Duke Blue Devils - NCAA Basketball Betting

Duke won 32 games last season, and its seventh ACC title in the previous eight years, before getting bounced from the NCAA tournament by Final Four-bound LSU in the regional semi-finals.

Coming into this season, the Blue Devils had to replace a lot of offense and leadership after losing guards J.J. Redick and Sean Dockery and forward Shelden Williams to graduation. Still, the Dukies were ranked in almost every pre-season Top 15 because, as we know from recent examples, a down year at Duke is still better than good years at many, many other schools.

The Blue Devils returned a couple of starters (6-10 sophomore forward Josh McRoberts and sophomore point guard Greg Paulus) and had a ton of young talent waiting in the wings. Sure, Duke was going to be inexperienced, but it helps when those new guys are former high school All-Americans.

The Blue Devils went 13-1 in a non-conference slate that included victories over Indiana, Georgetown, Air Force, and Gonzaga.

Cracks began to appear in the facade once the ACC season started. Duke started out 0-2 in the conference, and later dropped back-to-back games to Virginia and Florida State. The Dukies were even losing at home, dropping games to Virginia Tech and the Seminoles at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

This team is solid defensively, ranking in the Top 20 in Division 1 in several defensive categories. They lack punch on the other end, however, scoring on average about a dozen fewer points per game than last season, which made the UNDER a good play on Duke games all season long.

McRoberts, a future NBA-er who had a lot put on his shoulders this season, does many things for this team, including blocking shots and dishing out assists. Paulus now has two full seasons under his belt as the playmaker. Junior DeMarcus Nelson emerged after two injury-plagued seasons to become the team's leading scorer.

Duke has qualified for the Big Dance 12 seasons in a row now. They won the national title in 2001, and made it to the Final Four in '04, but lost in the Round of 16 five times since that last championship. This season, because of some struggles, they may enter the tournament a bit under the radar. There's no question that this team knows how to work, especially on the defensive end of the court, but are they good enough to make a run though to the Sweet 16 and beyond?

At this point, that's a tough question to answer.

Josh McRoberts – The rock around which this team gravitates.

Greg Paulus – Soph point guard with more than 60 career starts.

DeMarcus Nelson – Finally healthy, now the leading scorer.

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