NCAA Betting: ACC Championship Pick
[ad#Sportsbook-260]When: 1:00 AM EST, Sunday, March 13, 2011
Where: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
The championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference is old hat for the Duke Blue Devils. This is their 30th appearance in the finals. They face the North Carolina Tar Heels who will also be making their 30 th appearance in the finals. They have not met each other in this format in the last 10 years. Duke has won 9 of the last 12 titles and has a streak of 2 in a row. The Tar Heels have won this tournament 17 times and Duke has claimed 18 tourney titles.
Duke is led by senior guard Nolan Smith. He has scored 64 points against North Carolina in their two previous meetings this season. He was considered injured going into the Virginia Tech and he came away with six assists and 27 points along with shooting 50% from the field in the 77-63 victory. Mason Plumlee leads the team in rebounds with over 7 boards per game and Seth Curry manages 1.4 steals per game. The team averages 81 points per game while the opponents only get 64.5 per gamer. Duke grabs 38 boards off the glass per game average. The Blue Devils are 29-4 for the season.
North Carolina comes in with a 26-6 record after registering a win in overtime over Clemson 92-87. Freshman Harrison Barnes led the team with 40 points for a career high. Kendall Marshall leads in assists for the team with 5.8 per game and John Henson grabs 9.8 rebounds per game and also blocks over 3 shots per game. As a team they average 77 points per game and give up 67 to their opponents. They hold a 10 rebound per game differential over their opposition as the Tar Heels board 42.5 per game. The Tar Heels have won nine straight games and are winners of 14 of the last 15 games they have played.
Each team has won a game in this series and both times it was the home team that came out on top. Duke won at home 70-9-73 in February and North Carolina won their game at Chapel Hill 81-67. If duke wins this game they are probably looking at a #1 seed but if they lose the Blue Devils are likely to drop to a #2 in the tournament. If North Carolina is victorious thy will probably garner the top spot on Selection Sunday.
The odds are for Duke to win -3.5 and this is an enticing bet but beware that North Carolina is starting slow but finishing strong. This game will end up close and with our free pick look for the Blue Devils to cover the -3.5 to win.
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Our Pick: Duke -3.5
