Staff Picks: The Citadel and Duke

All of the Blogger So Dear writers are off to as perfect a start in the Wake Basketball Pick'em on the back of the Demon Deacons' undefeated beginning. Despite some tense moments throughout the second half against a Jacksonville team lacking their top minute-getter, the Deacons held on to defeat the Dolphins by a 90-83 score and move to 4-0 on the year.

Shayn had the best pick of the week going with a Wake victory by the score of 93-67, while Griffin struggled despite picking the right result, by missing the score by 40 points when he chose Wake to win 76-57. This was the first game Shayn has had the closest pick, while it is also the first week Griffin has been the furthest off. Jake and I are the only two guys who have neither had the best pick of the game or the worst pick of the game, while Mundy broke his streak of three games in a row of having the worst pick.

Here are the standings through the Presbyterian game:

1. Samurai 4-0 (76 points)

2. Rob 4-0 (91 points)

3. Shayn 4-0 (92 points)

T4. Bart 4-0 (93 points)

T4. Riley 4-0 (93 points)

6. Jake 4-0 (100 points)

7. Mundy 4-0 (147 points)

Additionally the BSD Composite pick is 4-0 with 96 points, while the KenPom pick is also 4-0 with 86 points (good enough for second place in the contest if we were including him).

Here are the staff's picks for tonights matchup with the Citadel:

Bart - Wake 83-63

Riley - Wake 80-62

Rob - Wake 90-65

Jake - Wake 88-65

Mundy - Wake 92-70

Shayn - Wake 94-77

Samurai - Wake 93-65

BSD Composite - Wake 89-67

KenPom - Wake 88-67 (74 possessions, Wake has a 96% chance of winning)

Now turning to football, when I solicited predictions for the upcoming Wake-Duke game I had an idea of what the guys would be picking. Normally there is a prevailing sentiment within the group for whatever reason (we talk about sports together a lot, we have similar dispositions towards Wake sports, we read a lot of the same articles and columns, etc.) and so I have a pretty good idea of what the predictions will show.

Well for the first time this season, I was legitimately surprised by some of the picks. I really anticipated the 8-2 Blue Devils to garner the majority of the picks to win this game, but that was not necessarily the case. Take a look at the staff picks for Saturday's Senior Day game:

Bart - Wake 21-20

Riley - Wake 24-21

Rob - Duke 24-10

Jake - Duke 28-17

Samurai - Wake 21-17

Shayn - Duke 24-20

Mundy - Duke 35-10 (Wake scores a defensive touchdown)

BSD Composite Pick - Duke 24-17

So maybe we just have some homers in the group, but is there realistically a reason to think Wake can beat the Devils? I think that there could be, and the reason I said that Wake will win 21-20 is because I see Duke coming in a little bit flat, I see Grobe having the team ready to go, and I think that the Wake defense can shut down a Duke offense who comes into the game heavily reliant on punching the ball into the end zone with Brandon Connette. Now have I been letdown before by the Deacs? Yes of course, a multitude of times, but maybe this time is different.

It's important to note that the last time we had a split in our ranks over who to choose in the game, Wake came out on top in convincing fashion over Maryland. We'll just have to see what happens. All-in-all though the average score came out to be a 24-17 Duke victory, which I think is right in the area of where the game will end up score-wise. As always, go Deacs!