Close to halfway through February, March Madness is creeping up faster than anyone expects it to. A strong ACC matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and the Virginia Cavaliers will be tipping off Saturday afternoon.
In one of the roughest stretches of conference play this season, the Duke Blue Devils are looking to finish their three-game stretch here with a positive record. The initial win over North Carolina was a feel-good type of win, but was short-lived with how hard they bombed against Miami.
Not so secretly, the Virginia Cavaliers have been leading the ACC in conference play, despite dropping a game to their rival Virginia Tech the Saturday before this game.
In recent history, the Cavaliers have fared well against Duke, and continue to give them fits with their slower style of play and strong defense.
It comes as no surprise that Virginia draws a pretty heavy favorite in this game over Duke on their home floor at -6.5.
Finding a new identity without Coach K
When a legendary coach retires, often the program has some short-term growing pains that have to be sorted out to continue on past his or her legacy.
Coach K was the heart and soul of Duke basketball for years, and the program has still managed to play well since his retirement. This is not the same Duke that we knew before, but their team continues the tradition.
It is tough to look at with their most recent loss to Miami, as Duke absolutely dropped the ball and were unable to get anything going from the opening tip.
Bouncing back is never easy, but it will at least give them a little bit of extra motivation to take care of business against Virginia.
A recent stretch of ACC dominance
Notoriously, Virginia had never really been known for their basketball prowess amongst the loaded conference that the ACC is.
Within the last 10 years or so, that narrative has completely flipped, as they have national championships attached to their name and have been near the top of their conference time and time again.
As everyone has come to expect from the Virginia teams, they have a balanced scoring attack across the board. Armaan Franklin, their leading scorer, averages only 12 points per game.
Their defense will hone in on standout freshman Kyle Fillipowski, and once contained the entire Duke offense will fall apart.
Blue Devils @ Cavaliers Betting Prediction
In any sort of college basketball matchup, counting out Duke seems like a bad idea, but they honestly might have met their match in Virginia.
It is a troubled history in recent years going into their arena, and this Duke team is lacking experience and the standout leadership they would need to take care of business on the road.
Virginia is a heavy favorite in this game and has every reason to be. Their home crowd will be rocking and they will take care of business. Bet on them over Duke at -6.5.
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