2025 NCAA Sweet 16 Preview: #1 Duke vs. #4 Arizona (Thursday, 9:39 pm)

2025 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Preview:
#1 Duke vs. #4 Arizona (Thursday, 9:39 p.m., CBS)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network

Duke’s first-round NCAA Tournament opponent this year, #16 seed Mount St. Mary’s, simply lacked the talent required to compete with the Blue Devils.

In the second round, #9 seed Baylor certainly had a high-caliber starting lineup, but the Bears — with a 6-foot-7 starting center — ultimately lacked the size and depth that’s necessary to challenge a top-seeded Duke squad that offers a loaded 10-man rotation and ranks as the tallest team in college basketball this season.

Now the Blue Devils (33-3) will take one more significant step up the competition ladder, as they face #4 seed Arizona on Thursday (9:39 p.m., CBS) in a Sweet 16 matchup in Newark, N.J.

The Wildcats (24-12) offer more size and more depth than Baylor had in its rotation, and — like the Bears — they also present plenty of offensive firepower. In its first two NCAA Tournament contests, Arizona averaged 90 points in its victories over Akron (93-65) and Oregon (87-83).

One scintillating aspect of this particular Duke-Arizona matchup, of course, is that the Wildcats’ best player, fifth-year guard and first-team All-Big 12 selection Caleb Love, has a long, distinguished history with the Blue Devils.

Love has a 5-4 personal record against Duke, mostly from his three seasons as a starter for the Blue Devils’ long-time rival, North Carolina. At the 2022 Final Four, he hit one of the most memorable shots in the history of the Duke-Carolina rivalry, a 3-pointer in the final minute of an 81-77 UNC victory that sent legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski into retirement.

Earlier this season, way back on Nov. 22, Love had one of his worst games of the season in Arizona’s 69-55 home loss to the Blue Devils. He shot 3-for-14 from the field, including an ugly 1-for-9 from 3-point territory, as the Wildcats struggled through one of their worst offensive performances of the 2024-25 campaign.

Arizona improved significantly during the regular season, such that their offensive efficiency numbers in Big 12 play ranked behind only those of Texas Tech, Houston and BYU, the three other members of that league that are still alive in the Sweet 16.

One possible hurdle for the Wildcats against Duke, whose only three losses so far this season have come to teams (Kentucky/10-for-25, Kansas/8-for-17, Clemson/4-for-10) that shot well from 3-point land, is that they are shooting only 33 percent from beyond the arc as a team this season. That ranks 13th among the 16 teams still standing, ahead of only Arkansas, Michigan and Michigan State, although the Wildcats hit almost 50 percent (22 of 45!) of their long-distance attempts last week in their victories over Akron and Oregon.

BPI/KenPom/KPI/NET Team Rankings (of 364 teams):
Arizona — 9/13/25/12
Duke — 1/1/5/1

Offensive/Defensive Efficiency Rankings (of 364 teams):
Arizona — 13/28
Duke — 1/4

2024-25 Arizona Wildcats
(24-12, 14-6 Big 12/3rd; through March 26)

STARTERS

G Jaden Bradley, Sr. (6-3/200) — 2023 Alabama transfer (starter)
34 mpg, 12 ppg, 3 rpg, 46% FG, 82% FT, 32% threes, 131/69 ATO, 65 steals

G Caleb Love*, Ss. (6-4/205) — 2023 UNC transfer (3-year starter)
34 mpg, 17 ppg, 4 rpg, 39% FG, 89% FT, 34% threes, 126/72 ATO, 42 steals

G Anthony Dell’Orso, Jr. (6-6/190) — 2024 Campbell transfer (2-year starter)
18 mpg, 7 ppg, 1 rpg, 45% FG, 90% FT, 41% threes, 51/27 ATO, 19 steals

F Trey Townsend, Ss. (6-6/235) — 2024 Oakland transfer (4-year starter)
21 mpg, 8 ppg, 4 rpg, 50% FG, 79% FT, 33% threes, 34/39 ATO, 10 steals

