Hard to say there has been a more hyped matchup in college basketball than the Duke-Syracuse game on Saturday.
There have been big games this year, but ever since the Orange officially joined the ACC this season, this first game with Duke has been circled on the calendars of every college basketball analyst and certainly the fan bases.
This game is so hyped that less than 24 hours after beating Wake Forest, the Syracuse media was in full Duke-mode.
Articles on this game, analysis hasn’t been hard to find on either side. Syracuse made up t-shirts to commemorate the game and or to urge the Orange to ‘Beat Duke.’ The game when it is played though may not live up to such hype. They rarely ever do.
The realities of this game come down to how Duke slows down the Syracuse offense, yes you read that right, and if they can continue to attack and rebound well.
Much has been made of how Duke will handle the famed Jim Boeheim 2-3 zone and the length that has gotten the better of all 20 of the Orange’s opponents this season. The Blue Devils have been streaking, winning their last 5 and their last 4 by double digits.
Duke has had iffy results against other zones this year. The shooting of Andre Dawkins in addition to the versatility of both Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood has helped the Blue Devils offense attack against that, but Syracuse offers a much different challenge with their length and athleticism.
The Blue Devils have also drastically improved their rebounding with the help of Parker and Amile Jefferson and even Marshall Plumlee in his limited role has helped, especially on the offensive glass. The second chance opportunities have been just what the Blue Devils offense needed.
The area that concerns me the most is can the Duke defense, another major improvement over the earlier season version of this team, can continue to play well. Syracuse has the No. 5 ranked adjusted offense in the country.
The guard tandem of C.J. Fair and Trevor Cooney could cause the Blue Devils fits with their ability to shoot and Fair’s ability to put the ball on the floor. Add in the über talented freshman Tyler Ennis and Jermai Grant that is four players in the starting lineup who average double figures in scoring and you have a lot of scoring options that the Duke defense has to stop.
The fact this game is going to be played in the Carrier Dome, the first dome game for the Blue Devils this season, could cause problems for the Duke shooters. It will be a large and loud crowd and that too will cause problems for the younger Blue Devil players.
Duke has some advantages in that they are starting to peak, while the Orange have just squeezed past some lesser competition in conference play. The hype surrounding this game could provide a lot of distractions for Syracuse.
The Blue Devils, and coach Mike Krzyzewski have seen this happen before. The thought of playing Duke can end up being too much for teams and they make the game too big.
I ultimately feel like Syracuse will win this game and has the advantage playing at home, however, if the Orange buy too much into the hype and Duke can continue playing at the level it has been, it will take home the win.
Prediction:
Syracuse-78 Duke-71
