Duke will open their NCAA Tournament run on Thursday as they face Siena. While some analysts are putting Duke on upset alert later in the tournament, they are one of the favorites to win it all in March Madness.

While Duke is expected to easily defeat Siena, they will likely be without a star player for the game, according to David Hale of ESPN.

Patrick Ngongba II, who is recovering from a foot injury, is unlikely to play against Siena.

“He's been progressing … but think it's very unlikely that he plays [Thursday],” head coach Jon Scheyer said. “We're taking it day by day. He's itching to play, but we're not quite there just yet. … We'll do everything we can to get ready for Saturday and go from there.”

Ngongba was a major part of the Duke offense this year. He was scoring 10.7 points per game, with six rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game this year.

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“It's not a setback,” Scheyer said. “It's not just anything where you can say two weeks and you're back, 12 days and you're back. You have to take it step by step with what he's doing. Everything is going in a good direction, but I think the comfort that we want him to feel is not quite there. So that's something we can only know day to day.”

Ngongba has not been ruled out for the tournament, but the team would like to get him back sooner rather than later. Scheyer has previously noted that he was worried about the lack of depth for the team, with Caleb Foster also dealing with a foot injury. With the injuries, Cameron Boozer has had to play the five more, supplying the inside scoring.

“Pat gave us and will continue to give us as we get him back is just the interior scoring,” Scheyer said. “It's important. His rim protection is valuable. Then end of the day, Cam, he just has to slide over to play some more in that spot, where he hasn't done that as much this year. I think we found some really good lineups that can be really tough to guard when we do that.”

Assuming Duke does not experience a historic upset, they will face the winner of Ohio State and TCU on Saturday.