F Tobe Awaka, Jr. (6-8/250) — 2024 Tennessee transfer (backup)
20 mpg, 8 ppg, 8 rpg, 64% FG, 67% FT, few threes, 26/30 ATO, 21 blocks

KEY RESERVES

G KJ Lewis, So. (6-4/210) — HS signee (top-100 in Class of 2023)
26 mpg, 11 ppg, 5 rpg, 43% FG, 81% FT, 19% threes, 104/75 ATO, 31 blocks, 48 steals

F Henri Veesaar, r-So. (7-0/235) — 2022 international signee (Estonia)
21 mpg, 9 ppg, 5 rpg, 59% FG, 67% FT, 33% threes, 48/40 ATO, 41 blocks, 25 steals

F Carter Bryant, Fr. (6-8/225) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
19 mpg, 7 ppg, 4 rpg, 48% FG, 68% FT, 37% threes, 36/36 ATO, 37 blocks, 33 steals

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Wildcats’ games last season)

2024-25 Duke Blue Devils
(33-3, 19-1 ACC/1st; through March 26)

STARTERS

PG Sion James, Gr. (6-6/220) — 2024 Tulane transfer (4-year starter)
25 mpg, 8 ppg, 4 rpg, 51% FG, 81% FT, 40% threes, 110/41 ATO, 10 blocks, 32 steals

G Tyrese Proctor*, Jr. (6-6/183) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2022)
29 mpg, 13 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 69% FT, 42% threes, 79/36 ATO, 4 blocks, 29 steals

G/F Kon Knueppel, Fr. (6-7/217) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 14 ppg, 4 rpg, 48% FG, 91% FT, 39% threes, 97/48 ATO, 6 blocks, 36 steals

G/F Cooper Flagg, Fr. (6-9/205) — HS signee (#1 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 19 ppg, 8 rpg, 49% FG, 83% FT, 36% threes, 141/72 ATO, 43 blocks, 49 steals

C Khaman Maluach, Fr. (7-2/250) — HS signee (top-10 in Class of 2024)
21 mpg, 8 ppg, 7 rpg, 71% FG, 75% FT, 25% threes, 17/26 ATO, 44 blocks, 6 steals

KEY RESERVES

F Maliq Brown, Jr. (6-9/222) — 2024 Syracuse transfer (starter)
17 mpg, 3 ppg, 4 rpg, 64% FG, 38% FT, 33% threes, 36/22 ATO, 9 blocks, 30 steals

F Mason Gillis, Gr. (6-6/225) — 2024 Purdue transfer (Big Ten 6th Man of Year)
15 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 83% FT, 34% threes, 28/14 ATO, 0 blocks, 17 steals

G/F Isaiah Evans, Fr. (6-6/175) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
15 mpg, 7 ppg, 1 rpg, 43% FG, 81% FT, 42% threes, 18/16 ATO, 3 blocks, 6 steals

G Caleb Foster, So. (6-5/202) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2023)
14 mpg, 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 42% FG, 67% FT, 34% threes, 50/32 ATO, 3 blocks, 23 steals

C Patrick Ngongba II, Fr. (6-11/250) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2024)
11 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 71% FG, 75% FT, 0 threes, 18/6 ATO, 16 blocks, 11 steals

Departures from 2023-24: PG Jaylen Blakes (Jr./transfer/Stanford), C Kyle Filipowski* (So./early NBA entry/Utah Jazz), WG Jared McCain* (Fr./early NBA entry/Philadelphia 76ers), BF Mark Mitchell* (So./transfer/Missouri), BF TJ Power (Fr./transfer/Virginia), C Christian Reeves (r-Fr./transfer/Clemson), WG Jeremy Roach* (Sr./transfer/Baylor), WG Jaden Schutt (r-Fr./transfer/Virginia Tech), BF Sean Stewart (Fr./transfer/Ohio State), C Ryan Young (Sr.)

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Duke’s games last season)