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The Delaware Blue Hens take on the Princeton Tigers. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Delaware Princeton prediction and pick.
The Delaware Blue Hens are 6-4 through 10 games. They scored a notable victory over Davidson, which made the NCAA Tournament last season. The Blue Hens prevailed 69-67 in a tough game against an established program from the Atlantic 10 Conference. However, Delaware also lost to an Air Force team which is likely to finish toward the bottom of the Mountain West Conference. Delaware has lost to Duke, a game the Blue Hens scheduled not only to gain revenue from a power-conference opponent, but to learn how to play better this season. Whether the Blue Hens learned what they were supposed to learn against Duke is still very much up for debate, given that the team also lost to Cornell and does not have a resume stuffed with high-profile wins beyond the Davidson result.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Delaware-Princeton College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Delaware-Princeton Odds
Delaware Blue Hens: +7.5 (-108)
Princeton Tigers: -7.5 (-112)
Over: 143.5 (-105)
Under: 143.5 (-115)
Why Delaware Could Cover the Spread
The Princeton Tigers lost to Hofstra and Navy earlier this season. Neither of those teams is going to be in serious pursuit of an NCAA Tournament berth. The Tigers really stumbled out of the gate, and even though they are 8-3 so far, they don't have any high-end wins which look especially good on a profile for NCAA Tournament purposes. Army, UMBC, Drexel, Marist, Lafayette — these are not high-level opponents Princeton has defeated. Delaware has every chance of being able to cover the spread, and the Blue Hens should fully expect to be competitive in this game until the final horn.
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Ultimately, neither Delaware nor Princeton has taken huge risks with the nonconference portion of the in-season schedule. Neither school has been overly ambitious. This leaves a lot of room for interpretation and evaluation for both teams, which means that with Delaware getting over seven points on the spread, you might find real value with the Blue Hens.
Why Princeton Could Cover the Spread
Princeton, playing in the Ivy League, will face the Penn Quakers later this season. They surely noticed that Penn — which is not having an especially strong season through the first five weeks — handled Delaware fairly easily, 86-73. Penn has had some really good and tough teams in past years, but this season's iteration of the Quakers does not seem to be imposing or uniquely formidable. Yet, Penn had no problem taking care of Delaware. Princeton will look at the film from that game and not only see what Penn did well, but what Delaware wasn't able to do. That game should give the Tigers a lot of information and details on how to attack the Delaware defense.
It should also be noted that Princeton, 8-3 through its first 11 games of the season, gave Rick Pitino's Iona squad a really tough battle earlier this month before losing by six in a hard-fought contest the Tigers led for a portion of the proceedings. Being able to give Iowa a strong test bodes well for Princeton and what the Tigers can do in the future … and in this game here.
Final Delaware-Princeton Prediction & Pick
Stay away from this game, since these two teams are still evolving and finding an identity heading into conference play. If you absolutely insist on a pick, take Princeton.
Final Delaware-Princeton Prediction & Pick: Princeton -7.5
