By ADAM ZAGORIA
In a year where a large number of team have a chance to contend for an NCAA championship, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim believes Duke is the favorite to cut down the nets in New Orleans on April 4.
“It will be a wide open tournament, there are seven or eight good teams, but I would give a slight edge to Duke,” Boeheim told ZAGSBLOG.
The Blue Devils routed the Orange, 97-72, on Saturday at the Carrier Dome on a day when the top six teams in the Associated Press poll — and seven of the Top 10 — all lost. Three Blue Devils — Mark Williams (28 points), Paolo Banchero (21) and A.J. Griffin (20) — all scored 20+ points.
Duke — which features five players who could potentially be drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft — is currently +1400 to win the NCAA championship, behind Gonzaga, Kentucky, Arizona, Auburn and Purdue, per the Action Network.
Duke (25-4), ranked No. 4 in Monday’s AP Poll, can clinch its first outright ACC regular-season title since 2006 with a win at Pitt on Tuesday. They shared the title with Maryland in 2010.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils close out the regular season Saturday at home against North Carolina in what will be Coach K’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium before he retires following this season.
“My total focus is on Pitt,” Coach K said Monday on a conference call. “I don’t look at a week, I look at my next opponent and I’ve done that once I learned how to coach a few decades ago.”
He added: “Pitt’s really the only thing on my mind right now.”
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