North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils 2011 NCAA Basketball Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Head basketball coach Roy Williams will lead his No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels on the road to Cameron Indoor Arena to take on head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his defending NCAA Champion Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Tar Heels enter the game on a 5 game winning streak at 17-5, 7-1 in the ACC while Duke comes in on a 2 game win streak but at 21-2, 8-1 has a ½ game lead over North Carolina and this game will be for 1st place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“Out of anything that’s going on this week, that’s the thing that we’re playing for,” Duke’s Kyle Singler said. “It’s for first place in the league.” Singler and Guard Nolan Smith are two seniors that are a huge reason Duke is back in the top 5. “Those are two seniors. Those are two guys that aren’t going to come along like that and play four years in college basketball very often on the same team like that,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “I’m not going to enjoy them (Wednesday), and I’m not going to enjoy them any other time that we play them, but if you’re a fan of ACC basketball, you ought to enjoy those youngsters while we’ve got them.” The odds makers at BetUS have the Duke Blue Devils a -10 point favorite at home against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Blue Devils are coming off a victory 76-52 over the North Carolina State Wolfpack at home to move to 11-10 ATS for the season. Nolan Smith led the team with 20 points 6 boards and 7 assists. “Tyler (Thornton) can put really good pressure on the ball and then I’m not wearing Nolan (Smith) out. I can wear Tyler out and his mom said it was OK.” coach Krzyzewski on the new backcourt starting combination used the past two games. Vegas odds makers have the Duke Blue Devils +325 to win the 2011 NCAA Championship.
The Tar Heels winning streak most recently continued 89-69 at home over the Florida State Seminoles to move to 10-9 ATS for the season. Forward Harrison Barnes led the Heels with 17 points and 10 boards while 3 other starters were in double figures scoring. North Carolina is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Duke. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 156 points combined of the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels.
I predict a Duke win at home!
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert College Basketball Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors.