Upsets on the Cards in the ACC Tournament

There are plenty of potential upsets in store when the ACC tournament kicks into gear on Thursday.

North Carolina won’t want to end their season without a fight and a win against Georgia Tech could, at a stretch, send the Tar Heels into the NIT. While this game presents the best chance of an upset in the first round, don’t expect Tech to lay an egg in this one. Having lost to Virginia Tech in their last regular season game the Yellow Jackets need a deep run in the conference tournament with some big scalps to have a chance to go dancing and they’ll do enough to make it through.

Their reward, if you can call it that, will be the Maryland Terrapins. The Terps earned a share of the regular season title and have the best player in the conference with Greivis Vasquez but a slip up is still on the cards in their tournament opener. Vasquez has shown weakness in defense and the Terps clearly have their eyes on March Madness so I’m calling Georgia Tech to win as a big underdog to make it to the conference semi-finals.

There they would be favored to face Florida State but don’t rule out Clemson pulling off the upset. I’m still back the Seminoles who will view a run at the conference tournament title with as much value as an extended stay in the Big Dance. Florida State will win through from this side of the draw and make it to the final.

On the other half of the bracket all eyes will be on a Duke team that lives and dies by the 3-point shot. Assuming the Blue Devils make it past the winner of Boston College and Virginia, Coach K will be looking at a conference semi-final match-up with either Virginia Tech or Wake Forest. Whichever team faces Duke on Saturday will give them all they can handle physically but with a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament at stake, the Blue Devils will bring their A-game and get the W.

This would prohibitively set up a final between Duke and the Seminoles on Sunday. A win wouldn’t be a must for Duke to wrap up the last #1 seed but it certainly won’t hurt and the failure to win the regular season title outright will make sure Coach K has Scheyer, Singler and Smith raining 3-pointers all-day against FSU. If this is the match-up expect all the sports book betting to back the Blue Devils.

For the best online betting on the ACC tournament and all the major conference tournaments as Selection Sunday approaches check out Sports Interaction’s sports book.