One of Florida's biggest roadblocks to a national title just got some brutal news

Last year, it felt like Florida was on an inevitable collision course with Duke in the national title game before the Blue Devils blew a second-half lead against Houston and sank their chances. The two teams did finally meet up this season in Durham, where the Gators staged a comeback of their own and had a last-minute lead only to fall just short.

But now, just ahead of the NCAA Tournament starting, one of the key cogs for Duke looks like he won’t be available, reducing the chances of a Final Four rematch in April.

Duke will be without Caleb Foster for the foreseeable future 

Duke announced today that guard Caleb Foster had surgery on Sunday on his right foot after he suffered a fracture during Duke’s regular-season finale against UNC. When asked about Foster’s timeline, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said:

"I think the reality of it is we'd have to advance to a Final Four. And is there a chance earlier? I'm not going to eliminate that right now, but I think that's really difficult to try to even imagine that scenario. But we're not going to have him the next couple of weeks, next few weeks here.”

AKA, it doesn’t look great for Foster. 

During December’s game, Florida held Foster in check and limited him to 2-7 shooting for six points. He did add five rebounds and two assists. As a whole, the biggest threat Foster brings is his three-point shooting, and he is averaging 40.2% from beyond the arc.

And Foster isn’t the only Blue Devil banged up ahead of March Madness. They also announced that center Pat Ngongba II will miss the ACC Tournament with foot soreness. They list him as “hopeful” for the NCAA Tournament. Ngongba II had 11 points and five blocks in that December meeting.

Collision course

The way the NCAA Tournament is shaping up, Florida and Duke could be on a collision course for the Final Four. A number of Bracketology efforts have Duke as the number one overall seed and Florida as the final No. 1 seed and the fourth overall seed. If that is how Selection Sunday shakes out, and both teams advance through their regional, that would set up a Final Four showdown.

Florida bullied Duke on the glass in the December matchup, and that was with Ngongba II playing 34 minutes. Florida ultimately turned the ball over 13 times and shot 25% from three to dash their chances.

It’s never good to root for injuries because karma has a way of biting back, but Florida fans won’t mind if Duke takes an early exit in March to clear the road for a potential back-to-back bid.