Duke and Virginia Fans…
With a subregional in Buffalo and a regional in New York City, there is no secret that Syracuse wants to be in the East. With all the bracketology columns around the Internet, there are as many opinions as there are, well, you know the saying. So here is the question–where do Duke and Virginia fans WANT to be placed in the Big Dance?
Actually, Duke will be in Raleigh. Frankly, North Carolina may be there too. If not, Virginia could certainly be placed there. Assuming they want to be, of course. That begs the question… where do Duke and Virginia want to be placed in the Big Dance.
Duke is 600 miles from Indianapolis and that correlates to about an 11-hour drive. Madison Square Garden is closer–about 486 miles. That shaves about an hour off the drive. Memphis is farthest away, at 725 miles–about two hours further away. Of course, those figures are from campus, which is on the east side of North Carolina. Duke fans are throughout the state and country. It would certainly seem that the “South” bracket is, however, not an obviously desirable bracket. So, Duke fans, where do you WANT to be? Memphis, Indianapolis, or New York City?
And Virginia fans. Is Raleigh the subregional of choice? About 200 miles and 4 hours makes this seem obvious. Buffalo and Orlando are significantly farther away.
From a regional standpoint, Virginia is even closer to New York City than Duke–more than 100 miles closer. Charlottesville is closer to Indiana than Duke is, albeit by 50 miles. And Memphis is 750 miles away.
Under the circumstances, it would certainly seem that Duke and Virginia fans would prefer to be placed in the East. That will make Syracuse fans nervous. But tell us Duke and Virginia fans… where do you want to be placed?
The Confidential 