How to watch Duke vs. Mount St. Mary's: Odds, storylines for men's NCAA Tournament matchup

New York Times

21-03-2025

Cooper Flagg's ankle has been the talk of the town, and in Duke's matchup against Mount St. Mary's, we will see how he looks post-injury. Duke has a chance to win the tournament, and Mount St. Mary's inevitably does not. But, the Mountaineers were 23-12 during the season, racking up the most wins since joining NCAA Division I in 1988-89. In their 83-72 win over American, they became the third MAAC team with three players (Dola Adebayo, Jedy Cordilia, Dallas Hobbs) scoring over 17 points in an NCAA tournament game.
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We've got a breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the matchup, plus odds and viewing info. Our game previews are a collaborative effort between The Athletic staff, The Field of 68 and Brad Evans' The Gaming Juice.
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Strengths: As counterintuitive as it may be for a team excelling as one of the most efficient offenses in years, Duke's strength is on the defensive side of the ball. The smallest player in its starting lineup is 6-foot-6 Tyrese Proctor. The smallest player in its rotation is 6-foot-5 Caleb Foster. The Blue Devils have one of the best rim protectors in 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach, and when Maliq Brown is healthy and playing the five, no team in the country is better at switching. They are second nationally in average length of possession defensively because you cannot run offense against them, and the reason why opponents struggle is all-world freshman Cooper Flagg. Flagg is a defensive weapon who's tough and physical and can guard up or down, and he takes pride in doing work on that end of the floor. His best attribute is his ability to be a great team player who will do all the little things needed to win. When ACC play began, he became an elite offensive weapon, shooting over 40 percent on 3-pointers and taking over games as a scorer and a distributor.
Weaknesses: For all of those glowing words about Flagg, he injured his ankle in the ACC tournament. Duke won it without him, but Flagg's status has become one of the biggest storylines of the NCAA Tournament. With or without Flagg, the concern with any squad built around elite freshmen is that it is too young. Only two freshmen-dominant teams have won the national championship: 2012 Kentucky and 2015 Duke. Inexperience is a valid concern with these Blue Devils based on how their season has gone. Their two non-conference losses were due to a lack of execution down the stretch with Flagg's late turnover against Kentucky and a string of poor possessions late against Kansas. As good as Duke is, it will have to win games deep in the NCAA Tournament in crunch time. Can the Blue Devils do it?
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Outlook: It's national title or bust for Duke. It almost always is with that program, but when you've been ranked as a top-two team on KenPom all season with the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, winning a championship is the expectation. Duke has one of the country's premier defenses, with the likely National Player of the Year leading the way, and its role players fully embrace the job they are being asked to do. Auburn is the favorite to win the title. Duke is not that far behind.
—Rob Dauster
Outlook: The Mountaineers were something of a surprising winner of the MAAC automatic bid, picking off an Iona team that beat regular season champion Quinnipiac in the semifinals. After struggling early on this season, The Mount got hot at the right time, winning 11 of the last 14 games after sitting at just 4-5 in the league in late January. The Mountaineers win with their defense. They don't force a ton of turnovers, but they limit dribble penetration and force opponents into taking tough jumpers. That works well against teams with a similar size. That doesn't work quite as well when a mid-major is going up against a high-major. If the Mountaineers are going to pull off an upset, it will come down to the play of Dallas Hobbs at the point. They rank 359th out of 364 teams in turnover rate. That will not work in March.
—Rob Dauster
This matchup can also be streamed on the NCAA March Madness Live app and Paramount+.
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(Photo of Cooper Flagg: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)