Duke Blue Devils vs Marquette Golden Eagles
Monday, 11/22/10, 7:30 PM EDT, TV: ESPN2
Opening Point Spread: Duke -12
Current Betting Line: Duke -12
Opening Total: 145
Current Total: 147
Duke faces Marquette on Monday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri in semifinals of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Blue Devils have dominated Princeton, Miami of Ohio and Colgate by an average of 41.0 points on its way into tonight’s contest, with freshman Kyrie Irving offering early help in trying to help the program win its second straight NCAA title. He ranks second on the team in averaging 14.3 points per game, ranking second to backcourt mate Nolan Smith. “We’re both trying to get double-doubles every night,” said Irving. “We can definitely do it on this team.” Duke is now 5-1 in this tournament and its only loss was a 73-62 defeat to Marquette in the 2006 championship game. The team is 7-1 ATS as a favorite and currently laying double-digits tonight.
The Blue Devils are looking to open the season 4-0 for the 21st time under Coach K and has won 25 consecutive games in November. Duke has also enjoyed great success on a neutral court, winning 13 straight games dating back to a 77-54 loss to Villanova in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The aforementioned backcourt of Irving and Smith are combined to average 30.3 points per game. The team is also the only team in the ACC with five double-figure scorers. Picking this team to win the entire tournament is likely a safe bet, as Duke has won 13 in-season tournament titles under Mike Krzyzewski. Offensively, the team is averaging 95.3 points and owns a near 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Marquette will be playing its 248th game against a ranked opponent when it faces off against the Blue Devils tonight, posting a 99-148 mark in those games and 39-95 record versus top 10 programs. “Our mindset is that we really can’t go wrong, everyone has picked us to lose,” said senior Jimmy Butler. “I think if we go out and execute, plays as an underdog and play as hard as we can, I don’t see why we can’t come out on top of that game.” The Golden Eagles are 1-6 in school history versus teams ranked No. 1 and 2-5 all-time against the Blue Devils. The team is 6-1 ATS in their last seven games as an underdog.
The Golden Eagles have faced the defending national champions on seven occasions all-time, but not since the 1989-90 campaign. Marquette was defeated by Michigan 82-73 that season and each of the seven such meetings has resulted in a loss. Don’t count this program out in this event due to their 19-3 overall record since 2004-05 in multi-team events, including a trio of championships. One major hurdle that the team must get over in hopes of pulling off an upset is its three-point shooting, as it ranks 16th in the Big East in 3-point field goal percentage and has collected just 13 treys in four games.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Blue Devils are 4-11-1 ATS versus the Big East, while the Golden Eagles are 1-4 ATS in their last five neutral site games.
The college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports are off to a tremendous start this year and ready to continue that run tonight!
