The Duke Blue Devils are live against the Mercer Bears are playing in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Friday and the game is live on the radio with a stream online from Westwood and the game is basically a home matchup for Duke, as it's at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina and that means a friendly crowd when the game starts up at 12:15 pm ET on TV from CBS.
Duke is one of the premier teams in the tournament and had they won the ACc championship against Virginia they may have ended up as a number one or two seed, but now they are at number three and play against the Bears in a nice matchup for Coach K as he gets Jabari Parker ready for his first taste of March Madness basketball. Parker has been as good as advertised after coming over as a freshman and he is leading a team with Rodney Hood, Quinn Cook, Amile Jefferson and Rasheed Sulaimon and he will be the key for the Blue Devils if they make a run in the tournament.
The Duke game is the first one of the day on the schedule for Friday and the team comes in after losing in the ACC championship and they were one of the best teams in the conference, coming in the top four after going 13-5 this season and they had some nice wins against Pitt, Syracuse and North Carolina. Parker led the way with 23 points and eight assists against Virginia and that is in line with what he has done this season, as he has been the leading scorer and rebounder as a freshman and that has been very impressive for Coach K, who is looking to win his first championship since taking Duke to the title in 2010.
The team has made it to 15 Final Fours and they would love to make it 16 and they comes in with 37 tournament appearances and they have one of the best active streaks of teams coming into March Madness. The team may not have many chances with Parker, as he is likely to come out of the NBA draft this season and he comes in averaging nearly 20 points per game along with almost nine rebounds and that made him one of the best freshman in the land. Hood was second with 16 points per game and he is shooting 47 percent this season, while Jefferson was second in rebounding with six per game. The team got some great play from Cook and Sulaimon this season and those players will be key for Duke as they get past Mercer.
Duke is in the toughest bracket in the tournament in the Midwest and they have a matchup looming with either Tennessee or Massachusetts if they win and later down the line they could play against Louisville, Michigan, Texas or Wichita State, who is the number one seed in the bracket region after going undefeated this season. Duke has won all but five of their games played in North Carolina in the tournament and playing against Mercer should give them another one and Mercer comes in with leadership and experience in their seniors.
Check here for the Duke radio stream for the NCAA tournament against Mercer.