No. 2 Duke men's basketball kicks off its 2023-24 season Monday against Dartmouth. Ahead of the Blue Devils’ highly anticipated debut, the Blue Zone brings some can’t-miss prop bets:
Duke (-26.5) vs. Dartmouth
After a confident display last week in an exhibition against UNC Pembroke, the rubber now meets the road for the Blue Devils, as their regular season begins Monday. During the 40 minutes we’ve seen so far, this year’s team has sent us a clear message: They can score points, and lots of them. In Wednesday’s game, Duke showed just how lethal its offense is — all five starters scored over 10 points, and exciting freshmen Sean Stewart and Caleb Foster combined for 21 points off the bench.
Although Dartmouth’s squad has yet to play a competitive game since last March, last season’s statistics can provide some insight as to how the Big Green will hold up in Monday’s contest. Last season, Dartmouth conceded an average of 72.4 points per game. Considering it did not face any ranked opponents that season, the Blue Devils are in a position to do far more damage. Despite the high point spread, I think Duke covers.
Pick: Duke -26.5
Over/under 140.5 points
Last Wednesday, the Blue Devils entered the triple digits against UNC Pembroke, dropping a whopping 109 points. Again, this team scores points. Duke has proven that it is capable of nearly reaching a point total of 140.5 alone. The Big Green, on the other hand, scored at least 80 points in three of their last five games. With both of the teams’ recent performances in mind, a bet on total points eclipsing 140.5 looks very attractive.
Pick: Over 140.5 total points
Kyle Filipowski over/under 17 points
Last season, scoring leader Kyle Filipowski averaged 15.1 points per game. In Wednesday’s game against UNC Pembroke, he scored 17. This season, Filipowski is looking to up his game and further entice the NBA’s top organizations to pull the trigger on him in the upcoming draft. However, I don’t think Filipowski will significantly outscore last year’s numbers. This year’s squad includes plenty capable point scorers: Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor and new additions Jared McCain and Stewart are just a handful of names that come to mind. For this reason, I don’t think we’ll see one player outshine the others in terms of points scored, and I see Filipowski scoring under 17 points on Monday.
Pick: Under 17 points
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