CBB: North Carolina at Duke

CBB: North Carolina at Duke

2010-03-08

The ESPN Gameday crew will be in Durham on Saturday night for another installment of college basketball’s greatest rivalry, as Duke hosts North Carolina.

The Duke Blue Devils won the earlier meeting in Chapel Hill, somewhat comfortably, but could be hard pressed to beat a pointspread that more accurately reflects UNC’s struggles this time around. However, this could be one of those games where oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com over-adjust for the rivalry aspect while ignoring the obvious signs.

Given the choice, ESPN would probably rather telecast great moments in North Carolina and Duke history, since this doesn’t set up to be one. The UNC Tar Heels (16-14, 10-18 ATS) started the season with seven McDonald’s All-Americans and as the regular season closes, it appears Roy Williams picked up seven guys that ate at Micky D’s in his most frustrating season.

North Carolina has shown a pulse lately winning and covering last two contests, yet UNC is 0-9 ATS facing teams outscoring foes by eight or more points after 15 or more contests.

It’s senior night for starters G Jon Scheyer, C Brian Zoubek and F Lance Thomas and what better way to go out than ACC regular season champs (or co-champs) with a win over their most hated rival.

This is most versatile Duke (25-5, 17-11-1 ATS) team in a number of seasons as the year wore on, still needing Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler to score, but the contributions have been coming in from different areas on game by game basis. The Blue Devils are 16-0 and 10-5 ATS at Cameron Indoor Stadium this campaign, winning by super-sized 26.1 points per game.

This however is normally very competitive matchup, with the Dukies 7-5 with 2-10 ATS home record against Carolina Blue since 1997. The StatFox Power Line shows Duke by 16.

College Basketball News

Click here to read latest College Basketball news