Baylor Bears vs. Duke Blue Devils Betting Odds

Opening Line: Baylor +5 / Duke -5 O/U 139

Time: 5:05 PM EST Sunday March 28. 2010 on CBS

In the South Region Elite 8 game the top-seed Duke Blue Devils face the 3rd seed Baylor Bears. Duke is the last top-seed remaining in the Big Dance and they look to get back to the Final 4 for the first time since 2004, which is a major drought for the Blue Devils.

Baylor is the underdog in this game, but they have a bit of a home court advantage in this match up since Baylor is located in the Lone Star State and this game is being held in Houston.

Duke has advanced to the Elite 8 mostly because of their defense, which has only given up only 44 points, 53 points, and 57 points in their first 3 tourney games. Baylor is not a shabby team on defense either, as they held St. Mary's to only 49 points in their last game.

This season Duke is 21-13-2 ATS and Baylor is 18-10 ATS.

In their 3rd round wins Duke beat Purdue 70-57 and Baylor beat St. Mary's 72-49.

Baylor is led by the guard duo of LaceDarius Dunn (19.5 ppg) and Tweety Carter (15.1 ppg). Duke really has to play solid defense against these 2, who combined for 37 points and were a combined 7/13 from beyond the 3-point arc in their win over St. Mary's.

Baylor's F/C Ekpe Udoh (13.8 ppg 9.7 rpg) is the main guy inside of the bears and even though he grabbed 11 rebounds in Baylor's last win he only scored 8 points on 4/13 shooting. He has to give Baylor some inside scoring to open up the perimeter for the Bears' guards.

Udoh and C Josh Lomers (6.7 ppg 3.8 rpg) have to team up and body up on 7'1" Duke C Brian Zoubek (5.6 ppg), who had 14 boards in Duke's last game.

Pretty much all of Duke's offense comes from the 3 players of guards Jon Scheyer (18.1 ppg) and Nolan Smith (17.2 ppg) and F Kyle Singler (17.7 ppg). These guys scored 57 of Duke's 70 points in their Sweet 16 win over Purdue. Scheyer has to shoot better in this game, as even though he had 18 points in the win over Purdue he was only 5/15 from the floor.

Both teams can shoot lights out from deep so each has to play good perimeter defense.

Betting Trends

Baylor is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 non-conference games and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 games.

Duke is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games and has an Under record of 4-0 in their last 4 games.

Our Selection : Take Baylor +5.