Every year, the NCAA selection committee swears they don’t look at the storylines in potential second-round matchups when they map out the bracket.
Consider former Duke guard Jeremy Roach unconvinced.
“I kind of knew they were going to do that,” he said, while sitting in the Baylor locker room.
Roach played four years for Duke, the last two as team captain. He led the Blue Devils to a Final Four and ACC regular season and tournament titles. After getting his Duke degree last year, Roach transferred to Baylor for his fifth COVID year.
Duke, of course, rolled to an ACC title this year, without Roach, earning the top seed in the NCAA East Region. The Blue Devils will tip on Friday in Raleigh looking to return to the Final Four.
Baylor received a No. 9 seed in the East, meaning that, if the Bears beat Mississippi State in the first round, Roach will take the floor against his old team.
Selection committee chairman Bubba Cunningham has had other decisions to explain, so he hasn’t been asked about the potential Duke-Roach reunion. Based on previous chairs, however, his likely reaction would be a raised eyebrow, shrug and “Who knew?”
A certain Baylor guard knew, for one.
“The NCAA definitely loves story,” he said. “I mean, you’ve got a (former Kentucky coach and current St. John’s coach Rick)Pitino and Cal (former Kentucky coach and current Arkansas coach John Calipari) potential matchup. You’ve got last year, UNC could have played Arizona—and like Caleb Love and RJ Davis would have played. So, like, the committee always likes to do that, always likes to bring a story into it.”
It’s a story Roach can’t afford to get involved in at this point, however.
“I’m really taking one game by the time,” he said. “I can’t really look at playing Duke, because I know they’ll probably take care of business, but we still got an eight-nine game, and Mississippi State’s a great team.”
Still, when the brackets were first released, the prospect of playing his old coach and team hit him. Baylor coach Scott Drew said it was a “bittersweet” moment for Roach.
“I saw some of the bracket (projections) had us playing Duke,” he said, “a couple of them, but most of them had us playing like Auburn, or like Alabama or Mississippi or Michigan State. So when I actually saw, I was a little surprised. It was definitely not, ‘Oh no,’ because I feel like we have even played our best basketball yet. And I feel like we were projected yop 10 all year. Our season was just going up and down a lot. So, I like being in this position, I feel like playing against them. I feel like we can still beat anybodyI feel like a lot of a lot of us haven’t just put one game of just everybody’s playing their best basketball. And I feel like in March, this is the best time to do it. So super excited if we get a chance to get that match-up. But we’ve still got to take care of Friday’s game.”
Roach said he’s been in touch with Tyrese Proctor and some of the other Blue Devils who transferred after last season. The trip back to the Triangle gave him the opportunity to reflect back on the decision to leave.
“I think me and coach (Jon) Scheyer were kind of on the same page, for sure,” he said. “He understood it totally. I mean, I spent my four years here. I sacrificed a lot, I did what I had to do here, so he understood it. I mean, me and him are still very, very close. He texts a lot. He checks in on me a lot. So, I mean, I love that guy. He’s always had my back from day one. I’ve had his back since day one. So we’re always going to have that—just that bond.”
Regardless of whether or not he gets Duke on Sunday, the selection committee’s decision lets the Virginia native start his final NCAA run close to home.
“It’s super cool,” he said. “Just to play my last first round of March Madness, where I first started off at, and for it to be so close to home, my parents can drive now. They don’t have to fly out and spend a bunch of money there. So it’s definitely been a cool little thing being back in Raleigh, for sure.”
It’s also a familiar floor for Roach. He scored 21 points against NC State at Lenovo Center in what would be his third-to-last game at Duke. The Blue Devils also lost by 24 to the Pack in Raleigh the year before that.
“You know how the Duke-NC State match-up has been at PNC (the old name of Lenovo Center),” he said. “So it’s been up and down, but I’ve had some good games here, for sure.”
