The college basketball season gets underway tonight when the Davidson Wildcats travel to take on the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils. Tonight's game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPU. Currently the odds for the game have Duke favored by by double digits at home.
Duke enters the season coming off the loss of seniors who led the way. Coach K and the gang are ranked in the Top 5 again this season and playing at home against Davidson should get them off to an early solid start to the season. Steph Curry isn't part of Davidson anymore, so the Wildcats probably don't have a puncher's chance in this one tonight.
Jabari Parker is supposed to be the second or third best freshman in the country this season and he's got a lot of pressure on him at Duke. The transfer of Rodney Hood also gives the Blue Devils an added scorer for the squad, but also makes them much younger. We've seen the college basketball scene move more torward the younger player the past decade or so and Duke has been an important piece to that puzzle. And yet again they'll be looking to a pair of youngsters this season to guide the Blue Devils through the ACC and deep into the tournament. By all accounts Parker should be able to do that, so their quest begins now.
Duke's football team is playing great, but the basketball team will look to take the torch for the rest of the season. Last year the Blue Devils won 30 games.
Davidson has lost the last 24 meetings with Duke. Last year they won 26 games and got to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. De'Mon Brooks is the leader for the squad who averaged nearly 14 points per game last year. Davidson is going to want to slow this game down and try to keep Duke from getting out and running all game.
The Blue Devils still have some faces left over from the past few seasons, but it's clear that Parker and Hood are going to be their go-to guys along with some very solid role players. Duke should win this one comfortably.
Free Pick: Duke 83, Davidson 59
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