College basketball betting has fifth-ranked Duke hosting Tulsa on Thursday in a game that can be seen on ESPN. The Blue Devils are now in the running for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament while the Golden Hurricane is in need of a signature win. Duke is a solid favorite at home in this NCAA basketball betting matchup.
College basketball betting has seen Tulsa lose four of its last five games to fall out of the Conference USA race. They now have to face Duke in an out of conference matchup before going to East Carolina on Saturday. Even though the Golden Hurricane is not playing well and this game at Duke is probably going to be a loss, their head coach is still happy to be playing it.
“I scheduled it. I still think it’s a great opportunity,” Golden Hurricane coach Doug Wojcik said, “It’s a game on national television against a top-five team in the country – against a Hall of Fame coach in a hostile environment. It’s a lifetime opportunity for our players.”
Tulsa could still be an NCAA Tournament team. They host the Conference USA Tournament and the winner of that tourney gets an automatic bid. Tulsa needs to finish strong so they can move up in the standings to get a first round bye in that tournament. The problem is that Tulsa is not playing well right now in college basketball betting. Their coach says he is not going to make any major changes though. “It’s tough to change. Change is not good,” he said. “You do what you do. You’re not going to see me playing a 2-3 zone at Duke on Thursday night. That’s ridiculous. You do what you do. You live by it and stand by it. You fine-tune it, improve and maybe do some little things better than you have been.”
Tulsa was picked to win Conference USA but things simply have not gone well this month as the Golden Hurricane is 2-4 straight up and 0-6 against the college basketball betting point spread. Their coach believes they still have a chance to win against Duke though. “We have two very good players (guard Ben Uzoh and center Jerome Jordan),” Wojcik said, “If you’ve got two very good players, you have a chance.”
Tulsa has their hands full against a talented Duke team that is 10-3-1 against the college basketball betting odds at home this season. The Golden Hurricane has not been a good road team as they are 2-5-1 against the NCAA basketball betting odds on the road this season.