George Washington at Duke

J.J. Redick is one of the best players in college basketball and showed this as he achieved the all time Duke scoring record earlier this year. He has the help of S. Williams very often and in many of their wins a third player stepped up. The only problem with this 1-2 punch is that they still need a third player to do well and it is never clear who that player will be. In short, Duke doesn't play balanced team basketball. When you look at GW though, team basketball with plenty of balance is exactly what you see. They have five players on their roster that average between 11 and 15 points per game and two players who average over 7 boards per game. They play great team defense causing over 18 turnovers per game and they have out rebounded their opponents by almost 100 this season. GW averages almost as many points per game as Duke by shooting the 3 well and executing their fast break opportunities. Duke will have their hands full as their opponent's leading scorer could come from any one of their starting five. George Washington can, on the flipside, focus on one guy - JJ. Not only is Redick's stamina in question but Duke's team defense of big men on the post is of concern. It just so happens that they face one of the best big men in the tournament in GW's Pops Mensah-Bonsu today. Pops had a knee injury but rested it at the end of the season and looked fine in their opening game. Look for GW to work the ball down low often with the option of tossing it out beyond the arc when Duke double teams down low. This game could surely come down to a buzzer beater and that is why I like the underdog GW getting 9 to boot. Two stars on GW.