Final Four Odds: West Virginia vs. Duke

WVU's Da'Sean Butler is money when the game is on the line. (AP Images)

Much like the first Final Four game in Indianapolis on Saturday, the nightcap is new blood vs. blue blood, as No. 2 seed West Virginia is in its first Final Four since 1959 while No. 1 seed Duke is in its 11th national semifinal under Coach Mike Krzyzweski – but first since 2004. The Blue Devils have opened as 3-point betting favorites on Bodog’s college basketball odds.

WVU (31-6, 17-19 ATS) certainly belongs here, as it is on a 10-game winning streak and won the incredibly tough Big East Tournament. Plus the Mountaineers upset tournament-favorite Kentucky (Cats were favored once Kansas lost) in the Elite Eight. Point guard Joe Mazzulla was the unlikely hero against Kentucky, as he made his first start of the year and scored a career-high 17 points in the 73-66 win. Mazzulla was starting for Darryl “Truck” Bryant, who was hoping to make it back for the Final Four from a broken foot but is not expected to. The Mountaineers used a tricky 1-3-1 zone to disrupt Kentucky and it worked: UK started 0-for-20 from the three-point line and finished 4-for-32.

West Virginia’s key player is forward Da’Sean Butler, who has hit six game-winning shots this year. With Bryant still out, Butler will handle the ball a lot as well as being counted on to score (Butler actually led the team in assists this season). He is third all-time on WVU’s scoring list. Duke is a tremendous defensive team this year and no doubt will swarm Butler and make him give up the ball – especially with Bryant not around to help keep the defense honest.

You can’t really single out one key Duke player because the Blue Devils are a three-headed monster of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, the highest-scoring trio on any team in the country. Scheyer, the point guard, has struggled with his shot in this tournament but came up big when it mattered in Duke’s one close game so far, the Elite Eight win over Baylor. Scheyer finished with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists and hit a few key shots. The Dukies (33-5, 22-13-2 ATS) have been great on the boards in the tournament, but WVU is ranked ninth in the nation in rebounding margin. The team that grabs the most boards probably wins.

These are the two best teams in the country on neutral courts, with WVU 12-0 this season and Duke 11-0. But how is this for a weird stat: West Virginia has lost 11 in a row in the state of Indiana (10 to Notre Dame). For what it’s worth, both teams played Georgetown this year, with Duke getting routed by the Hoyas and WVU beating Georgetown twice, including in the Big East final.

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