Duke vs. Arizona March Madness Preview and Prediction
In the No. 1 vs. No. 4 matchup in the NCAA Tournament East Region, the Duke Blue Devils take on the Arizona Wildcats in Sweet 16 action.
Make VSiN your home for the duration of the NCAA Tournament and beyond. Take advantage of our college basketball betting tools and previews and predictions on every single March Madness game. We have College Basketball Betting Splits from DraftKings Sportsbook and Circa Sports, updated Vegas College Basketball Odds, College Basketball Odds from other states, College Basketball Matchup Data, and more.
Check out Greg Peterson’s Daily College Basketball Lines, Steve Makinen’s Power Ratings Lines, and look at College Basketball Picks from our VSiN Experts.
How to Watch Duke vs. Arizona
When: 9:39 pm ET on Thursday, March 27th
Where: Prudential Center in Newark, NJ
Watch: CBS
Odds for Duke vs. Arizona
(odds current at time of publish)
Spread: Duke -9.5 (-110), Arizona +9.5 (-110)
Total: Over 152 (-110), Under 152 (-110)
DraftKings Betting Splits | Live College Basketball Odds | Duke vs. Arizona Matchup Page
Duke vs. Arizona Preview & Prediction
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems really fitting that Duke and Arizona will play in the Sweet 16. This will be the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the two since Arizona won 93-77 in the Sweet 16 back in 2011. Duke had bested Arizona a decade earlier to win a National Championship. For some reason, it feels like these two college basketball stalwarts have had more battles than that, but I guess they haven’t.
Either way, we’ll see if Arizona can provide more opposition for Duke than Mount St. Mary’s and Baylor have. The Blue Devils just continue to blow teams out and we got another example in the second round with a 23-point win over Baylor where it looked like the Bears had no hope. Arizona did precisely that to Akron, but then won a nail-biter against former Pac-12 rival Oregon in the 4 vs. 5 matchup.
This is certainly a matchup that deserves to be in the Sweet 16 with a couple of top-15 teams in the nation per KenPom and top-10 teams per Bart Torvik. Duke is the nation’s best team per KenPom and second-best per Torvik, as we’ve seen a mostly healthy Cooper Flagg and a full complement of players shine thus far in the tournament, following through on a pattern that emerged during the regular season.
As far as this matchup goes, the first thing that really stands out is that Arizona is not terribly interested in shooting 3s and hopes that the opponent shoots a lot of them. With a Duke team that is top 20 in 3P% offense and defense, that seems like a risky approach in the Sweet 16. Furthermore, Arizona is not great at forcing turnovers and not as good as most power-conference teams at taking care of the basketball. Duke, meanwhile, doesn’t force a lot of takeaways, but the Blue Devils don’t waste possessions either and that’s an important skill.
Duke is also a top-five team in 2P% offense and defense, while Arizona is a top-40 team in both areas. The spread is obviously the great equalizer and serves as a way to close the gap between teams, but Duke’s superior statistical profile is very hard to ignore. The line obviously reflects that, as the Blue Devils are the biggest favorite of the round and many feel like the team to beat of the 16 left standing.
Estimated Score: Duke 82, Arizona 73
For expert predictions, go to our college basketball best bets page.
