Sweet 16 Prediction: Duke vs. Purdue

Written by:
Johnny Detroit
Published on:
Mar/25/2010

Johnny Detroit of Pregame.com has your Sweet 16 prediction and game analysis for the Duke vs. Purdue game.  You can find more free picks here at Pregame.com.

The Duke Blue Devils and the Purdue Boilermakers meet tonight in a Sweet 16 matchup that features two prolific basketball programs. Duke is an 8.5 favorite, with a total of 127 points tonight.

Duke is a very trendy pick to win the NCAA Tournament, regardless of whether or not you love them or hate them. There is no middle ground when polling opinions of the ever popular Blue Devils. All joking aside, this is a team hitting its stride as they've won 14 of their past 15 games SU. Duke is actually considered underrated this season, as some experts were questioning the fact they received a #1 seed into the tournament. The Blue Devils have responded by allowing only 97 PTS combined thru 2 rounds, and winning by a combined margin of 44 PTS. Duke is 31-5 SU and 20-13-2 ATS overall this season. The biggest reason for their success both SU and ATS this season is their defense. The Blue Devils have held 19 of their 36 game opponents under 60 PTS this season. Duke is 14-5 SU and 9-9-1 ATS on the road this season, including a perfect 9-0 SU in neutral court games. Duke is 20-14 ATS as the listed favorite this season, including 7-6-1 ATS as a single digit favorite. 3 different Blue Devils average more than 17 PPG this season, led by G Jon Scheyer. Scheyer averages team highs of 18.1 PPG and 4.9 APG this season.

Duke is 4-11 ATS in their last 15 NCAA Tournament games as the listed  favorite. The under is 8-3 in the Blue Devils last 11 NCAA Tournament games. Kyle Singler is the only player on the injury report for Duke, and he's listed as probable.

Purdue is looking to make it to the Elite Eight for the 1st time in a decade. Beating Duke won't be easy though, as Duke has the height advantage in all 5 starting positions. As a team, Purdue has the bulldog mentality of their head coach Matt Painter. That bulldog mentality served Purdue well the moment star F Robbie Hummel went down with a knee injury. Hummel had been arguably the Boilermakers most important player, but the players have moved on in his absence. Despite struggling to score on offense, Purdue beat Sienna and Texas AM both SU and ATS in reaching the Sweet 16. The Boilermakers are 29-5 SU and 14-18-2 ATS overall this season. Purdue is 15-3 SU and 7-9-2 ATS on the road this season. The Boilermakers are a perfect 3-0 both SU and ATS as the listed underdog this season. Today represents the largest spread that Purdue has faced as an underdog this season. Purdue is also 9-5 ATS in non-conference games this season. G E'Twaun Moore and C JaJuan

Johnson lead Purdue in scoring, combining for nearly 32 PPG this season. These two will have to score in waves for Purdue to be successful, as no other player averages more than 6 PPG this season for the Boilermakers.

Purdue is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 NCAA Tournament games as the listed  underdog. The under is 6-0 in the Boilermakers last 6 games vs. the ACC. Purdue will be playing this game without their most valuable player, forward Robbie Hummel.

Sweet 16 Prediction for this game:  Pregame.com projects the final score to be 67-51 in favor of the Duke Blue Devils. Duke -8.5 is the Play of the Day!

Johnny Detroit, Gambling911.com 

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