Louisville Cardinals vs Duke Prediction & Picks - NCAA Men

Prediction published on 3/15/25, 12:08 PM  by Travis Pulver | Modified on 3/15/25 at 12:17 PM in NCAA Men Picks

The No. 13 Louisville Cardinals (27-6, 18-2 ) will face the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils (30-3, 19-1) in the championship game of the ACC Tournament. Tipoff for this ACC battle is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET with coverage via ESPN.

After a rough start to the season that saw the Cardinals 6-5 (including a loss to Duke) following a loss to Kentucky (Dec. 14, 76-65), it did not look good for Louisville. But the Cardinals got on track once they got to the heart of their conference schedule, going 19-1 (18-1 in conference) the rest of the way. They took a nine-game win streak into their quarterfinal matchup with Stanford. Louisville was favored by 10.5 points in that game but needed a buzzer-beater to secure a 75-73 victory. Clemson gave them a solid fight in the semifinal Friday; Louisville led by 13 with just under 3 minutes to go and held on to win by three.

As for Duke, it’s been another dominant season for the Blue Devils, whose only conference hiccup was against Clemson (77-71, Feb. 8). They took care of business against Georgia Tech 78-71 but lost Cooper Flagg late in the second half to an ankle injury. He sat out Friday’s semifinal game vs. North Carolina, a game the Tar Heels had a chance to win, but Duke won 74-71.