The Blue Devils and Wildcats finished atop the ACC and Big 12, respectively, with convincing victories on Monday night
Mar 3, 2026 at 9:46 am ET • 1 min read
Duke and Arizona both secured outright power-conference championships on Monday with victories over programs projected to make the 2026 NCAA Tournament. And if your favorite school is still chasing a No. 1 seed in the 68-team event, you should know that there's only one of those left for the taking.
Duke will be a No. 1 seed. So will Michigan. So will Arizona.
That's because those three schools are now outright conference champs in three of the four best leagues in the sport, thanks to Duke beating NC State, 93-64, on Monday, which was followed by Arizona beating Iowa State, 73-57. (Michigan secured the Big Ten's outright title with an 84-70 win at Illinois three days prior.) Duke, Michigan and Arizona have been No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 (in that order) for 10 straight days in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, and they remain that way on this Tuesday morning. The Blue Devils, Wolverines and Wildcats are also the top three -- in that same order -- in the NET, at KenPom.com and at BartTorvik.com. The trio of two-loss outright conference champions leaves Florida, UConn and everybody else eyeing a realistic shot at a No. 1 seed chasing just one remaining spot with Selection Sunday 12 days away.
As for Iowa State, the Cyclones are clearly trending down after losing for the third time in four outings and fourth time in seven. But they're also still 24-6 overall, including 14-6 in the first two quadrants with six Q1 wins and zero losses outside of Q1. That's still a better body or work than anybody below Iowa State in the Top 25 And 1, and that's why TJ Otzelberger's team remains No. 9 here despite Monday's loss at Arizona.
