They also finished just one game ahead of Syracuse. They finished tied for 5th with Virginia. Nothing they did in the regular season cries out #1 seed. Nothing. They were a middle of the pack ACC team. To be a 31 seed you should be elite during the regular season. If the name on their shirts said something other than Duke, #2 seed.They finished 1 game out of 2nd.
5th place is irrelevant when the conference was jammed together and nobody won games on the road at best at 1 game above 500 level.
Their resume screams 1 or 2 seed.