One of college basketball's biggest rivalries returns for
another showdown as Duke takes the short trip to Chapel Hill to battle it out
with North Carolina.
The Duke Blue Devils were second-best on the road again when they
visited Virginia Tech, losing 60-64 for their third defeat of the season.
However Duke did get back on track this past Wednesday,
beating Clemson 70-59 at home as 12-point favorites.
The two seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler came up huge
again as Smith finished with 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Singler put up 18 points and 11 rebounds while sharpshooting guard Seth Curry
scored 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
Their nemesises are in good form as well as the Tar Heels
have won all six games since losing to the Blue Devils in early February.
On Wednesday the UNC Tar Heels went into Florida State and won 72-70
behind solid efforts from both Harrison Barnes and John Henson.
Barnes notched 18 points while Henson went for 19 points, 12
rebounds and three blocks in the winning effort.
Whoever wins this weekend will capture the regular-season
ACC title, so obviously there's a lot to play for. But who will ultimatley get
it done?
ACC: A Crazy Clash
NCAA Basketball odds makers view this conference slugfest as a toss-up with
the line currently at a PK at most of the top sportsbooks. At Bookmaker however
the Tar Heels are favored by a solitary point.
Duke is 6-4 ATS in its previous 10 matchups while also going
5-2 ATS in its last seven road games.
The Tar Heels enter Saturday holding a 9-3 ATS record over
their 12 most recent games overall.
Head-to-head, the road team is 6-1 ATS in the previous seven
meetings between these two storied programs. We'll see if Mike Krzyzewski's
crew will be able to keep that trend going.
Duke won the first meeting of the season 79-73 at Cameron
Indoor Stadium, but it was North Carolina that picked up the ATS cover as
10.5-point pups.
Matchup-wise, the Blue Devils have the edge out on the
perimeter with Nolan Smith have a ridiculously efficient season filling in for
the injured Kyrie Irving at the point. Seth Curry has also stepped it up as of
late, and should be confident after dropping 22 points against UNC in February.
Still, the Tar Heels have Harrison Barnes, John Henson and
Tyler Zeller in the frontcourt and as such have the advantage down low.
The bench unit of Duke is probably a little better now that
Reggie Bullock has been lost to injury for the Tar Heels. That could be prove
to be pivotal in the closing stages if foul trouble becomes an issue.
Free Pick: When it's all said and done UNC has been
playing good ball recently and I like Roy Williams' squad to even up the season
series in front of the home fans.