Duke vs. Binghamton NCAA Tournament Picks & Odds

Written March 18, 2009 by Jason Lowry

Duke Binghamton Basketball Opening round play has the No.2 seeded Duke Blue Devils taking on No.15 seeded Binghamton Bearcats. The Blue Devils can’t be happy with their No.2 seed in the East Region, as they come in fresh off their ACC Tournament win, but they need to put all that behind them and just focus on getting past the Bearcats. Binghamton also comes in off a conference tourney win, as they were able to grab the automatic bid from the American East Conference. With the game just around the corner, here is a closer look at each team and my prediction on who I see winning this game.

No.2 Duke Blue Devils -21.5 ATS at Bookmaker.com. The Blue Devils are a very dangerous team for any school to play, as they do all the little things right, and if they are hitting from outside they could be headed back to another Final Four. The Blue Devils are led by Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, and Jon Scheyer, as all three come in averaging at least 15 points a game. The only problem for Duke is their lack of size inside, but that shouldn’t be a problem against Binghamton. The Blue Devils are a defensively oriented team, and could win on defense alone against the Bearcats, but if this team wants to make a deep run, they have to continue to score the basketball.

No.15 Binghamton Bearcats +21.5 ATS at Bookmaker.com. It won’t be easy for the Bearcats in this one, but there are some that think this is a better team than the No.15 seed they received, so maybe they can keep this one close and possibly send the Blue Devils home early. Keys for the Bearcats will be attacking the hoop and hoping to get some of the Dukes big time players on the bench with foul trouble. On top of that they will need the American East Conference leading scorer D.J. Rivera to go off in this one, as he comes in averaging 20 points per game.

My Prediction: Duke Blue Devils -21.5 I think that the Blue Devils make a statement win in the first round and let everyone else in the East Region know they mean business. Also, Duke is pretty much playing at home in this one, as the game is in Greensboro, not to far from the Blue Devils home campus. I got Duke winning by 25 in this one.

For those of you looking to do some NCAA basketball betting on the game this week, be sure to check out our expert college basketball picks and grab the best college basketball lines from Betfirms.