Dukies sliding toward ACC mediocrity
Duke still hasn’t snagged an official road victory in 2017. Will that change as the Blue Devils contest Wake Forest this afternoon?
The ACC rivals hit the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum floor at 4 p.m. ET, with handicappers leaning heavily toward the bluebloods. Online sports book Bovada.lv gives the Dukies odds of -215 to take care of business on the road. Conversely, the Demon Deacons represent +185 underdogs.
Despite a bevy of elite freshmen, it’s been an arduous league schedule so far for Duke. With Mike Krzyzewski (back) on leave, the squad’s gone down in four of seven conference affairs. Most recently, the Blue Devils fell at the hands of North Carolina State 84-82.
On the other side, Wake Forest suffered a similarly close loss to Syracuse, 81-76, on Monday. Prior to that, Danny Manning’s group had knocked off Miami and NC State in succession. The Demon Deacons’ main threat is 6-foot-10 sophomore forward John Collins, who averages 17.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.
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Call us pedigree-infatuated, but we’re anticipating a major bounce-back effort from the visitors here. Wake Forest is by no means at the point where it can consistently be counted upon to protect the home floor either. Roll with the Dukies in, yes, a vintage rout.
SATURDAY NCAA FREE PICK: DUKE -4.5