The North Carolina Tar Heels can clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title with a victory over the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, cementing their place as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament — which they are pegged as +185 favorites to win at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Tar Heels enter the last weekend of the regular season joined by Miami atop the ACC standings with a 13-4 straight-up record but get the tiebreaker nod on the strength of a 96-71 win over the Hurricanes on Feb. 20, covering as 7.5-point chalk on the college basketball betting lines.
North Carolina has struggled since jumping to an 8-0 start in conference play, going a middling 5-4 SU since then, and has been a massive betting disappointment, picking up the against the spread win in just six of 17 conference matchups heading into Saturday night’s matchup with Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
A lot is on the line for Duke in a date with its local rival. The Blue Devils need a victory to clinch the No. 4 seed and an all-important bye to the quarterfinals in the ACC tournament. Duke, now a +375 bet to win the ACC tournament, holds down fifth place in the ACC standings, one game back of Louisville and Virginia.
However, with the Cardinals banned from postseason competition, the Blue Devils can lock up the No. 4 seed with a victory over UNC, or a Notre Dame loss in its meeting with North Carolina State. The Fighting Irish trail Duke by a game but hold the tiebreaker edge on the strength of their 95-91 win over the Blue Devils on Jan. 16.
Despite riding a five-game SU win streak against Virginia Tech and 2-3 ATS, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database, the Hurricanes will have their hands full when they face the streaking Hokies on Saturday. Virginia Tech has won four in a row, SU and ATS, and can climb as high as No. 6 in tournament seeding with a victory. But with the 9-8 Hokies deadlocked with Pittsburgh, Clemson and Syracuse in the standings, they will need help from the Florida State Seminoles, who host Syracuse on Saturday.
Virginia Tech holds the regular-season tiebreaker against the Tigers and Pirates, but the Orange currently get the nod based on their 68-60 win over the Hokies on Feb. 2.
Syracuse has lost three of its past four but has won three over the Seminoles, who ended a five-game SU losing streak with a stunning 77-56 upset win over Notre Dame last weekend.
Thumbnail photo via Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports Images
