NCAA Tournament 2019: Buy or sell Duke, Gonzaga, Virginia and UNC?
By Adam Childs
Duke Blue Devils – BUY
A couple of weeks ago when Zion Williamson went down, people started to wonder if he would come back and play and risk getting hurt again. Instead he came back and looked better than ever in the ACC tournament, including a 13-13 shooting game against Syracuse. With him Duke is the favorite to win the tournament and I would have to agree. Without him they are very vulnerable as evidenced by their losses without him.
Duke still struggles to shoot from the outside and if they can get a team to make them completely rely on that then they have a shot. The problem is that Williamson is such a force inside that it is tough to stop him even if they double team him. The Blue Devils may struggle to shoot by they have shown they can get hot and hit the outside shots and when that happens they are near unstoppable.
The good news for Duke is that there are not many teams that match up well with them. We have already mentioned Williamson but they also have RJ Barrett who is averaging 22.9 points per game and Cam Reddish at 13.7. While Reddish has been up and down Barrett has been fantastic. Even though no one else on Duke is averaging double figures it hasn’t really mattered with those three carrying the load.
The path to the Final Four for Duke is fairly easy also. They get either UCF or VCU in the second round that shouldn’t be a problem. Virginia Tech could be waiting in the Sweet 16 and they beat the Blue Devils earlier but that was without Williamson. They will believe they can beat Duke, but if everyone is healthy it is doubtful. The toughest matchup would be Michigan State in the Elite Eight, but the Spartans have not had much luck in the tournament as of late.
Yes the Spartans could beat the Blue Devils, but Duke would be favored. This Duke team is built to beat anyone, and you should definitely buy on their chances for the Final Four and the championship.