Duke Looks for Consistency
The Duke Blue Devils and the Louisville Cardinals battle in the third round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday. Tip-off is set for around 2:30 pm at Braclays Center. It follows the North Carolina and Miami (Fla) game that started the day off. The game is on national TV and will be broadcast by ESPN. Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski, isn’t quite sure which version of his team will show up. Injuries have hampered the Blue Devils’ effort all season.With the NCAA Tournament a week away, the story is still the same. There have been numerous different lineup combinations this year. A good bit of controversy involving 5-year old brat acting, senior Grayson Allen. Duke has a traditionally staunch defense. This year the Blue Devils have not always put out the expected effort. Oddsmakers opened the Blue Devils as 0-point favorites versus the Cardinals. The line now in this ACC Tournament matchup has Loisville favored by two points. The game’s total opened at 147.5 and has dropped to 146.Louisville is Well Rested
Louisville was a 71-64 winner against Notre Dame to end the regular season. With the win they guaranteed they had a bye in the first two rounds of the tournament. They failed to cover the -7.5-point spread in the game. The Cardinals Donovan Mitchell more than doubled his scoring average from his freshman season. He raised his scoring from 7.8 points to 15.9 points a game. In conference play he raised his average more than four-points and has made nearly 42 percent of his 3-pointers. In the 2nd round of the tournament Duke was a 79-72 winner at home against the Clemson Tigers. They covered the -6.5-point spread as favorites. Duke slogged its way through the first 20 minutes with the Tigers. They settled for a 33-33 tie at the half. The Blue Devils then established a 13-point second half lead before having to fight off a huge surge by a Clemson team hoping to make a solid impression with the Selection Committee.Betting Odds Trends
| Duke Blue Devils | ||
|---|---|---|
| Duke is 1-4-1 ATS in its last 6 games | ||
| Duke is 9-3 SU in its last 12 games | ||
| The total has gone OVER in 13 of Duke’s last 19 games | ||
| Louisville Cardinals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Louisville is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games | ||
| Louisville is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games | ||
| The total has gone OVER in 7 of Louisville’s last 9 games | ||
| Louisville is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Duke | ||