Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke Odds, Prediction and March Madness Picks March 21

Sorry, Mount St. Mary’s, but unless there is late movement, you just missed out on being the biggest underdog in the first round of the March Madness bracket to Alabama State.

Even with three of its top four scorers being freshmen, Duke takes an 11-game winning streak into Friday’s March Madness opener with Mount St. Mary’s. The Mountaineers are 2-26 against current ACC programs.

Duke is listed by the college basketball lines as the 32-point favorite.

Duke is priced at +300 in the March Madness odds. Mount St. Mary’s comes in at +100000 in the championship odds. The Blue Devils are at -140 in the East Region title odds.

Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke Prediction Today (3-21)

My prediction

Duke 88, Mount St. Mary’s 54

Mount St. Mary’s has reached the Final Four five times with two trips to the title game and one national championship. Unfortunately, all of those happened when the Mountaineers were a Division II program.

Dance starts Friday! #MarchMadness

📍 Raleigh, NC
⏰ 2:50 PM ET
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/G0Jigsz6bm

— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 17, 2025

After beating American University in a First Four game behind 22 points from Jedy Cordilia and Dola Adebayo, the Mountaineers get to take on a Duke team that is showing up with the shortest March Madness betting odds.

Mount St. Mary’s is 0-4 when facing top-seeded teams in the NCAA Division I tournament. The average margin of defeat has been 32 points. The Blue Devils have covered in just five of 11 games this season when favored by the NCAA basketball odds by at least 20 points.

We’ll take Duke to win and cover in our March Madness picks.

Top 3 Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke Betting Picks

My top picks

1. Duke (-32) vs Mount St. Mary’s

2. Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke Over 140.5

3. Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke best point-scorer bet: Duke’s Kon Knueppel 15+ points (-138)

My Analysis

All eyes will be on Duke freshman star Cooper Flagg after he missed the final two games of the ACC tournament with an ankle injury. Per college basketball news, he is expected to play in Friday’s March Madness opener.

Duke men’s basketball head coach Jon Scheyer says it’s “full steam ahead” for Cooper Flagg and the goal is to have him play in the tournament on Friday 💪 pic.twitter.com/vIRGFzljRy

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 17, 2025

Mount St. Mary’s lost to Quinnipiac by 34 points and also had double-digit point losses to Siena and Manhattan. Since 1998, Duke has gone 12-0 against No. 16 seeds, per NCAA betting trends. Ten of those games landed under the total.

The Mountaineers shot 58% from the field in the First Four game with Cordilia going 10 for 11. I’m expecting things to be a little more difficult against Duke. Keep that in mind when making March Madness predictions.

Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke March Madness Best Prop Bet

Mount St. Mary’s has three players averaging at least 6.9 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, one of them is Terrell Ard Jr. and he hasn’t played since a Feb. 28 loss to Fairfield.

Duke 7-foot-2 freshman Khaman Maluach has at least nine rebounds in each of his last six games. Go with the -122 odds for Maluach to go over 8.5 rebounds as a college basketball player prop bet to consider.

PROP PICK: Khaman Maluach Over 7.5 Rebounds (-127)

Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke How to Watch

• Game: Mount St. Mary’s (23-12) vs Duke (31-3)
• Date/Time: Friday, March 21, 2:50 p.m. ET
• Location: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
• Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke Live Stream: Fubo.tv

Check here for Mount St. Mary’s vs Duke stats.

Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets