The NCAA Tournament brings chaos with it in every round, and the Sweet 16 is never an exception.
USA TODAY Sports writers Eddie Timanus, Erick Smith, and Paul Myerberg teamed to share some bold predictions for the upcoming round on Wednesday, and one of them was that Duke would beat Houston.
The trio mentioned Duke’s inconsistency, pointing out that the Blue Devils failed to pull away from Vermont until the last 10 minutes before beating James Madison by nearly 40 points.
However, they think Duke’s guards (who shot a combined 13/23 from three against the Dukes) could find success against a Houston team that awarded Texas A&M with 45 free throws in the second round.
“The No. 4 Blue Devils have the talent and depth to take down an opponent that struggled amid some major foul trouble,” they wrote.
The three writers also included ‘All No. 1 seeds make the Final Four’ in their predictions, so they weren’t locking themselves into one timeline, but they said the Cougars are on upset alert more than any other top seed.