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Duke waited an extra day before joining the rest of the ACC in Atlanta for the conference tournament.

Ten of the 12 teams showed up Wednesday, but Duke opted to stay home, practicing Thursday morning in cozy Cameron Indoor Stadium before heading south.

"We're just trying not to be there an extra day. &ellipses; It's too much. It just ruins your routine," coach Mike Krzyzewski said at the time. "You can be on the road too long. You know what I mean? And we've been on the road most of February."

That won't be an issue in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Devils will make the short drive to open the tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. The second seed in the East Regional, Duke (28-6) faces 15th-seeded Binghamton (23-8) on Thursday.

Winning the ACC tournament wasn't quite enough to push Duke into a No. 1 seed. Worse for Blue Devils fans, they'll share the coliseum with North Carolina, which is the No. 1 seed in the South Regional.

"I think it'll all play out," Krzyzewski said after his team won the ACC title. "We'll get a great seed, and we deserve a great seed, whether that's a one or a two. This is a great year for college basketball. Whatever happens happens.

"I do believe we earned location through being ACC champions. Whatever seed will be appropriate, I think the NCAA committee does a great job. They've always treated us fairly."

The first-round matchup features one of college basketball's most storied programs against a relative newcomer.

Duke has been playing basketball since 1905, racking up 1,874 victories, the fourth highest total in NCAA history.

And Binghamton? The Bearcats abandoned their Division III roots -- and their old school colors and Colonials mascot -- and made the move to Division I in 1999.

The Bearcats (23-8) won the America East championship Saturday on their home floor to qualify for their first NCAA tournament. A sellout crowd of 5,342 watched at the Events Center. The program and building are so new that the naming rights haven't been sold and there's no historical figure to name it after.

Three-point shooters D.J. Rivera (20.0 ppg) and Emanuel Mayben (11.5 ppg) lead Binghamton, which comes in on an 11-game winning streak. Rivera is a 6-foot-4 junior guard who transferred to Binghamton from Saint Joseph's. Reggie Fuller (10.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg), a 6-6 senior forward, is the Bearcats' best post player.

Binghamton's challenge will be slowing Duke's big three. ACC tournament MVP Jon Scheyer (14.5 ppg) and All-ACC players Gerald Henderson (16.3 ppg) and Kyle Singler (16.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg) combined to score 80.2 percent of the Blue Devils' points in Atlanta.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com