It was a no-brainer that if Duke won the ACC tourney while beating likely number one seeds Wake Forest and UNC in the process, they would deserve the final number one. Duke won the ACC, but went through NC State and Georgia Tech in the process.
Washington deserves the final number one seed. Their resumes are almost identical, but Washington played 12 top 50 teams versus nine for Duke. When you break down their wins and losses, as I did below, I can’t see why Duke would get the nod in an objective look at things.
The number one seed is largely a status symbol anyway, but would mean more to a program like Washington who deserves to be recognized for a great season.
Best Wins (by RPI rank and site, data as of Saturday)
Washington: 9N, 9H, 16N, 17N, 24N, 38H, 42H, 42N Duke: 4H, 6H, 21H, 27N, 27H, 27A, 64A, 64N
Losses
Washington: 103A, 42A, 38A, 10A, 9A Duke: 112A, 56A, 56H, 6A, 4A