The Duke Blue Devils enter the NCAA tournament on a 4-0 straight up and against the spread run after winning the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils will try to stay hot and pick up six more wins this postseason, starting on Friday against the Troy Trojans.
2017 NCAA Tournament odds: Round of 64 Friday betting lines and trends
March Madness continues on Friday with the second half of the Round of 64, as the tournament betting co-favorite Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels both hit the floor.
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No. 2 Duke is a 20-point betting favorite against No. 15 Troy at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. After battling through injuries all season long, the Blue Devils are finally healthy and looked the part of a legitimate title contender this month in the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils are 5-0 SU and 4-1 ATS in their last five games against Sun Belt opponents, and they enter the NCAA Tournament as +600 co-favorites to win the championship.
The other team going off at +600 atop the betting board to win the NCAA tournament is the North Carolina Tar Heels. North Carolina is 10-1 SU and 8-2-1 ATS in its last 11 games played in the month of March, with that one loss coming against Duke last Friday.
The No. 1 Tar Heels open their tournament up as 26.5-point favorites against No. 16 Texas Southern.
Other top seeds in action Friday include No. 2 Kentucky (-20) vs. No. 15 Northern Kentucky, No. 2 Louisville (-19.5) vs. No. 15 Jacksonville State, and No. 1 Kansas (-23.5) vs. No. 16 UC Davis. Kentucky is 8-2-1 in its last 11 games played in March.
Two No. 9 vs. No. 8 matchups take place on Friday in No. 9 Michigan State vs. No. 8 Miami (-2.5) and No. 9 Seton Hall vs. No. 8 Arkansas (-1). No. 9 seeds went 3-1 SU last season, snapping a run of 7-1 SU by No. 8 seeds over the previous two seasons.
The No. 6 SMU Mustangs had an excellent campaign this season, compiling a 30-4 SU and 22-6-1 ATS record en route to an American Athletic Conference title. But one of those four losses came to the No. 11 USC Trojans, who played their way into this game with a 75-71 win over Providence on Wednesday.
The Trojans proved once again that they are never out of a game until the final whistle, erasing a 17-point second half deficit against Providence for their NCAA-leading 12th win this season after trailing by 10 points or more. SMU is a 6.5-point favorite in this one on the NCAA tournament betting lines.
