The ACC regular-season title came down to the final day of the season, with the Virginia Cavaliers and Miami Hurricanes sharing a piece of the conference crown. They both went 15-5 in league play.
Pittsburgh, which was picked to finish last in the league, finished right behind the two leaders with a 14-6 clip against ACC foes. Both Duke and Clemson also ended up going 14-6 in league action this past season.
North Carolina, the defending national runner-up, ended up with double-digit league victories along with NC State, Wake Forest and Syracuse. Basically, ACC play was competitive from start to finish, and the conference tournament figures to be even better.
This year’s event is slated to begin on Tuesday and wrap up on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the team that is victorious will head into the NCAA tournament with plenty of momentum. Let’s take a look at the betting odds for this tourney at Caesars Sportsbook, and try to make sense of it all before tipoff.
ACC tournament betting odds
(From Caesars Sportsbook as of Tuesday morning)
Duke +270
Miami +350
Virginia +350
Clemson +700
North Carolina +700
NC State +1200
Pittsburgh +1600
Wake Forest +2500
Virginia Tech +3500
Syracuse +7500
Florida State +20000
Boston College +30000
Georgia Tech +30000
Notre Dame +50000
Louisville +50000
Favorite: Duke (+270)
The Blue Devils ended the regular season on a six-game win streak and appear to be rounding into form at just the right time. Only six teams in the country do a better job on the offensive glass than Duke, which has a 36.8% offensive rebound rate. 7-foot freshman Kyle Filipowski has led the way for much of the year, but what makes Duke particularly interesting is that freshmen Dariq Whitehead and Tyrese Proctor have started to come on of late.
Duke being the favorite as the No. 4 seed is somewhat surprising, especially with a potential quarterfinal matchup against Pittsburgh on deck and a semifinal showdown against Miami looming. At +270, it is tough to buy the Blue Devils with an implied probability of 27% of winning this week’s tourney with that path ahead of them.
Sleeper: Virginia Tech (+3500)
The Hokies won four games in as many days as the No. 7 seed en route to winning the ACC tournament last year at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. They are hoping to do even better this year with five victories in as many days as the No. 11 seed in this tourney.
Virginia Tech, which ranks No. 77 in Ken Pomeroy’s latest overall ratings, closed out the regular season with back-to-back wins. The Hokies rank 31st in effective field goal percentage, so they are certainly capable of catching fire this week. Assuming Virginia Tech gets past Notre Dame on Tuesday, a path of NC State and Clemson to reach the semifinals awaits Mike Young’s squad.
Pick: Miami (+350)
After sharing the regular-season crown, the Hurricanes are my pick to cut down the nets this weekend. They haven’t done so since 2013, but have plenty of firepower in the backcourt to win three games in three days.
Despite being the No. 1 seed in the bracket, Miami doesn’t have a favorable draw. After facing the winner of Syracuse and Wake Forest in the quarterfinals, Miami could potentially need to defeat Duke to even reach the championship game.
Still, this is a team that many are going to fall in love with during the NCAA Tournament, and I want to get ahead of the pack by jumping on the Miami bandwagon this week.
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