Best College Basketball Prop Bets for James Madison vs. Duke in NCAA Tournament Second Round
By Reed Wallach
Duke looks to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in the Jon Scheyer ever with a win against James Madison.
The No. 4 seed in the South Region Blue Devils are a considerable favorite against No. 12 seed James Madison, but given the defensive nature of both teams, should we target some other player props outside of just points?
I’m leaning on rebound props from the physical Mark Mitchell and the veteran guard Jeremy Roach to navigate the James Madison defense.
Here are my two favorite player props for this second round meeting, using odds from FanDuel Sportsbook!
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Best College Basketball Player Props for James Madison vs. Duke
- Mark Mitchell OVER 6.5 Rebounds
- Jeremy Roach OVER 3.5 Assists
Mark Mitchell OVER 6.5 Rebounds
As you can read in my game preview, I expect another defensive struggle between two teams that thrive on that side of the ball. The Blue Devils are going to need to lean on Mitchell’s versatility and physicality against James Madison’s group of forwards.
James Madison overwhelmed Wisconsin in the first round with its size and athleticism and it’ll be on Mitchell to match that.
The sophomore had only five rebounds against Vermont, but is averaging north of six per game, and should continue to see heavy minutes in postseason play after playing 35 of the 40 minutes on Friday night.
James Madison is a great rebounding group, 57th in the country in rebounding percentage, but Mitchell should be able to get to his quota in a defensive minded affair, and it’ll be needed for the Blue Devils to advance.
Jeremy Roach OVER 3.5 Assists
The senior guard will be tasked with guiding this Duke offense that struggled a bit against Vemont, shooting only 42% from the field. However, Roach was handling the ball quite a bit, dishing out four assists to make up for his 30% field goal percentage.
I believe that with the season on the line, we can count on Roach to get to his season long average.
James Madison’s defense does a good job of running teams off the three-point line, which means we can see a lot of action with Kyle Filipowski screening for Roach and him reading the defense to find the sophomore big man rolling or the likes of Tyrese Proctor and Jared McCain on the perimeter.
This line is baked in his season long average, not his postseason usage.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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