An interesting few days is ahead for the Duke Blue Devils. They've lost three straight games for the first time in eons, and if they do happen to get beaten at N.C. State on Saturday, there's a legit chance they'll be relatively big underdogs at the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night.
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HOW THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
It's not quite the points or the rebounds that's missing with Amile Jefferson in street clothes injured. We're not sure exactly what it is, but we have a hunch that there's just a level of leadership missing on the floor right now for the Dookies.
Let's not forget that the four top scorers on this team are all basically first or second year players. Matt Jones is the only man on the floor who has played for three years with Coach K, and he might be the one who has to really step up and take the place of the senior Jefferson.
For our money, the Blue Devils have to be more aggressive as well. Grayson Allen is a man who gets to the line an average of over six times per game, but he has done a lot more outside shooting than anything else of late.
Miami's guards are gamblers for the ball for certain, but the Blue Devils should be athletic enough to work around the issues as long as the ball keeps moving towards the basket on offense. If there's too much standing around, the offense will again look out of sorts and will probably turn the ball over too often.
HOW THE MIAMI HURRICANES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
We're not thrilled with the way the Hurricanes have played offensively of late. They haven't topped 72 in a game in conference play all year long, and clearly, they're going to have to do that against Duke if they want a shot at claiming this scalp.
The big problem we have with the Miami offense is that it isn't getting the ball down to its bigs in the paint. Sure, Tonye Jekiri and Ivan Cruz Uceda aren't the best offensive big men in the world, but the fact that these two men have combined to average just 11.2 points per game in ACC play when they averaged almost 19 points per game outside of it is a telling development.
Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez are great, but they need some help, and the big boys are the best way to make that happen.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
We really think the Blue Devils are still in a lot of trouble, and we could see them not only falling out of the Top 25, but back towards the bubble as well. There's a legitimate chance this season could fall apart with Jefferson on the sidelines, and not having him to push the Miami bigs defensively could really hurt.
Look for Miami to wear down a very thin Duke team on a day where both teams will be playing on short rest. This will be close throughout, but as we've seen in recent Blue Devils games, they'll get outshot when it matters most in the closing few minutes.
Miami 78, Duke 73
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