NCAA Basketball Betting – Boston College at #7 Duke

Coming off their first conference loss of the season, the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils will look to take out their frustrations on a familiar foe on Wednesday night, the Boston College Eagles.

Last Saturday, the Blue Devils went to Georgia Tech having won seven games in a row, but after an abysmal performance from the 3-point line, left with a loss.

Duke is led by a strong perimeter trio, Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Scheyer is the most skilled of the group, as he is not only Duke’s leading scorer, but also its primary ball-handler as well. On the year, Scheyer is averaging over 20 points and six rebounds, and is the frontrunner for the conference player of the year. Smith provides athleticism on the wing, and Singler, a little bit of everything, as he’s second on the team in rebounds and third in scoring. Brian Zoubek, Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas add bulk down low.

Here are NCAA Basketball Betting Trends which may impact this game:

• Boston College: 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games
• Boston College: 1-8 SU in their last 9 games against Duke
• Duke: The total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 6 games
• Duke: 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games

As for Boston College, it’s been a tough rebuilding year, after losing one of the school’s top players from last season, guard Tyrese Rice. The Eagles have the worst record overall in conference play, and lost their first ACC game over the weekend in embarrassing fashion to Clemson.

Boston College’s best player is junior Joe Trapani, who is the Eagles top scorer, and second leading rebounder. Corey Raji (whose brother B.J. plays for the Green Bay Packers), is an athlete at the small forward that could give Duke problems, with guards Biko Paris and Reggie Jackson running the point.

If the underdog Eagles are to keep this game close, it’s going to have to be on the defensive end. Boston College simply isn’t a high scoring team, as they’re ranked 122nd in all of college basketball, scoring just 73 points per game. Slowing down Duke, which scores over 84 points a contest will be key.

Let’s be perfectly honest here, this one could get ugly, and it could happen in a hurry. Duke is licking their wounds after a tough road loss, and is getting the perfect opponent, on their home court, to rebound against. Boston College already has some head-scratching losses this year, such as getting defeated by Harvard in December. Which brings up the question, if Boston College can’t beat Harvard, what chance do they stand against the Blue Devils?

Not much. Duke is better than people realize, and itching to get back into the win column after last Saturday’s defeat. They are 8-3 against the spread at home this year as well, and I expect this game to have a wide enough final margin, where they cover the NCAA basketball betting odds in this one.

Aaron’s Pick: Duke by 11