Back Tar Heels To Close Out Strong Season

North Carolina vs. Duke, 6:30 ET

Well folks, the regular season for college hoops comes to an end today as we see some rivalries renewed one last time on the hardwood. Basketball has been very good for us this season for us when it comes to betting on the college ranks. Today we have the last set of a ton of games before the teams start to get into the conference tournaments. That, of course, predates the bigger, more important and more publicized tournament, the NCAA Tournament. Before we get there though, we need to take a look at how we should play this game between Duke and North Carolina.

North Carolina was one of the top teams in the country for the majority of this season. For a lot of the year they were looking like they were going to make the NCAA tournament as a one-seed, but at this point they probably will be a two-seed. Some of that still is left to be determined as we have the aforementioned  tournaments, but they certainly shouldn't be lower than a three-seed going into the Big Dance. North Carolina currently is winning the ACC with Duke just a game behind them. They've lost just three conference games this season and they were at Georgia Tech, at Syracuse, and at home against Clemson. Those were close games with a combined margin of loss at 12 total points. Their most recent loss was to Syracuse and since that game they've won five straight with only one of those games even being reasonably close. This Carolina team is a three-headed monster with Caleb Davis racking up points at will in their games. Armando Bacot continues to be a force to be reckoned with and led the team in scoring the first time the two schools played. In addition, they have Harrison Ingram who is a great rebounder and a reliable scorer. 

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 09: Kyle Filipowski #30 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the second half of their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the quarterfinals of the ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 09, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

On the other side of the floor will be the Blue Devils, the home team looking to get revenge after the first loss against North Carolina earlier in the season. That first game took place in Chapel Hill and saw North Carolina win by nine points. It was a bad first half for Duke as they were down 10 at halftime before the team got rolling a bit in the second half. As discussed the three-headed monster from North Carolina combined for 63 of the 93 points that North Carolina scored in that game. It isn't as though Duke is without a trio of players. They have Kyle Filipowski, Jeremy Roach, and Jared McCain who combined to put in 65 points as well. I have to admit, I'm expecting similar production from all six of those players. Duke is 8-2 over the past 10 games with one of the losses coming against North Carolina and the other against Wake Forest. While you normally think of Duke as being a dominant force at home, they have struggled a bit there losing two of their games this season. One was against Arizona and the other was against North Carolina. The team is also only 2-2 against ranked opponents this season. 

I think North Carolina wins this game. I won't say that it really matters one way or the other as both teams are locked into their places within the conference and will be highly ranked seeds in the NCAA tournament. On the other side of that, this is one of, if not the, biggest rivalry in college hoops. I'm going to take North Carolina with the points and sprinkle the moneyline in this one. Duke at home is hard to fade, but I do think UNC is the better team. 

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