College basketball’s ACC is coming down to two teams based in North Carolina — the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils. Both squads are 22-6 this season, with the Tar Heels posting a 14-3 conference record and the Blue Devils at 13-4. The Blue Devils were recently upset by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Fans stormed the court after the game, and Blue Devils star Kyle Filipowski was injured.
Along with the stretch run of the ACC’s regular season, NC online sports betting will launch on March 11, just before the NCAA Tournament. The first ACC Tournament games take place on March 12. Below, we’ll look at the current March Madness odds to be on top of the ACC at the end of the regular season.
Updated ACC regular season championship odds
- North Carolina: [metabet_core_dynamic_odds market=”bkc/ncaab_winner_acc” query=”bkc/north_carolina” site_id=”legalsportsreport”]
- Duke: [metabet_core_dynamic_odds market=”bkc/ncaab_winner_acc” query=”bkc/duke” site_id=”legalsportsreport”]
North Carolina’s odds to win the ACC
While the Tar Heels are tied with the Blue Devils in overall record and have the best conference record in the ACC, that doesn’t mean they’ve been without some struggles this year. Their most recent home game against Miami was a bit of a nail-biter that resulted in a 75-71 victory. They handled both Virginia-based teams, the Cavaliers and Hokies, over the last couple of weeks, too, but they did lose on the road to the Syracuse Orange, 86-79. Since January 22, the Tar Heels are 6-3 with losses to the Orange, as mentioned, as well as Georgia Tech and Clemson. Of their six wins, four of them have come by single digits.
RJ Davis and Armando Bacot have led the team so far. Davis, at guard, is averaging 21.7 points per game this season. Down low, the Tar Heels have Bacot to turn to. He’s second on the team in points per game at 14.1 to go along with 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
The Tar Heels are 20th in the country in points per game at 81.5.
UNC’s next few matchups
The Tar Heels have three games remaining before the ACC Tournament, with two in-state matchups against the NC State Wolfpack and the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils game could end up setting the tempo heading into the conference tournament. These teams last met on Feb. 3 in Chapel Hill, and the Tar Heels won 93-84. They’ll be at Duke on Saturday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m. ET.
In their other remaining matchups — against the Wolfpack and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish — the Blue Devils are solid favorites. The Wolfpack are 4-5 on the road, and the Fighting Irish are just 11-17 this season.
Duke’s odds to win the ACC
Before their 83-79 road upset against the Demon Deacons, the Blue Devils were in a better position to come out on top at the end of the ACC season. Additionally, along with that loss, Filipowski — the seven-foot, 230-pound big man down low who is averaging 16.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game — was injured. He did return in Duke’s next game against Louisville, but he played 29 minutes and scored just nine points while corralling 10 rebounds. Despite the lower point total, Filipowski was on par in his other statistical categories.
In addition to Filipowski, the Blue Devils, in their second season under Jon Scheyer, have five players averaging double-digit points: Filipowski, Jeremy Roach, Jared McCain, Mark Mitchell, and Tyrese Proctor. They rank 30th in the nation in scoring per game at 80.5 points.
Outside of the Demon Deacons loss, their last loss came against the Tar Heels on Feb. 3. Before that, it was Jan. 20 at home against Pitt. The Blue Devils came back following their loss to Wake Forest, defeating the Louisville Cardinals 84-59 at home.
Duke’s next few matchups
As mentioned with the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils’ last game before the ACC tournament is against their in-state rivals, this time at home. The Blue Devils are 14-2 in Durham, while the Tar Heels are 7-2 on the road.
Their next game, though, is at home against the Cavaliers, who are 21-8 this season with a 5-5 record on the road. The Cavaliers enter this game having scored 50 or fewer in three of their last four games. On Wednesday, they won on the road against Boston College, scoring 72 and holding the Eagles to 68. The Virginia-Duke game will be Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
