Free NCAA Pick – Friday, March 12, 2010

Virginia Cavaliers (15-15) vs. #4 Duke Blue Devils (26-5)

The Virginia Cavaliers will travel to the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina on Friday to tip off against the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

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The Duke Blue Devils head into tonight’s game against the Virginia Cavaliers full of swagger after crushing the North Carolina Tar Heels in its last game, an 82-50 blowout. After that game, even the Tar Heels coach Roy Williams admitted in the press conference afterwards that it was the best team he had seen in seven years. That’s a tough label to live up to, since the Blue Devils lack a big, go to scorer who can carry the team on his shoulders. With a scoring tandem of Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and senior Jon Scheyer, Duke will look to continue the rebounding prowess that it has shown all season. The senior captain Scheyer leads the Blue Devils in scoring, three-point field goals made, free throw percentage, free throws made, assists, steals, assist-to-turnover ratio, and minutes played. Fellow All American Singler is averaging over 17 points and nearly seven rebounds per game. He leads the team in defensive rebounds and blocked shots. Brian Zoubek has been hot late in the season, and should provide some insurance should one of the Devils big three go cold.
The Virginia Cavaliers meanwhile is riding a streak of six straight loses which has left first-year Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett scratching his head for scoring answers. The salt on the wound injury to scoring leader Sylven Landesberg, who sustained a bruised right thigh in the loss to Miami last week, hurts a team who has struggled to score all season. Bennett will most likely keep Landesberg benched rather than risk further injury and pray that Jerome Meyinsse can channel his inner Jordan and receive some assistance from Mike Scott, who went scoreless in his last game and was 0-7 from the field. Sammy Zeglinski has potential but everyone is waiting for it to show any real results. While those options are not exactly exciting, it’s the best the Cavs can muster right now.

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