Key matchup St. John’s must exploit to upset Duke in March Madness Sweet 16

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The second weekend of March Madness is almost here as just 16 teams are left, vying for a national title. There isn’t a big Cinderella story this season with the exception of maybe Iowa in its first year under Ben McCollum. However, that means that the Sweet 16 features plenty of matchups between the best teams in college basketball, which should make for a dramatic set of games.

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On Friday, top overall seed Duke will continue its march through the East region in the Sweet 16 against No. 5 seed St. John’s. Duke survived a massive scare from Siena in the first round before pulling away from TCU in the second half to get to the second weekend. On the other side, St. John’s followed up a blowout win over Northern Iowa with an epic win over Kansas on a buzzer-beater by Dylan Darling.

St. John’s isn’t your usual No. 5 seed. Rick Pitino has the Johnnies playing their best basketball at the moment and is looking to get them to the Final Four after sweeping the Big East Championships in the regular season and conference tournament play.

However, St. John’s still enters this game as a heavy underdog against presumptive National Player of the Year Cameron Boozer and the No. 1 overall seed. Despite that, there is one thing that St. John’s can take advantage of to make Duke uncomfortable and pull off the upset.

St. John’s pressures the ball, which can bother Duke

The big injury coming into this game is to Duke starting point guard Caleb Foster, who has been out for a few weeks with a foot injury. Foster has an outside chance to return for the Sweet 16 game on Friday, but signs are still pointing to either Sunday or the Final Four as more likely times for his return.

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Duke hasn’t yet been punished for its lack of ball-handlers, and has beaten some quality teams in the process such as…

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Publish date : 2026-03-26 00:18:00

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