The Rhode Island Rams were bitterly disappointed in the finals of the Atlantic-10 tournament, as they were beaten at the buzzer by Davidson. But they shrugged that off and came up with a victory in their first round of NCAA Tournament action, beating Oklahoma. So now they advance to face the Duke Blue Devils, who are looking much different than Coach K’s other teams in the past. This contest will begin at 2:40 PM ET on Saturday in the Midwest regional at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, and VietBet customers will have the opportunity to place wagers on it, even after the game tips off, as they access all that is available through Live Betting Ultra.
2018 NCAA Tournament Betting – Rhode Island Rams vs. Duke Blue Devils:
In the 2018 NCAA Tournament Betting Odds posted on this game by those people at VietBet, Duke is laying a lot of points:
Duke Blue Devils -9.5
Rhode Island Rams +9.5
Over 149 points -110
Under 149 points -110
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2018 NCAA Tournament Betting – CJ’s Take on Rhode Island vs Duke in Round 2:
Rhode Island had kind of a strange season; at one point they had won 16 games in a row, and then they lost by 30 points to St. Joseph’s, whodid not get anywhere near the Big Dance. In beating Oklahoma by a 83-78 margin, they shot only 39% from the field, and this is been a problem, as this is far from in elite shooting squad. What they did against the Sooners was taken into sccount that there was not a lot of scoring balance with that team, so despite giving up 28 points to Trey Young, the rest of the team didn’t do too much damage.
Duke is a whole different animal; this team has usually been a very smooth shooting squad from the outside. Don’t get us wrong; Duke is no slouch beyond the arc, as they did 38%, but this is a team that does its business much more effectively on the inside. And why not? They’ve got to superb freshman in 6-10 Wendell Carter and 6-11 Marvin Bagley, who was an All-American.
Duke has won five national titles, but they’ve never done any of that playing primarily a zone defense. This year that kind of alignment came almost by necessity. Bagley, the ACC player of the year and a freshman who had re-classified himself to be eligible for college basketball, went down with a knee injury, at which time Mike Krzyzewski went to more of defensive approach, employing the 2-3 zone. It worked very well for this team, and when Bagley was ready to come back, he fortunately fit right into this scheme. Bagley was not known as a really effective man defender, so teaming him up alongside Carter is something that greatly improved what Duke was doing at that end of the floor. In Duke’s first game against Iona, they held the Gaels to 5-24 from three-point range, and won by 22 points. It also wemt under the total, and that was the eighth time in the last nine games that has happened for them.
There is a lot of freshman talent on the Duke team, and that includes point guard Trevon Duvall (5.5 assists per game) and 6-6 swingman Gary Trent (14.3 PPG). Bagley averages 21.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per contest. And this is the best offensive rebounding team in the country. Rhode Island is going to be very hard-pressed preventing these guys from crashing the glass. Only a couple of players in the Rams’ rotation are bigger than 6-5. But there is a potent backcourt consisting of point guard Jeff Dowtin and Jarod Terrel, who could be effecting guarding either Duvall or Grayson Allen, Duke’s senior and “veteran leader.”
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