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Tony Finn
BIG TICKET ELITE 8 PRIVATE PLAY- 12-2
Game:(691) Michigan State at (692) Duke
Date/Time: Mar 31 2019 5:05 PM EDT
Betting Line Provider: William Hill
Play Rating: 5%
Play: Duke -1.5 (-110)
View Analysis
PLAY: Duke Blue Devils -1.5 (good to -4)
5% game rating
(691) Michigan State at (692) Duke
Winning national championships in college basketball, six straight games on neutral hardwood (typically) and overcoming over-the-top play by your opponent is anything but a walk-in-the-park... especially when the target you have on your uni says Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas or one of the tradition-rich programs.
An example of such is plentiful... and has come recently and in the past.... take UConn when they won the national title some two decades ago... and defeating who else but Duke... a much better Devils team than the Huskies sported... as a whole.. just not on that Monday night.
If you review the boxscores from the Huskies Elite Eight, Final Four and then Championship wins you will find they won those trio of events by just 14 total points. And to a man, talking to Coach C and his players, all will tell you that those closely contested affairs make them more prepared and focused.. not drained or emotionally taxed.
So believing that when UCF's Dawkins missed the put back in the final second of the Knight's loss last weekend was the end of this freshman laden Duke run... you forgot.. this is the most talented team in the tournament... and once again the team avoided a tip in with less than a second to go to survive conference foe VT on Friday night.
As good, great rather, as this Duke team is and can be they are not the best three-point shooting team in the history of the school. It isn't close. But they once again found a way to win and did so without Cam Reddish, who reportedly suffered a knee injury before tipoff. And, they won despite shooting just 6-for-20 from the 3-point line, and were in reality just 1-for-13 if take away Tre Jones (who was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc).
I have on more than one occasion this season, offered my assessment of the Big 10, this being overvalued... and again in the tournament stating they were overseated. I did WagerTalk TV and announced that the only #BIG school capable of winning a national championship was Michigan.. and I stick by that statement (truth).
Zion Williamson and Duke continue to win -- and this is what they do on Sunday -- but most likely unlike the last two events in this tourney -- by margin.
The Spartans are a one man show and that show is a two-player combination, of Nick Ward and Cassius Winston.. And while it doesn't appear serious it is what it is, this being another injury to Spartans big Ward (fell to the floor with pain in the same hand he'd injured late in the regular season).
And Cassius Winston has been a terrific college hoopster.. but he now faces off against NBA'ers on Sunday night ... and isn't capable of carrying this Sparty team to win. This MSU team is overrated as a defensive unit and while Winston finished Friday with 17 points and eight assists with a "better not do this again" five turnovers..... the short bench and lack of contributors will be Sparty's doom and gloom Sunday.
And don't believe for one minute that Winston hasn't done all of what and where MSU is at this point... they have had the easiest road to the Elite Eight and will not... mark it... will not continue to hit three-pointers at the rate they have across their first four games.. not against the size and length of Duke... Michigan State has made more than 40 percent of its 3-pointers in back-to-back games. And mark this as No. 2 in why MSU falls by double digits on Sunday night.... for those that don't follow the Big 10 or the Spartans... Izzo will not get 20-points from Aaron Henry.
And if you are betting on MSU to win it will come holding the frontcourt of the Dukies to a rate of 92 points per 100 possessions as they have done in their first three wins (against Bradley, Minnesota (without their best player) and LSU.... quantify Duke in the same container as any of the aforementioned trio and you... mark me wrong at game's end... but I am betting against me being wrong here.
DUKE BLUE DEVILS -1.5
BIG TICKET ELITE 8 PRIVATE PLAY- 12-2
Game:(691) Michigan State at (692) Duke
Date/Time: Mar 31 2019 5:05 PM EDT
Betting Line Provider: William Hill
Play Rating: 5%
Play: Duke -1.5 (-110)
View Analysis
PLAY: Duke Blue Devils -1.5 (good to -4)
5% game rating
(691) Michigan State at (692) Duke
Winning national championships in college basketball, six straight games on neutral hardwood (typically) and overcoming over-the-top play by your opponent is anything but a walk-in-the-park... especially when the target you have on your uni says Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas or one of the tradition-rich programs.
An example of such is plentiful... and has come recently and in the past.... take UConn when they won the national title some two decades ago... and defeating who else but Duke... a much better Devils team than the Huskies sported... as a whole.. just not on that Monday night.
If you review the boxscores from the Huskies Elite Eight, Final Four and then Championship wins you will find they won those trio of events by just 14 total points. And to a man, talking to Coach C and his players, all will tell you that those closely contested affairs make them more prepared and focused.. not drained or emotionally taxed.
So believing that when UCF's Dawkins missed the put back in the final second of the Knight's loss last weekend was the end of this freshman laden Duke run... you forgot.. this is the most talented team in the tournament... and once again the team avoided a tip in with less than a second to go to survive conference foe VT on Friday night.
As good, great rather, as this Duke team is and can be they are not the best three-point shooting team in the history of the school. It isn't close. But they once again found a way to win and did so without Cam Reddish, who reportedly suffered a knee injury before tipoff. And, they won despite shooting just 6-for-20 from the 3-point line, and were in reality just 1-for-13 if take away Tre Jones (who was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc).
I have on more than one occasion this season, offered my assessment of the Big 10, this being overvalued... and again in the tournament stating they were overseated. I did WagerTalk TV and announced that the only #BIG school capable of winning a national championship was Michigan.. and I stick by that statement (truth).
Zion Williamson and Duke continue to win -- and this is what they do on Sunday -- but most likely unlike the last two events in this tourney -- by margin.
The Spartans are a one man show and that show is a two-player combination, of Nick Ward and Cassius Winston.. And while it doesn't appear serious it is what it is, this being another injury to Spartans big Ward (fell to the floor with pain in the same hand he'd injured late in the regular season).
And Cassius Winston has been a terrific college hoopster.. but he now faces off against NBA'ers on Sunday night ... and isn't capable of carrying this Sparty team to win. This MSU team is overrated as a defensive unit and while Winston finished Friday with 17 points and eight assists with a "better not do this again" five turnovers..... the short bench and lack of contributors will be Sparty's doom and gloom Sunday.
And don't believe for one minute that Winston hasn't done all of what and where MSU is at this point... they have had the easiest road to the Elite Eight and will not... mark it... will not continue to hit three-pointers at the rate they have across their first four games.. not against the size and length of Duke... Michigan State has made more than 40 percent of its 3-pointers in back-to-back games. And mark this as No. 2 in why MSU falls by double digits on Sunday night.... for those that don't follow the Big 10 or the Spartans... Izzo will not get 20-points from Aaron Henry.
And if you are betting on MSU to win it will come holding the frontcourt of the Dukies to a rate of 92 points per 100 possessions as they have done in their first three wins (against Bradley, Minnesota (without their best player) and LSU.... quantify Duke in the same container as any of the aforementioned trio and you... mark me wrong at game's end... but I am betting against me being wrong here.
DUKE BLUE DEVILS -1.5
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