Duke vs. Mount St. Mary's: Picks, Predictions and Odds

Duke Blue Devils have won five national championships, but have not done so in a decade and head coach Jon Scheyer and his team attempt to remedy that beginning with a first-round matchup against Mount St. Mary's.

Duke, the East Region’s top seed, plays the No. 16 seed Mountaineers at 2:50 PM ET in Raleigh on Friday.

The Blue Devils have won 11 straight and 27 of their last 28, including their ACC-record 23rd conference tournament championship with a 73-62 victory over Louisville last weekend.

Scheyer, now in his third season at the helm, is having his best year, at least record-wise. Duke reached the final eight last season and hopes to go two steps further this year.

Mount St. Mary's qualifies as one of the tournament’s potential Cinderellas. They finished sixth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season standings but won three games in three days in Atlantic City to take the conference tournament title and earn the league’s automatic bid.

First-year coach Donny Lind’s squad then took an 83-72 decision over American to decide the East Region's No. 16 seed in Dayton. 

Let’s break down the best bets for this showdown.

Duke vs. Mount St. Mary's betting picks and predictions

Mount St. Mary's +32.0 (-110)

Duke showed they could win without Cooper Flagg.

The ACC player and rookie of the year and likely No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick this June is leading the Blue Devils in every major category, including points (18.9), rebounds (7.5), and assists (4.1), but he rolled his ankle early in an ACC tournament quarterfinal game against Georgia Tech and did not play the rest of the way.

The Blue Devils did just fine without him. Classmates Kon Knueppel (21 ppg in those games) and Khaman Maluach (11.7 ppg, 9.3 rpg) picked up the slack in wins over Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Louisville.

Knueppel is Duke’s second-leading scorer (14.4 ppg) on the season. 

Flagg is expected back for this game, but with a blowout win for the Blue Devils expected, look for Scheyer to restrict the freshman phenom’s minutes. 

Mount St. Mary's is playing with house money right now. They weren’t expected to have an extended stay in Atlantic City; they were the underdog against American in Dayton and they aren’t given a prayer against the Blue Devils.

Jedy Cordilla (10 ppg, 7.3 rpg) had 22 points and seven rebounds for the Mountaineers in the win on Wednesday, while Dola Adebayo (13.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg) - the school’s lone representative on any of the All-MAAC teams - scored 22 points as well.

Dallas Hobbs added 17 points for Mount St. Mary's, which has won a season-high five straight.

Unfortunately for Lind’s squad, key contributors Carmelo Pacheco (9.5 ppg), a 46 percent three-point shooter, and Terrell Ard Jr. (10.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg) are injured and not available.

Our experts expect Duke to win easily, but, with a focus on Flagg’s health, we’re looking at the Mountaineers doing just enough to cover the massive 32.5-point spread as underdogs.

Over 140.5 Total Points (-110)

Duke features a top-20 offense, scoring 82.7 points per game, and a top-10 defense, allowing just 61.9 points per game.

That’s about what we’re expecting in this contest, as we’re looking for the Mountaineers to push the pace instead of trying to slow down Duke’s offense, which they know won’t happen.

Mount St. Mary's is averaging 70.4 points a game on the year and we don’t think they’ll reach that in this game, but both teams will do just enough to total Over 140.5 points.

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Duke vs. Mount St. Mary's odds

Spread	Duke -32.0
Total Points	O/U 140.5

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.