Duke enters the contest as one of the most mathematically dominant teams in the nation, ranking 9th overall in Offensive Efficiency and 4th in Defensive Efficiency. The Fighting Irish counter with a pedestrian OE of 114.9 (ranked 88th nationally) and a highly vulnerable Defensive Efficiency of 106.0 (ranked 109th). The Blue Devils have a magnificent 57.5% Effective Field Goal Percentage on the offensive end, a metric largely driven by a physically dominant interior presence that secures a massive 36.9% Offensive Rebounding Rate. Notre Dame will be forced to compete without freshman guard Jalen Haralson, their leading scorer and primary offensive initiator, who has been ruled out of this contest with an unspecified injury. My model has this all the way up to -19.5 for Duke.
