by
Lenny Del Genio
Top seeded Duke is an 8.5-point favorite against fifth seeded Arizona as the teams meet in the West Regional Thursday in the second of two Sweet 16 games in Anaheim. This betting line opened with the Blue Devils favored by nine, so the early public money has come in on the underdog Wildcats. The total remains at 144.5 points.
Duke is 1-1 ATS through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, having survived a scare on Sunday vs. eight-seed Michigan. The Blue Devils led the Wolverines by as many as 15 with 10:52 to go, but let their guard down somewhat allowing the Maize and Blue to get within one point with 90 seconds remaining. A missed FT by Nolan Smith allowed Michigan to get the ball with a chance to tie or win the game, but Darius Morris’ driving layup with two seconds left on the clock clanged off the iron, preserving the SU win for the Dookies. Somewhere Grant Hill must be laughing at Jalen Rose.
A big reason that the Blue Devils were unable to cover the double digit pointspread is because they allowed Michigan to make seven three-pointers, the most they have allowed to any team in over a month.
Duke had far less difficulty in Round 1, crushing 16 seed Hampton 87-45 as 24.5-point favorites. The defending national champions have shot the ball very well in this tournament, making better than 51% of their field goal attempts in both games and they’ve done a good job taking care of the basketball as well with only 20 combined turnovers. Unfortunately, for Duke bettors this may prove to be a bad thing as the team is 0-6 ATS this season following back to back games where they committed 11 or less turnovers.
One of the bigger NCAA Tournament stories has been the reappearance of Duke freshman Kyrie Irving, who missed all but eight games during the regular season due to injury. After leading the team in scoring vs. Hampton, Irving made just one basket vs. Michigan.
Arizona got to the Sweet 16 via some very controversial officiating at the end of their 2nd round matchup with fourth seeded Texas. The Wildcats trailed the Longhorns by two when Texas freshman Cory Joseph was called for a violation trying to inbound the basketball despite the fact that it appeared the referee did not give him a full five seconds. After taking over possession, Arizona star Derrick Williams made a driving layup and was fouled. His free throw gave the Wildcats a 70-69 lead and that would prove to be the final margin as Arizona took the game outright as 5.5-point underdogs. Take note that this team is 13-4 ATS this season following a game where they covered the pointspread.
Williams also made the game winning play in Round 1 , blocking Memphis’ potential game-tying shot with two seconds left in the game. Unfortunately for Wildcats backers there, the team did not cover as six-point chalk, winning just 77-75.
Both of these programs are no strangers to the Sweet 16. This will be Duke’s 22nd all-time appearance and Arizona’s 16th.
