ACC champion Duke softball draws No. 10 seed, won't host Super Regional | Social media reacts
Another selection committee has angered ACC fans.
Despite winning the ACC regular season and tournament championships and finishing with just six losses during the 2024 season, Duke softball earned the No. 10 seed in the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament in Sunday's bracket reveal on ESPN2.
REQUIRED READING: Duke softball defeats Florida State to win ACC Tournament Championship: Score, highlights from Blue Devils' win
The Blue Devils finished the season 47-6 and 20-4 in ACC play, which included a 3-1 record against Florida State ― the defending ACC champions and Women's College World Series runners up. Despite all of that finishing, and finishing No. 3 in the RPI, Duke slipped to the No. 10 national seed — two seed lines below being able to host a Super Regional.
The top eight seeds went to Texas (No. 1), Oklahoma (No. 2), Tennessee (No. 3), Florida (No. 4), Oklahoma State (No. 5), UCLA (No. 6), Missouri (No. 7) and Stanford (No. 8). LSU edged out Duke for the No. 9 seed. That means the Blue Devils would have to travel to Missouri to face the Tigers if they advance past the Durham Regional.
Kurt McGuffin, chair of the Division I softball selection committee, appeared on ESPN2 to explain the committee's decision regarding Duke.
"Well, what drove Duke to (No.) 10 … we had them in the top 10, looking at eight seeds. But Duke was basically a non-conference strength of schedule where they didn't play as many games in the top 25 as we'd like to see," McGuffin said. "They had two games in the top 25 in their non-conference strength of schedule. And then 58% of their games were in Quad 3 and 4. And we'd like to see more with a team like Duke, in the first and second quads."
Social media did not react well to Duke's perceived "snub." Here are some social media reactions to Duke drawing the No. 10 overall seed, despite winning the ACC regular season and tournament championships:
Social media reactions to Duke softball as No. 10 seed
Duke Softball, with an RPI of 4, who just won the ACC Championship over Florida State—one of the standards in college softball and who has an RPI of 13—did not get a top 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Bull. Absolute bull.— Taylor Tannebaum (@TaylorTannebaum) May 12, 2024
Wow. Duke softball getting completely disrespected not getting a top 8 seed. The committee really messed that one up. Top 4 in RPI, KPI, AND top 6 in all of the rankings and they get passed over by SIX teams lower than them in all 3 categories. Do better NCAA.
— Megan Betsa (@meganbetsa13) May 12, 2024
Extremely rare college softball bracketology complaint tweet: Duke getting a 10 seed is a joke.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) May 12, 2024
After covering their ACC title win yesterday, Duke softball not being a top 8 seed is a travesty. 4th in RPI, ACC champs, 6 losses on the year. What else does Coach Young’s team need to do?
— Caleb Dudley (@CalebDudley7) May 12, 2024
Duke Softball:
44-6
ACC Regular Season Champions
ACC Tournament Champions
#3 RPI
Mad disrespect that they only get the #10 overall national seed #wcws #NCAASoftball https://t.co/V4ljU2xbcs— Austin Maida (@Maida904) May 12, 2024
Correction: Committee has shown that they consistently value winning the SEC, Pac-12, and Big 12 tournaments
Duke not getting top-8 and Michigan being a 3-seed shows this definitely doesn't always stick https://t.co/1an73Jp63m— Softball-Obsess(Ed) Strong (@ByEdStrong) May 12, 2024
I want the NCAA Softball Selection Committee to justify this: Duke with a 47-6 record is awarded a 10-seed while 8 of the 9-teams seeded ahead of Duke have worse records ... AND, Duke is the ACC Champion, regular season & tournament! Duke deserved better!
— Salty 🌊 (@saltytopside) May 12, 2024
what is the point of having metrics and polls if you're just gonna do this? https://t.co/HUpBhmP9fh pic.twitter.com/7bdLsZDBHe
— Andrew Weatherman (@andreweatherman) May 13, 2024
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Social media reactions to Duke softball drawing No. 10 overall seed