The 14th<\/sup>-seeded Mercer Bears and the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils will open day two action in the Midwest Region at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. [ad-4468020]<\/p>\n 2014 NCAA Tournament Free Picks<\/strong> Matchup Stats<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0ATS Insider Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Mercer punched its ticket to the Big Dance by winning the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, while Duke fell to Virginia in the finals of the ACC tournament.<\/p>\n The Blue Devils were in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the tournament but couldn\u2019t seal the deal with a win over Virginia in the ACC tournament finals, falling to the Cavaliers by a score of 72-63. <\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t for a lack of effort from star freshman Jabari Parker, who led the team with 23 points and eight rebounds, and filled out his stat sheet with two steals, an assist, and a block.<\/p>\n Parker has been as advertised for the Blue Devils, leading the team in points with 19.3 per game, and rebounds, with 8.8 per game. Parker had been far too content taking shots from distant early in the year, and then again to begin conference play, but his increased willingness to get to the rim has really helped him to improve his effectiveness. <\/p>\n His performance in the tournament will dictate how far Duke is able to go.<\/p>\n As for Mercer, they\u2019re into the tournament for the first time since 1985, and will hope some magic rubbed off on them in their last matchup. <\/p>\n Mercer beat last year\u2019s Cinderella, Florida Gulf-Cost in the Atlantic Sun tournament finals, claiming a 68-60 decision. These teams bring identical records into this tournament, but find themselves seeded 11 spots ahead. That isn\u2019t wrong, but Mercer isn\u2019t getting the kind of respect they deserve after a strong season, while Duke has been very vulnerable for a while now. <\/p>\n The Blue Devils should be able to push through to the Round of 32, but don\u2019t be surprised if they have to put in a little work to get there. <\/p>\n Additionally, both sides have been able to score the basketball, and while opening round overs can be a tricky proposition as teams get acclimated with an unfamiliar court and new rims, this total still feels low.<\/p>\n The Bears are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games against opponents with a winning percentage above .600, while the Blue Devils are 1-6-1 ATS in their last eight games overall.<\/p>\n The over is 4-0 in the Bears\u2019 last four non-conference games, and it is 7-2 in their last nine games overall.<\/p>\n The play: Mercer +13, Over 140<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mercer vs Duke Gambling Lines The 14th-seeded Mercer Bears and the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils will open day two action in the Midwest Region at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":976,"featured_media":73223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1415],"tags":[61353,123,26936,2484,2481,2482,61440,61441,61439,61442,11721,61423],"class_list":["post-73932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-2014-ncaa-tournament","tag-bears","tag-bears-vs-blue-devils","tag-blue-devils","tag-duke","tag-duke-blue-devils","tag-mercer","tag-mercer-bears","tag-mercer-bears-vs-duke-blue-devils","tag-mercer-vs-duke","tag-midwest-region","tag-second-round"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73932"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74136,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73932\/revisions\/74136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMidwest Region \u2013 2nd<\/sup> Round<\/strong>
\n14<\/em> Mercer Bears (26-8) at<\/strong> 3<\/em> Duke Blue Devils (26-8)<\/strong>
\nDate: Friday, March 21, 2014<\/strong>
\nTime: 12:15 PM ET<\/strong>
\nVenue: PNC Arena<\/strong>
\nCity: Raleigh, North Carolina<\/strong>
\nO\/U Odds: 140.5<\/strong>
\nSpread: Duke -13<\/strong>
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\nFour of the Bears\u2019 starters scored in double-figures, and despite shooting just 36.7 percent from the field and 20.0 percent from beyond the arc, the team was able to knock down 83.3 percent of its free throws to help carry themselves to victory.<\/p>\n