Duke Blue Devils at Maryland Terrapins 2011 NCAA Basketball Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will lead the Duke Blue Devils on the road to Comcast Center (weather permitting) to take on the Maryland Terrapins on Wednesday night at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN. Duke enters the game (19-2, 6-1 ACC) 1st in the ACC and 5th nationally while Maryland comes in at (14-7, 4-3) tied for 4th in the ACC. Duke is coming off a defeat on the road to St. Johns and looking to repeat what it did last year going 18-19 after an out of conference loss and on to win the Championship.
“Some of our best wins while I have been at Duke have been in non-conference in late January or usually in February,” Krzyzewski said. “I just think it’s a time where you get out of conference (and) somebody does something to you that might help you, or you do something to somebody that might help you get a better picture of what you need to do during the last part of your season.” With freshman Kyrie Irving out with an injury and senior forward Kyle Singler in a slump the Blue Devils will have their hands full against a tough Maryland defense that are limiting opponents to 38% shooting. The odds makers at JustBET have the Duke Blue Devils a -4 1/2 point favorite on the road against the Maryland Terrapins.
The Blue Devils lost to St. Johns 93-78 in a game that Duke trailed most of the way to move to 9-10 ATS for the season. Guard Nolan Smith led the scoring for the Blue Devils with 32 points pulling down 7 boards and 4 assists while Singler scored 20 points with 2 rebounds as the only other player in double digits in the loss. Vegas odds makers have the Duke Blue Devils +280 to win the 2011 NCAA Championship.
The Terrapins are coming off a victory 74-63 over Georgia Tech for their 3rd consecutive win moving them to 8-7 ATS for the season. Sophomore Jordan Williams led the Terps with 21 points and pulled down 15 boards along with an assists while guard Sean Mosley chipped in 16 points with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. “It should be a very interesting game,” head basketball coach Gary Williams said. “There’s been some great games in this series the last 10 years or so and hopefully this is another one Wednesday night.” The total has gone OVER in 4 of Maryland’s last 6 games when playing at home against Duke. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 149 1/2 points combined of the Duke Blue Devils and Maryland Terrapins.
I predict a Duke win on the road!
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert NFL Football Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors.