College Basketball Picks: Elon Phoenix vs. Duke Blue Devils

The Duke Blue Devils (10-0) won their first game as the nation's top-ranked team last night, as they prepare to play the final game of a back-to-back situation against the Elon Phoenix (6-4) Thursday, with the opening tip scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Sports bettors will find that the Blue Devils have moved up to 25.5-point home favorites in the college basketball betting odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), while the total is 143.5 in the market.

Let's take a closer look at this non-conference matchup from a betting perspective, while offering an against-the-spread (ATS) pick along the way.

Elon Phoenix

The Elon Phoenix have alternated wins and losses over their last six games, as they look to bounce back from a 78-73 setback in overtime to the Massachusetts Minutemen as 7.5-point road underdogs on Saturday.

Sports bettors may find the Phoenix to be a dangerous team in this spot, considering they covered as a 35-point road underdog against the Duke Blue Devils in a 98-72 defeat on Dec. 20, 2010.

Duke Blue Devils

The Duke Blue Devils overcame a slow start last night in picking up a convincing 88-47 win over Cornell as 28-point home favorites, while going UNDER the posted total of 142.5.

College basketball handicappers will find it hard to ignore that this program has won 99 consecutive non-conference home games when stepping up to the betting window Thursday night.

Prediction

I'm going to recommend that readers back the Elon Phoenix as one of their NCAA basketball picks, as I really like their scoring combination of Jack Isenbarger and Lucas Troutman, especially since they combined to score 31 points as freshman in this series two years ago.

Pick: Elon Phoenix +25.5

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