Duke Blue Devils Odds to Win the NCAA Tournament

Written March 25, 2009 by Anthony Moretti

duke-odds-to-win-ncaa-tournament-032609 The Duke Blue Devils have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament for the first time in two years. In the first round the Devils predictably blew out their 15th seed opponent, Binghamton, by a final score of 86-62. Duke’s second rount match up wasn’t so easy. The Blue Devils were pushed to the limit by a well-prepared Texas team, needing some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to pull away in the final minutes of the game. The #2 seeded Blue Devils will face Villanova on Thursday to see who will advance to the Elite 8. Since making it to the Sweet 16 the odds for Duke to win the 2009 NCAA championship have been updated. As of this post, Duke is listed as a 12-to-1 shot to win the Championship.

Duke has had disappointing tournament appearances over the past two seasons, but they’ve looked good in 2009. You never really know what to expect in the NCAA tournament, but Duke’s convincing victory over Binghamton did not surprise anyone. Even so, several top seeds had difficultly in the first round this year, but the Blue Devils came ready to play and advanced easily to the second round. The final score in Duke’s second round game against Texas was a 74-69 victory, but the game was even closer than that against the Longhorns. Duke got up 10 points with just over seven minutes to go, but Texas stormed back to tie the game with about a minute left to play. The Devils can’t afford a second half collapse like that in the third round against Villanova with their season at stake.

Looking at the NCAA basketball lines for Thursday, Duke is currently favored by 2 points over the Villanova Wildcats. The Blue Devils can win the game if they can find their outside shot. If there were one player for Duke that could have the most impact on the outcome of Thursday’s game, I have to think that is Kyle Singler. Duke will need Singler to be sharp on both ends of the court, but he can really open up this offense when he is hitting from beyond the arc. The Devils also have one of the most experienced NCAA tournament head coaches ever in Mike Krzyzewski, and it never hurts to have him calling the shots in clutch games and situations.

With Duke at +1200 they are a solid future bet if not only because Pitt hasn’t looked as intimidating in the first two rounds as they did coming into the tournament. The Devils have no easy task Thursday against a Villanova team that looked extremely good in their second round game against UCLA. Duke is a very polarizing team in that it seems that everyone has an opinion on them. Love or hate the Blue Devils, you have to respect their program and the consistently impressive job Coach K has done over the years.

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