Take The Under In Duke Vs. Miami

Duke vs. Miami, 7:00 ET

There are about five or six remaining games for most college basketball teams which means that we have only a couple weeks left of the regular season and then tournament time starts. We first have the conference tournaments then we get March Madness, the time where everyone shifts their attention and television sets to college basketball. Even if you don't follow college basketball the rest of the season, most people start to focus in on the games at this point. There is still money to be made before that, and we will do so in tonight's game against Duke and Miami. 

Sometimes with Duke, I wonder if the team is actually that good, or if they just get a higher ranking because of potential. Don't get me wrong, they have really good players, and their record is 20-5 on the season. But, again, I wonder if the team is actually that good. On the season, they've lost at home against Arizona and Pittsburgh, and on the road to Arkansas, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. They've beaten just two ranked teams this season. They beat Michigan State on a neutral court when it looked like the Spartans were one of the more overranked teams in the country. The other win was against Baylor, also on a neutral court. They are 11-3 in the ACC which is a good conference, but they also get some softball teams in here. Is it a matter of coaching? Being an Illinois guy, I would hate to talk bad about Jon Scheyer, but the team with this much talent probably should be better than they are. Duke is constantly getting an influx of freshman talent on the team, but of their top five scorers, only one is a freshman. The other ones are all sophomores or older. For tonight, the question essentially is if the team of talented players and strong players is going to be better than the athletic Miami Hurricanes team. 

Speaking of the Hurricanes, Miami is in a bit of a storm right now. They started the season looking like they really didn't miss a beat from last season after losing some key pieces. They ran out to an 11-2 record. Since that point, they've gone 4-9 in ACC play and are sitting with a 15-11 record for the year. They've dropped five of their past six games, with four of them coming on the road. This also includes a four-game losing streak right now. Their home loss was a respectable one, a three-point fall to the Tar Heels, one of the best teams in the nation. They've lost three home games against ACC opponents total, so even the reliability that you find on the home court of college teams isn't quite there for them. Their squad is led by Norchad Omier, a junior forward that is putting up 17.2 points per game. He should cancel out Kyle Filipowski. The rest of the team is essentially guards. Three of them are averaging 13.7 points or more per game, but there are a few others that are regularly in the rotation and contribute to the game. This does feel like a year where Miami is trying to figure things out and they might need another season or two to put everything together. 

I think this will be a decent battle between the teams and I'm expecting some solid defense. I do lean toward Duke covering the 6.5, but I just can't back them on the road. They have spurts of inconsistency and those would be more likely to occur in a road game. I think that also should help with the under for this game. Miami has some strong guards, but I think the Duke backcourt can provide good enough defense on them. I'm going to take the under 150 in this game. 

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