts (30-4) in the first round Thursday (7:10 p.m. ET) in Orlando, Florida.

If Duke beats Oral Roberts it will face the No. 4 Tennessee-No. 13 Louisiana winner.

After the brackets were revealed ESPN's Jay Bilas picked Duke to make it to the national championship game to play UConn. He picked UConn to win the title.

Dick Vital and Rece Davis both picked Duke to make the Final Four for the second consecutive year and first under new coach Jon Scheyer.

Bilas also said he believed Duke deserved a No. 3 seed. The Blue Devils have won their last nine games, including a 59-49 victory over Virginia in the ACC Tournament championship game.

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"I thought the three line was appropriate for Duke," Bilas said on ESPN. "Not just because of how they're playing, but because of the fact that when they have a full compliment of players they're 17-1 and that speaks really well. You have to take injuries into account. The teams they are going against are the ones that are getting jobbed there. Duke's not getting jobbed; it's the ones that have to play a better team than they're seeded."

Speaking of injuries, Bilas said Tennessee is not nearly as strong as it was before star point guard Zakai Zeigler suffered a season-ending knee injury in February.

"Duke got a good draw, I believe, because Tennessee without Zakai Zeigler is not the same Tennessee team that warranted that seeding," Bilas said.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Bilas, Vitale, Davis say Duke will make deep run in NCAA Tournament