ACC Tournament Preview & Betting Guide: Duke, Miami, and North Carolina Have Serious Competition in Greensboro

It’s been a down year for the ACC, but it doesn’t mean we won’t see the highest levels of drama in Greensboro for the ACC Tournament this weekend. This tournament should have it all, whether it’s programs vying for seeding, teams looking to get on the right side of the bubble, or failing programs praying for a miracle run to the title game. To prepare you for the Atlantic Coast Conference showdown, we will discuss the favorite, another contender, and the best bet that we think could go dancing on the league’s behalf.

Odds Courtesy FanDuel Sportsbook

• Dates: March 7-11
• Location: Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, NC
• Championship Game: Saturday, March 11th, 8:00 p.m. ET – ESPN

The ceilings of Lively and Whitehead will always give Duke a chance to turn things up, but the true production has come from the team’s third five-star recruit Kyle Filipowski. The Westtown, New York native has averaged 15.0 points and 9.2 rebounds this season and has remarkably improved throughout the course of the year.

Duke’s road win against rivals North Carolina to end the season should give them some swagger heading into this tournament, and they are rightfully priced as the slight favorite.

NC State has the talent and ceiling to come out on top in Greensboro. A dynamic backcourt leads the Wolfpack in future first-round pick Terquavion Smith and sixth-year senior Jarkel Joiner. The pair combines for nearly 35 points per game and are likely only rivaled by Miami for the best backcourt in the conference.

Casey Morsell also provides a lethal sharpshooting guard to this rotation, knocking down 41.7 percent of his triples on the season. Winthrop transfer D.J. Burns is the centerpiece of the frontcourt, a bowling ball that gets physical and can be a nuisance around the rim with his bully ball and knack for offensive rebounding.

This team is old – the 44th-most Division I experience in the nation – and they know how to protect the basketball. They only turn the ball over 9.5 times per game, the sixth-least in the country.

Taking a long shot can often pay dividends in a weaker field like this, where no clear favorite exists. That’s what NC State can provide in this spot. There are a few distinct advantages that the Wolfpack has here. The first is their home-court advantage over most teams, with their campus being just 77 miles from the Greensboro Coliseum. They should have strong backing this weekend.

The second comes with the added rest they have had. 14 of the 15 teams in the ACC played over the weekend on Saturday, the lone non-participant being NC State.

The third advantage comes with their favorable draw. Clemson and potentially Virginia or North Carolina lie ahead in NC State’s path to the final, all teams that had struggled to the finish in league play this year. This is a home-run price on the Wolfpack to take home its first ACC Tournament title since 1987.

For more conference previews on SportsGrid: A-Sun | Ohio Valley