- Florida State won the regular-season ACC championship.
- Duke, Louisville and Virginia all tied for second in the ACC at 15-5.
- Clemson has beaten Duke, Louisville and Florida State this season.
- The ACC tournament starts tonight with Pitt vs. Wake Forest and North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The first two games of the ACC Tournament are set to begin on Tuesday. The Florida State Seminoles are going into the tournament as the favorite to win the conference again. The Duke Blue Devils, Louisville Cardinals, and Virginia Cavaliers are close behind in terms of ACC Tournament odds.
Clemson is clearly going to be an underdog throughout the tournament but they have impressive wins over the top three teams in the conference. There are other notable stats that those betting on college basketball should note before putting action on this tournament.
Florida State Seminoles
If there is one thing to take away from the season that the Seminoles had, it would be that they were heavily overlooked. They started the season unranked and now they’re finishing the regular season ranked number four in all of college basketball. They went 26-5 in the regular season and 16-4 in conference play.
It is time for the rest of the nation to recognize what is going on in Tallahassee. They won their first ACC regular-season championship and Coach Leonard Hamilton was named the ACC Coach of the Year. They have a high scoring deep team as they scored 80 or more points in 12 games and have 11 guys that play in every game.
They can match up against anyone in the country and wear them down as their 11-man rotation could be overwhelming. Trent Forrest (11.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4 apg) and Devin Vassell (12.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg) are looking to continue to lead this team at the top of the ACC Tournament odds board at +175.
Duke, Louisville, and Virginia all tied for second in the ACC regular season as they finished with a 15-5 record.
Duke
Duke is second on the odds list at +200. They finished their season 25-6. Let’s face it, the Blue Devils have shorter odds than they might deserve. They lost to five unranked teams this season.
Despite those losses, however, Duke will always be Duke as long as Coach K. is on the sidelines. They have a deep 10-man rotation and have scored 80 or more points in 20 games this season.
They have very talented freshmen in Vernon Carey Jr. and Cassius Stanley. There is no doubt that Tre Jones is looked at as the leader on this team with 16.2 ppg, 6.4 apg and 4.2 rpg.
Being that they have many freshmen, this could be a bit of a downside as they don’t have the tournament experience that other teams might have. Look for them to turn up the intensity level when they begin their tournament run.
Louisville
The Cardinals seem to have been given the correct odds at +300 as they have fought all season and finished with a 24-7 overall record. They looked to be a very strong team to start the season as they went 11-1 to start in 2019 and were even ranked number one for a bit. They scored 80 or more points in 10 games.
Unfortunately for them, Louisville struggles towards the end of the season going 3-4 in their last seven games. They lost to Florida State twice as well. Jordan Nwora (18 ppg, 7.7 rpg) has had a great season for them but he is the only player that is averaging double-digit points.
If they want to make a deep run and prove the ACC tournament odds wrong, their other guys must step up.
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Virginia
The Cavaliers were fresh off of a March Madness win last season and are looking to continue that same mentality. They finished the season 23-7 overall with +600 odds to win the conference tournament.
They struggled to start the season as they fell unranked but surged in their last 14 games going 12-2 including wins over Duke, Louisville and Florida State.
Mamadi Diakite was their go-to guy as he had a nice senior year with 13.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 1.3 blocks. Kihei Clark was also a nice part of their rotation. They had a lot of guys that returned after their championship run which could be very valuable now in the month of March.
Lastly, their defense was key for them as they allowed 60 or more points just seven times this season. Look for their defense to continue locking teams down.
Longshot Odds To Win The ACC Tournament
Clemson is clearly not favored to win the ACC tournament as online sportsbooks have them at +2500 odds to win the ACC. They went 15-15 overall and 9-11 in conference play. Bettors should not let their unimpressive record fool them as they defeated Duke, Louisville and Florida State.
Yes, you read that right, a barley .500 team defeated the top three teams in the ACC. However, they did it all while playing at home.
Aamir Simms was the sole leader on this team with 13 ppg and 7.1 rpg. There is not a whole lot going on after Simms though. Obviously, they did something right, and if they bring that same energy to the conference tournament, Clemson could very well upset a lot of teams.
Schedule
The first two games are set to tip-off tonight with Pitt facing off against Wake Forest and North Carolina going up against Virginia Tech. The winners of these games will go on to face NC State and Syracuse in the next round.
TUESDAY, MARCH 10:
- Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest
- North Carolina vs Virginia Tech
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11:
- Miami vs Clemson
- TBD vs NC State
- Boston College vs Notre Dame
- TBD vs Syracuse
THURSDAY, MARCH 12:
- TBD vs #4 Florida State
- TBD vs #10 Duke
- TBD vs #17 Virginia
- TBD vs #15 Louisville
Samuel decided to get into writing 6 years ago when he first started his college career at Florida State University. After declaring a major in Editing, Writing and Media, Samuel had found his passion for writing. During his free time, he could be found writing about, watching or playing sports.
