Jacksonville Dolphins at Duke Blue Devils Betting Preview
The Duke Blue Devils will kick off their 2022-23 season on Monday evening when they host the Jacksonville Dolphins. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 PM EST tip-off from Cameron Indoor Stadium and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
Duke enters the season with another top-notch recruiting class, with four of the top 25 recruits in the nation committed to kick off the post Coach K era. The Blue Devils will be without Dariq Whitehead, who is out with a foot fracture but are still ranked seventh in the nation.
Jacksonville head coach Jordan Mincy enters his second season as the Dolphins head coach after a successful first campaign. Mincy led Jacksonville to a 21-10 record last season, their first 20-win season since the 2010-11 season.
Old and Wise
While head coach Jordan Mincy is a young buck in the coaching world, the former Mike White assistant has a roster full of experience. While the results of that experience remain to be seen, the 2021-22 season has raised expectations for this Dolphins group.
Leading scorer Kevion Nolan returns after averaging 13.9 points per game, along with four assists and nearly four rebounds per contest. The 6’2 guard shot 36.6% from behind the three-point line and just a shade under 91% from the stripe.
Along with Nolan, the Dolphins retain over 80% of their scoring and more than 70% of their rebounding and assists from a season ago. Will that experience prove valuable at Cameron Indoor Stadium? This team finished the 2021-22 season 10-6 against the spread in true road games, so we shall see.
New Coach, Same Results?
Saturday, April 2, 2022, at roughly 11:00 PM, marked the end of an era in college basketball. Following the loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, Coach K officially retired. Former Duke star and Coach K assistant Jon Scheyer takes over the program and should hit the ground running.
Considered one of the best recruiters in the nation, Scheyer brings in a quartet of five-star players to join returning point guard Jeremy Roach. While the previously mentioned Dariq Whitehead is out, the #1 recruit in the country, Derek Lively, is available.
Lively, a 7’1 center out of Pennsylvania, will replace the departed Mark Williams. Lively is a bit of a throwback in that he plays like a true center. He rebounds, blocks shots, and runs the floor well.
As expected, Duke protects their home floor extremely well, winning by an average margin of +18.5 points per game since 2010. The flip side to that coin is they only cover at home roughly 51% of the time over that period.
Betting Odds & Lines
This game currently has a line favoring the home Blue Devils by (-18.5) points with a total of 141 points.
Free Pick
Jacksonville may have the experience to keep this game close for the first ten minutes. However, eventually, the talent that Duke boasts (especially in the frontcourt) will eventually allow them to impose their will.
The Cameron Crazies will undoubtedly show up to kick off the new era, and Cameron Indoor will likely be rockin.
Betting Pick: Duke (-18.5)
