ACC Tournament Prediction
The ACC Tournament is set to get underway later this week with a stacked field of contenders. Here’s our prediction on Monday, March 5, 2018 for this week’s winner.
The ACC Tournament is a 15-team, single-elimination tournament that starts on Tuesday with three opening-round games for the bottom six seeds. Seeds 5-9 are on to the second round on Wednesday and the top four seeds are in the quarterfinals, which start on Thursday. This year’s tournament takes place from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
According to oddsmakers at YouWager, Duke (14041) is the favorite in this tournament, as the Blue Devils are getting odds of +200 to win. Other short odds to win are Virginia (14040) at +250 and North Carolina (14042), who are at +700.
Virginia holds the top seed in the tournament this week after going 28-2 on the season and 17-1 in the ACC. The Cavaliers have a dominant defense, which has been able to hold most teams in check.
Duke is the second seed in the tournament after going 13-5 in the ACC this season. The Blue Devils posted a 25-6 overall record. Duke ranks seventh nationally in scoring, averaging 85.1 points per game.
UNC is actually the sixth seed this week. They were tied with three others at 11-7 in the ACC, but finished last on tiebreakers. The Tar Heels were 21-10 on the season. UNC averages 83 points per game this season on offense
This is a tough pick. I feel pretty good that either Duke or Virginia is going to win, but both teams have their flaws. Virginia is so heavily based on defense that it makes it tough to trust them in a tournament. Eventually you run into a team that gets hot and the Cavs don’t have an offense to compete in a shootout. Duke has the most talent, but its young and struggles defensively at times. Ultimately, Virginia proved it was the best team throughout the conference, winning by four games. I think their defense will hold up this week against opponents it is familiar with.
ACC TOURNAMENT PREDICTION: 14040 VIRGINIA +250