NCAA Basketball Betting – Seminoles vs Blue Devils
Florida State will travel to Durham, North Carolina to take on the Devils on Saturday, looking for a rare win at Cameroon Indoor Stadium, a place they have only won once in the last three decades.
Date/Time: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 21, 2012
Venue: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
Broadcast: ESPN
Spread: OFF
Over/Under: OFF
That win coming back on February 4, 2007, when the Seminoles edged out Duke, which blew a huge early lead, 68-67.
However, this season the No. 6 Blue Devils, who lead the ACC with an overall record of 15-2 including a 3-0 conference record, won’t be ready to hand over their perfect 8-0 record at home this season quite so easily to FSU.
In fact, Florida will likely have to pry it from the Devils’ clutches, something that they possess the weapons to do if they can find some ounce of consistency.
While the Noles’ are 12-6 overall with a 3-1 conference record, most of their wins have come against lesser teams. However, after losing to top ranked teams (13) Connecticut, (9) Michigan State and (17) Florida, they did pull off a huge 31-point win over (8) North Carolina in Tallahassee last Sunday. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The win was due thanks to 12 first half Tar Heels’ turnovers and an inability to keep up with FSU’s 3-point proficiency, which has improved to nearly 35 percent in January.
As for Duke, they are rolling, and arrive in this one with just one loss in its last 10 and are rounding into form with their sights set on a top seed in the NCAA tournament.
They are getting production from what seems like every player on the bench, having had a different leading scorer in each of the past four games, including 24 from sixth-man Andrew Dawkins in a 73-66 win over Clemson on Sunday.
That balance will be a nightmare matchup for Florida, which has been slow getting back in transition.
Duke has the speed to cause turnovers in the backcourt and the sharp shooters to make this a blowout. The Blue Devils are shooting an ACC-best 40.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Free Pick: Duke
