ACC Tournament Preview - UNC is Poised to Take it all
by BetUS Staff
Will the college basketball betting surprise and pull off a big upset?
The Tar Heels are heavily favored heading into the tournament not only as back-to-back defending champions of the conference tourney, but also as the new No. 1 in the nation. After finishing off the regular season with another win over the Blue Devils, North Carolina moved past both Pittsburgh and Connecticut to claim the top spot.
North Carolina breezed through the regular season, suffering only three conference losses at the hands of Wake Forest, Boston College and a real shocker versus Maryland. The Tar Heels are already a lock to claim a No. 1 seed in the March Madness Bracket Here!)
The final everyone is hoping for is North Carolina versus Duke. Even the Tar Heels would probably welcome another rematch against Duke considering they’ve already defeated them twice this season. North Carolina mangled Duke 101-87 as a 2-point road favorite in their first meeting this season in February. Ty Lawson dropped 25 points on the Blue Devils, while Tyler Hansbrough kicked in 17 points in the rout. The rematch last week was much closer, but North Carolina still prevailed 79-71 as an 8.5-point home favorite on the college basketball odds. Hansbrough led the Tar Heels with 17 points and 8 boards, but Lawson stole the show with a near triple-double, 13 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. The Tar Heels’ wins over the Blue Devils have been almost a constant over the last few years with six of their last seven matchups going to North Carolina.
North Carolina likely doesn’t fear another face-off with Duke but they may want to keep a close eye on Wake Forest, another potential tournament finals opponent. The Demon Deacons are one of only two teams this season to defeat both North Carolina and Duke. Wake Forest ran into the Tar Heels at home back on January 11 and picked up a 92-89 win as a 6.5-point underdog. Jeff Teague was lethal for Wake Forest in the win with 34 points, while Chas McFarland chipped in with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Even scarier for North Carolina is that Wake Forest earned the win despite receiving only 18 points combined from their other two big weapons, Al-Farouq Aminu and James Johnson. One bright spot for North Carolina in the loss was that Hansbrough, Lawson, and Wayne Ellington shot a combined 11-for-37 and they still only lost by three points. If Wake and UNC meet up again another poor performance by all three Tar Heels stars seems unlikely.
If you’re looking for a dark horse in this year’s tournament don’t overlook Boston College. Along with Wake Forest the Eagles were the other team that beat both Duke and North Carolina this season. The biggest problem with the Eagles is that they are maddeningly inconsistent and suffered numerous mental breakdowns throughout the season. They may have beaten Duke and North Carolina this season, but they also lost to N.C. State and Virginia Tech and gave Harvard their first-ever win versus a ranked opponent. If that version of the Eagles shows up in the tournament they could be toast in the first round. However, if the Eagles perform like they did against Duke and North Carolina, and offensive sparkplug Tyrese Rice is on his game, Boston College could surprise.
