Top-seeded Duke faces upstart Miami in ACC semifinals

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils are the top seed in the 2010 ACC Tournament, and they are set to clash with the 12th- seeded Miami-Florida Hurricanes in the semifinal round this afternoon.

The winner of this tilt will do battle in the title game tomorrow against either NC State or Georgia Tech, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs. Duke will obviously receive a "dance ticket" regardless, but the Hurricanes seemingly need to win this conference tournament championship to get an invite.

Miami crushed fifth-seeded Wake Forest by an 83-62 final in Thursday's opening round, and the team managed another upset yesterday with a 70-65 triumph over fourth-seeded Virginia Tech. The Hurricanes, a relative newcomer to the ACC, have never won this event. The club is 20-12 overall in 2009-10, a solid record considering a 4-12 finish versus league foes during the regular season.

As for Duke, it earned a bye through the opening round of this event and managed to knock off Virginia by a 57-46 final in yesterday's quarterfinal round. The Blue Devils are now 27-5 overall, including 5-0 in neutral-site affairs, and they have won 10 of their last 11 games overall. Duke has won the ACC Tournament 17 times, tying it with North Carolina for the most titles among all league members. Last season, the Blue Devils captured the crown by defeating Florida State by 10 points in the championship game.

Duke beat Miami by an 81-74 final during the regular season, and the Blue Devils own a commanding 12-2 advantage in the all-time series.

Miami played tremendous defense in the second half of yesterday's game against Virginia Tech, holding the Hokies to 29 percent shooting. The Hurricanes earned a dominant 46-29 rebounding advantage in the tilt and shot a respectable 46.3 percent from the floor. The positives enabled them to overcome 18 turnovers. Durand Scott paced Miami with 17 points, and DeQuan Jones pitched in with 14. As for Reggie Johnson, he pulled down 12 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who are generating 72.4 ppg while allowing 64.3 ppg to opponents. Dwayne Collins is considered by many to be Miami's best player, but a leg injury is expected to keep him out of this tournament. It is surprising that the club has played so well without Collins and his 12.0 ppg and 7.8 rpg. James Dews (11.7 ppg) is the only active double-digit scorer for the 'Canes, who are averaging 72.4 ppg while allowing 64.3 ppg.

The Blue Devils connected on only 38.2 percent of their field goal attempts against Virginia yesterday, including 4-of-14 from three-point range. Fortunately, they did play tremendous defense, limiting the Cavaliers to 32.1 percent shooting from the floor. As usual, the trio of Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer led the way to victory. In fact, those three players accounted for 48 of the team's 57 points. Singler scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who got 15 points apiece from Scheyer and Smith. Scheyer, the team's standout point guard, is netting 18.8 ppg to go along with 5.2 apg. Smith adds 17.5 ppg, while Singler contributes 17.3 ppg and 6.9 rpg. The fact that no other player on the roster averages more than 5.5 ppg for Duke emphasizes the importance of the "big three". The Blue Devils are generating 78.4 ppg while holding foes to 61.3 ppg on 40.1 percent shooting.

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