March Madness Picks: Duke Blue Devils 7-1 in Betting Odds

The Duke Blue Devils have re-emerged this year as a serious Final Four contender in college basketball betting predictions and one of the favorites to win the 2010 National Championship in March madness picks after a recent run of disappointing seasons that have seen them step down a class to arch rival North Carolina. Thing have turned things around during the 2009-10 season in college basketball odds though as Duke roared back in dominating fashion by winning the regular season Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title as well as the post season conference tournament.

Duke will enter March Madness picks with a record of 29-5 straight up and a profitable 18-14-1 against the spread but the Blue Devils only covered 4 out of 11 away games in betting predictions. The Blue Devils played mostly UNDER the total this year with 19 out of their 33 games having gone UNDER the posted total at online sportsbooks. Duke will enter with a run of 7 games going UNDER out of their last 9 games with just 2 games coming out as winners against the spread out of their last 9 games. Online sportsbooks are reporting that the gambling public is loading up on the Blue Devils which is why many handicappers are expecting the heavy March madness betting to drop Duke's value.

Guard Jon Scheyer leads Duke into March madness picks as betting favorites with an average of 18.6 points per game. He also led Duke in assists with 5 per game. Forward Kyle Singler was another strong contributor this year with an average of 17.6 points per game while guard Nolan Smith averaged 17.3 points per game. There is a dramatic drop off after those three players however, as the next best scoring average on the team was less than 6 points per game. Since February, Duke has but one straight up loss which was at Maryland on March 3rd. The Blue Devils have had mixed success against other tournament teams as they lost at Georgetown and Wisconsin earlier this year while they beat Gonzaga, Maryland and Georgia Tech.

Duke will face the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions in their first round match-up on Friday, March 19th at 7:25pm EST in a game that can be seen on CBS. Duke is 12-1 straight up for their last 13 games and 1-4 against the spread in their last 5 games. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Duke's last 8 games. Duke is 10-0 when playing on Friday and 9-1 after playing Georgia Tech. Vegas odds have the Duke Blue Devils 8-1 in 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament predictions.